hi there my name is kaeleigh in this video we're going to learn the history of slavery in the
united states this lesson is really hard to talk about but it's important to know
the true history of the united states so that we can build a better future
so let's start with the definition of slavery
slavery is when one person owns another person who is treated as a piece of property
the slave is required to do a job and work for the slave owner without pay
slaves do not have a free choice to do something else to move somewhere else or stop working
while slavery is not legal today in the united states many countries civilizations and cultures
throughout the history of our world were built through the use of
slaves today we're going to learn about the history of slavery in the united states
originally slaves were from any part of the world and could be of any race or skin color some of the
first slaves were native americans enslaved by european settlers who were then brought back to
europe and in the middle ages in europe many rich white people enslaved poor white people however
most of the slaves were forced into slavery in the united states were brought here from africa
before the united states became a nation slave traders went to africa captured people forced them
onto ships and brought them to america these ships were not pleasant the slaves were put in chains
and had to lay in bunks with very little space between them there was no space to sit up and
it was extremely uncomfortable and dirty the voyage was very long sometimes up to six months
and they were not fed well and the ships were full of disease many did not survive the journey
this trip was called the trans-atlantic slave trade first slave ship to arrive in the colonies
was dutch and headed for mexico with captured africans on board but the dutch ship had been
attacked by english pirates who redirected the ship to the english colonies in north america
the pirate ship holding captured africans arrived in jamestown virginia in the year
1619. once on land the slave traders would bring the africans who had survived the trip
across the ocean from africa to an auction and sell them for money or goods to the white people
living in the english colonies in america the trans-atlantic slave trade which brought africans
stolen from africa to america to be sold as slaves continued for 200 years let's take a
quick look at a timeline so we can understand how long the trans-atlantic slave trade lasted
so the first ship carrying slaves arrived on the shores of the united states colonies
in 1619. the english colonies fought a war against the kingdom of britain from 1775 to 1783. the
united states became a nation in 1776 when the 13 colonies agreed to the declaration of independence
but the transatlantic slave trade continued until 1808 when the united states congress
decided it should be illegal to steal people from africa and forced them into slavery
but it was still nearly 60 years until slavery was considered illegal in the united states in 1865.
the end of the trans-atlantic slave trade did not mean the end of legal slavery in the united states
in fact slave auctions increased as slaveholders often called masters sold traded or gave slaves
away this selling and trading of slaves often tore families apart many times infants born to
enslaved women would be taken from their mothers and sold to other slaveholders
let's talk about the daily lives of slaves most lived and worked on plantations which were large
farms for growing and selling crops some of the most common crops were tobacco and cotton
they didn't have heavy duty farm equipment like we have today so this was a very hard physical
labor that had to be done every day from sunrise to sunset mostly strong men worked in the fields
picking cotton but often women and children were also forced to pick cotton in the fields
while some women worked the fields others worked inside the plantation owner's home
cooking and serving meals for the family cleaning and caring for the white children of their master
most slaves lived in very small houses on the property separate from the plantation
owner's home called the slave quarters the master would provide food once a
week which was usually not very healthy and consisted of lard cornmeal flour and molasses
on some plantations slaves were allowed to have gardens in the slave quarters
where they could grow their own vegetables to supplement their diets
remember slaves were not free people and they did not have a choice to be a slave to prevent slaves
from running away or misbehaving slaves were often beaten whipped or branded by their owners
the plantation owners heavily depended on them to keep their businesses going and to
continue to make money it's important to note that the masters do not pay their slaves for their work
so most slaveholders made a lot of money and lived luxurious lives
a series of laws called the slave codes were created these laws describe the punishments
allowed for enslaved people that escaped from their master in the plantation it
was not legal for slaves to learn to read or write gather in groups or own a weapon
it was also illegal for a free person white or black to help hide a runaway slave
a slave patrol was created where white men would patrol the plantations the wooded areas and the
public streets to enforce the slave code and arrest any slaves who broke the laws
while many white people depended on slavery to make lots of money and run their businesses
there were also white people who didn't agree with slavery some states made it
illegal to own slaves and were called free states the free states were all in the north
the southern states continued to allow slavery to profit from the tobacco and cotton industries
these were called the slave states eventually the disagreements about slavery between the northern
and southern states got so intense that the southern states seceded from the union that means
they decided to leave the united states and become their own country they called it the confederacy
and this was done so they could keep their slaves this led to the civil war
eventually the slave states surrendered in the civil war and decided to remain in the united
states at the end of the civil war slavery was made illegal in the united states the year was
1865. while slavery was illegal there were still many slaveholders that did not willingly give
up their slaves so new versions of slavery were created like sharecropping where black
people were allowed to continue living on their masters plantation and would work the land when
the harvest came their sharecropper was allowed to keep a part of the crop to sell for money the
master would take the rest of the harvest and not have to pay pay the sharecropper for their labor
to learn more about the united states after slavery was abolished see our lesson on the
civil rights movement practice what you've learned about slavery in the united states
by doing the online games and quizzes have fun and remember to always be clever