In the book, “In Search of the Promise Land” by John Hope and Loren Schweninger, we see the troubles of a slave family as they go from being enslaved to free in the thriving and every expanding slave south. Like we see in reading by Walter Johnson “River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom”, the south during this time period is growing very rapidly and slaves are the main reason for it. The book follows the lives of Sally Thomas and her 3 sons. Sally gains the respect of her master and is allowed to become a quasi-slave, allowing her to do work off the estate in-order to make some extra money. Over the years Sally works hard and saved up money to try and buy hers’ and her sons’ freedom. Eventually sally is able to arrange
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Her Eldest son John, was granted his freedom after the boat captain, that sally helped set him up with, died and in his will granted John his freedom. Sally’s Second son was forced to run away in order to gain his freedom and sally’s last son was bought his freedom using the money sally had saved. This book is a great inside to the culture and experiences of a slave during the antebellum period. The experiences that the Thomas family goes though in this book really distort the, boundaries between enslaved and free and it goes on to illustrate how those boundaries were enforced. The book also shows what impact the tension between the north and south, at the time, had on the slaves and the different communities as a whole. The experiences of the Thomas family really demonstrate the mindset of the American people and their connection to the rest of the world during this antebellum …show more content…
In many places it was against the law to educate a slave, and where it was legal there were heavy restrictions placed on the schooling and the length of the school year. Slaves also had many restrictions on gatherings, according to the book “Legislature passes a law requiring whites to be present at black gatherings” (Pg. 63). As the tensions between the north and the south continue to rise we see an increase in laws effecting free and enslaved blacks. One law was passed that required all freed slaves to be sent back to west Africa and if they could not afford to go they would be enslaved again until they could
Her Eldest son John, was granted his freedom after the boat captain, that sally helped set him up with, died and in his will granted John his freedom. Sally’s Second son was forced to run away in order to gain his freedom and sally’s last son was bought his freedom using the money sally had saved. This book is a great inside to the culture and experiences of a slave during the antebellum period. The experiences that the Thomas family goes though in this book really distort the, boundaries between enslaved and free and it goes on to illustrate how those boundaries were enforced. The book also shows what impact the tension between the north and south, at the time, had on the slaves and the different communities as a whole. The experiences of the Thomas family really demonstrate the mindset of the American people and their connection to the rest of the world during this antebellum …show more content…
In many places it was against the law to educate a slave, and where it was legal there were heavy restrictions placed on the schooling and the length of the school year. Slaves also had many restrictions on gatherings, according to the book “Legislature passes a law requiring whites to be present at black gatherings” (Pg. 63). As the tensions between the north and the south continue to rise we see an increase in laws effecting free and enslaved blacks. One law was passed that required all freed slaves to be sent back to west Africa and if they could not afford to go they would be enslaved again until they could