The Spread Of Slavery During The Post-Bacon's Rebellion

Several laws passed in the 1630s and 1640s show growing discrimination of blacks. In laws passed in Virginia and Maryland—in 1643, 1644, 1654, and 1658—black women were considered “tithable”, which means that they were considered as property of their masters in contrast to white servants, who were not. [Degler] As slavery become more widespread, it transformed and deepened racism. While distinctions between white and black existed from the very beginning, planters’ need to justify slavery caused them to intensify racially-charged rhetoric. The Christian teachings against bondage meant that many Africans could have sought their salvation through conversion to Christianity. Planters, eager to deny Africans any chance of escaping their bondage, sought to prevent Africans from embracing Christianity. …show more content…
Planters went so far as to deny the humanity of Africans. [Wood] In turn, the spread of slavery meant that blacks and slavery became synonymous, which led to the systematic dehumanization and degradation of blacks. While distinctions between black and white probably existed right from the beginning, in the era before the Bacon’s rebellion, the degradation and dehumanization of black people was not systematic. In the post-Bacon’s rebellion world, there was a rapid shift toward depicting blacks as stupid, ignorant, dull, dirty, and lazy. [Berlin] Racism was also a tool in the hands of elite planters to drive a schism between blacks and nonelite whites, and thereby reduce the chances of rebellion. The brutal exploitation in plantation agriculture meant that the threat of rebellion was ever