1. Chapter 20 African Americans in the Mid-1800s
Essential Question: How did African Americans face slavery and discrimination in the
mid-1800s?

2. North and South, Slave and Free
What two things did Free African Americans living in both the North and the South face?

3. 20.2 North and South, Slave and Free
Free African Americans living in both the North and the South faced discrimination and racism.
Free African Americans in the South most often found low-paying jobs. Most worked as laborers, craftspeople, or household servants in towns or cities.
Many white Southerners viewed free blacks as a dangerous group.

4. 20.2 North and South, Slave and Free
The law defined slaves as property.
Legally slave-
holders could buy and sell slaves, they could leave slaves to their heirs, but in many states they could not set slaves free.

5. 20.2 North and South, Slave and Free
Besides unequal treatment ~ policies of segregation separated blacks from whites in nearly all public places!
Black children were often denied entry into public schools.
Some states set up separate schools for that purpose.

6. 20.2 North and South, Slave and Free
Some Northern blacks started their own schools, churches, and self-help organizations.
1853 ~ free blacks formed the National Council of Colored People to protest the unequal treatment they received.
The spirit and courage of free blacks was evident! Many whites felt slavery was a horrible way of life!

7. 20.3 The Economics of Slavery
Only wealthier planters could afford to buy slaves.
Most white Southerners didn’t own slaves.
If that’s the case, then why did the South remain so loyal to slavery?

8. 20.3 The Economics of Slavery
White Southerners understood that their economy depended on slave labor.
The cotton gin made cotton a hugely profitable crop in the South.
Whether they owned slaves or not, white Southerners understood that their economy depended on cotton.

9. 20.4 Working Conditions of Slaves
Plantation owners hired overseers to supervise their slaves.
Many slaves woke before sunrise and worked until they went to bed.
Most slaves began work at the age of six and continued until they died.

10. 20.5 Living Conditions of Slaves
Most masters viewed their slaves as they would their land – to be worn out and not improved.
They provided only what was needed to keep their slaves healthy enough to work.
Clothing was made of coarse, rough cloth.
They lived in log huts and slept on bare ground.

11. 20.6 Controlling Slaves
Some slaveholders used harsh punishments – such as beating, whipping, branding and other forms of torture to maintain control over slaves.
However, a badly beaten slaves might not be able to work. They also might make slaves more rebellious and resentful.
Slaveholders also made their slaves totally dependent on them.

12. 20.7 Resistance to Slavery
Slaves found countless ways to resist slavery.
The Underground Railroad was a secret network of free blacks and sympathetic whites – who helped runaway slaves escape to freedom.

13. 20.7 Resistance to Slavery
Harriet Tubman was called Moses because she led her people to Freedom
Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who helped with the Underground Railroad.
She guided slaves from the South to freedom.
She was called the Moses of her people – because she led them to freedom.

14. 20.7 Resistance to Slavery Resistance to slavery took many forms.
Nat Turner resisted slavery by organizing a violent rebellion.
Nat Turner was a slave who, along with his followers, set out to kill every white person they could find. They killed 57 people in 2 days.

15. 20.7 Resistance to Slavery
Southern states responded to slave rebellions like the one staged by Nat Turner by passing even stricter slave codes or laws.
These slave codes by defining the status of slaves and the rights of masters.

16. 20.7 Resistance to Slavery
The most common way slaves resisted slavery was by finding ways to quietly rebel.
Field hands would pull down fences, break tools, or work so sloppily that they damaged crops.
House slaves would sneak food out of the master’s kitchen. Some even put poison in their master’s food.

17. 20.7 Resistance to Slavery Legally slave families did not exist.
Masters or slave owners could break up slave families at anytime by selling a family member to someone else.
Slaves were most afraid of being sold away from their families.