DESCRIBE AFRICAN AMERICAN
FAMILIES IN SLAVERY. HOW
WERE FAMILIES AFFECTED BY
THE DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADE?
Devin Johnson
The Black Family


Not counted for the population of America
Slave owners still encouraged them to grow and
reproduce
Marriage



Avoided marrying cousins
If families chose to bear the surname of a slave
owner, they chose the owner of whom their family
began bondage with in America
Parents named children after relatives of past
generations
Relations between slaves & slave owners


Slave women were threatened by abuse & rape
Fancy trade: buying slaves for sexual purposes was
very common, especially in the new Orleans Slave
Market
A
“fancy” was a young attractive slave girl
 Females were sold 300% higher than the average

Harriet Jacobs
“
Why does the slave ever love? Why allow the tendrils
of the heart to twine around objects which may at any
moment be wrenched away by the hand of violence?”
Domestic Slave Trade


Served the needs of the expanding cotton economy
Separated families, and even married couples,
through acts of violence, sexual appropriation, and
sale