Colonial America
Teaching about Slavery
A Teacher Resource
The issue of slavery can be extremely uncomfortable for teachers and students. Because
of this reality, it is important that the teacher talk about the rich history of the African people as
well as their many contributions before jumping into the sensitive topic. It is also important that
teachers build an awareness of slavery in world history. Slaves have existed in many cultures
throughout the ages: There are frequent Biblical references; they are also noted in ancient Egypt,
Greece, and Rome. Many warring nations captured defeated peoples making them slaves.
Additionally, teachers should note that fewer than 15% of the Africans who arrived in the
Americas came to Virginia. The majority were sent to Brazil or the Caribbean Islands. Students
first begin to learn about the topic of slavery in the fourth grade. It begins with the first 20
Africans who were brought to Jamestown as indentured servants in 1619.
The issue of slavery is an unavoidable part of Virginia history. It is inseparable from the
study of slavery as an American institution. Every American needs a working understanding of
slavery’s complicated role in our history; for Virginians, such knowledge is absolutely essential.
Discussing slavery in depth and explaining where enslaved people came from, what they
endured, and how they overcame their hardships will help our students build this necessary
background knowledge.
Colonial America
Part I. Africa
An effective way to begin teaching about slavery is to allow the children to use prior
knowledge in tandem with information they gain from the teacher, to explore Africa before the
slave trade involving North America began. Students should have learned about 13th century
Mali in second and third grade and should be able to discuss the empire’s attributes. This
discussion will naturally lead students to the conclusion that many Africans did not desire to go
to North America for economic reasons, as the English did. Africans were settled on a continent
that was already rich in the goods that the Europeans were seeking in the new world. These
included raw materials needed for the burgeoning Industrial Revolution as well as gold and
silver. Africans had developed the ability and experience to build a prosperous agrarian economy
in the New World climate. Europeans of the merchant and aristocratic classes needed their
skills.
Africa is not a land only made up of deserts, grasslands, and rain forests. Africa has a
land area of 11,700,000 square miles, almost six times the size of Europe with a broad array of
cultural differences. Africa was a model of advanced educational and governmental practices.
Part II. Contributions of slaves
English settlers in Jamestown were expecting to employ Native Americans to help them
extract gold and reap the many benefits of the new land. It became clear almost immediately that
gold was not going to be the colony’s chief source of riches; instead tobacco was to become the
engine of Virginia’s wealth.
The settlers never intended to use African slave labor to contribute to the economic
success of the colony; however, it soon became clear that tobacco was an extremely labor
intensive crop to grow. When the first Africans arrived unexpectedly in 1619 on a Dutch trading
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ship Virginian farmers saw another possible source of labor to help with the cash crop. The first
Africans were employed under loose contracts as indentured servants. However, by 1660, the
system of inherited slavery was legalized in Virginia.
The skills that the Africans brought with them directly impacted the success of the
colony. Strong African males were sought after and highly valued due to their specialized
agricultural knowledge and experiences.
Part III. What the slaves had to endure
One of the most effective ways for children to learn about the horrific common life of a
slave is through primary source slave narratives. However, teachers need to carefully review
slave narratives for age-appropriate content which can be difficult. One technique is to read
excerpts from slave narratives aloud editing language and content that could frighten, anger, and
confuse students who are too young to comprehend this kind of material. An excellent resource
for this type of activity is Slavery Time When I Was Chillun, by Belinda Hurmence. Not only is
it critical that the material is appropriate, there also needs to be a good discussion before and
after such material is used to help children process this difficult information. Students will retain
an understanding of the realities of African American slavery by reading the words that came
from their mouths. Being sold away from family members, being beaten for not picking enough
cotton, and having babies ripped from their mothers’ arms as soon as they were born to be sold
away are just a few examples of what slaves recounted about their lives. These narratives have
immediacy and power that textbook descriptions lack.
As we have learned, slaves were treated as property to be insured and inherited like cattle
or land. Some masters even went so far as to force strong, reliable, hard working slaves to have
children in order to produce offspring with the same qualities.
Slave masters would stop at
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nothing to protect their investments by torturing and even killing slaves that tried to gain their
freedom.
The slaves that did choose to run risked subjecting their loved ones to brutal
punishment for their actions. Out of fear for their families many slaves chose to resist in subtle
ways.
Part IV. How the slaves overcame
Slave masters were generally confident that they knew their slaves very well. What the
masters did not realize was that the slaves knew their masters much better. The common African
American’s life was centered around the master’s needs. Slaves cooked the family’s meals,
cleaned their houses, raised their children, and listened to their conversations. Many slave
owners assumed that Africans Americans were not intelligent enough to comprehend what was
being said. Most talked freely, unconcerned about being overheard. This advantage enabled
slaves to create ways to assert some control over their daily lives on the plantation.
Music and songs were used as a way for the enslaved people to rebel in front of their
captors. Songs provided a rhythm for the field slaves to follow while picking cotton. Working to
a musical beat ensured that no one picked more or less than anyone else. Slaves would also use
songs to direct others to the North. Slaves that had successfully made the journey north used the
free blacks that were sailors and river men to carry messages back to their loved ones in
captivity.
Even though the slaves lived in a time when their race was enslaved from birth until
death, they still led human lives. They celebrated holidays. They held weddings. They went to
church. All of these rituals were things that slaves enjoyed and participated in just like everyone
else. Slaves overcame the injustices of their existence by using their minds to create ways to
keep the spirit and intellect free. They never gave up on the dream of one day being free!