The Peculiar Institution- Slavery

How slavery was perceived Pro-slavery interpretation Stephen Foster Paternalistic Gone with the Wind

Anti-slavery interpretation Black abolitionists Sojourner Truth Frederick Douglass Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin

What slavery was actually like White perspective Slave-owning statistics Yeomen class Jacob Eaton

United States Region Number of Slaves Percentage of Total Population Lower South 2,312, % Lower South 2,312, % Upper South 1,208,758 29% Upper South 1,208,758 29% Border States 432,586 13% Border States 432,586 13% 1/3 of all southerns owned slaves 1/3 of all southerns owned slaves 88% of all slave owners owned 20 or fewer slaves 88% of all slave owners owned 20 or fewer slaves 50% owned fewer than 5 slaves 50% owned fewer than 5 slaves

Black perspective Field hands vs. domestic servants “King Cotton” and other cash crops Self-sufficient plantations Valuable human property Statistics-the cost of labor Abuse Overseer, straw boss or slaver driver Task system Gang labor

Slave trade Domestic slave trade “Sold down the river” AuctionBreeding Foreign slave trade Smuggling Vicksburg Convention

Life in the slave quarters Slave rights Corporal punishment Diverse living conditions Small farms Large plantations Working for pay The model plantation of Jefferson & Joseph Davis

Forms of protest Perception of blacks Thieving Running away “Underground railway” “Underground railway” Harriett Tubman Fugitive Slave Act 1850

Forms of protest (con’t) Religion Protestant Christianity Identifying with the Hebrews “Playing Uncle Tom” Uncle Remus