Antebellum
Slavery in the Deep South
Agriculture
Cotton is King!
Life on the plantation
Resistance to Slavery
Southern Society (1850)
6,000,000
“Slavocracy”
[plantation owners]
The “Plain Folk”
[white yeoman farmers]
Black Freemen
250,000
Black Slaves
3,200,000
Total US Population  23,000,000
[9,450,000 in the South = 40%]
Slavery in Numbers
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The majority of white southerners did not
hold slaves.
1/3 of all white southern families were
slaveholders
Planters: were large scale farmers that held
more than 20 slaves on their plantation.
Most white southerners were yeoman or
small farm owners.
Worked long days at many different tasks
Yeoman worked alongside slaves in the field
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Free Blacks
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By 1860 nearly 250,000 blacks were free blacks.
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Let free in master’s will
Let free for acts of heroism
Earned enough money to buy freedom
Runaways
The status of the mother is the status of the child.
Free blacks worked a variety of jobs in the city such
as: skilled artisans, factory workers, nannies.
Distribution of Slaves, 1790 and
1860
Distribution of Slaves, 1790 and
1860 (cont’d)
The
Internal
Slave
Trade,
1810–
1860
Southern Population
Southern Agriculture
Main Products:
1. Tobacco
2. Rice
3. Indigo
4. Cotton (cash
crop)
Growth of Cotton Production and the
Slave Population, 1790–1860
Slaves Using the Cotton Gin
Invented by: Eli Whitney
The Cotton Gin made
cotton picking more
efficient. The Cotton Gin
pulled fibers from the
cotton apart from the
seeds. This led to the
Cotton Boom! Cotton was
easy to grow and didn’t
spoil.
-Cotton Belt: stretches
from Texas to South
Carolina. Made the
institution of slavery
stronger.
Changes in Cotton Production
1820
1860
Slaves Picking Cotton
on a Mississippi Plantation
Overseers: made sure
slaves followed the rules
and carried out
punishments
Driver: usually a black
slave put in charge of
assisting overseer.
**Gang Labor Systemall field hands worked on
the same task at the same
time. (chain-gang)
Mary Edwards
Lavina Bell
Slaves Working
in a Sugar-Boiling House, 1823
Slave Auction Notice, 1823
Slaves were treated as property, not as people!
Jenny Proctor
The Culture of Slavery
1. Black Christianity [Baptists or
Methodists]:
* more emotional worship services.
* negro spirituals.
2. Nuclear family with extended kin links,
where possible. Family was the most
important unit of slave communities.
3. Importance of music in their lives. [esp.
spirituals]. Told folktales to keep
heritage alive, which taught a lesson.
4. Jubas- a type of music using singing,
hand-slapping and rhythm.
•
Sometimes used as code across
other plantations
A Slave Family
Lunsford Lane
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Lunsford Lane
Slaves posing
in front of
their cabin on
a Southern
plantation.
Tara – Plantation Reality or Myth?
Hollywood’s Version?
A Real Georgia Plantation
The Southern “Belle”
Scarlet and Mammie
(Hollywood Again!)
A Real Mammie & Her Charge
Slave Codes
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Defined the social, economic, and
physical place of slaves
Used to tighten controls over slaves
Slave codes prohibited certain actions
by slaves:
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Showing disrespect to whites –could not
strike
Trespassing on white’s property
Running away
Gambling, setting fire to woods, hunting
with a gun
Slave marriages were not recognized
under the slave code laws
Punishments for disobedience include:

Whipping, Branding, Imprisonment, or
even death
Slavery Was Less Efficient
in the U. S. than Elsewhere
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High cost of keeping slaves from
escaping.
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GOAL  raise the “exit cost.”
**Offered slaves rewards to encourage all slaves to obey!
Slave patrols. Slaves caught would be
punished severely.
Strict Southern Slave Codes. Limited what
slaves could do. No education!
Cut off a toe or a foot to keep
from running away.
Slave Accoutrements
Slave leg irons
Slave shoes
Slave tag, SC
Slave Accoutrements
Slave Master
Brands
Slave muzzle
Slave Resistance
• Refusal to work hard.
• Acting sick or hurt.
• Isolated acts of sabotage. Working
slower to protest long hours.
• Escape via the Underground Railroad.
Slave Resistance
1. “SAMBO” pattern of behavior used as a
charade in front of whites [the innocent,
laughing black man caricature – bulging
eyes, thick lips, big smile, etc.].
Slave Rebellions
in the Antebellum South
Nat Turner
1831
-believed God called on him
to end slavery
-ended up killing 60 whites
1822
Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South:
Nat Turner, 1831
Runaway Slave Ads
Quilt Patterns as Secret Messages
The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left,
alerted escapees to gather up tools and
prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path
design, on the right, warned escapees not
to follow a straight route.