1. Day 66: The South and the Slave Controversy
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
December 7, 2016
AP/A Course U.S. History
Mr. Green

2. Objective
Students will analyze the options of freed African-Americans by participating in a role- play activity in order to evaluate the status of freed African Americans in the Antebellum Period.

3. Warm-up Some southern slaves gained their freedom as a result of
the prohibition of the Atlantic slave trade after 1807.
purchase by northern abolitionists.
fleeing to mountain hideaways.
purchasing their way out of slavery.
the objection to slaveholding by some white women

4. Free Blacks: Slaves without Masters
250,000 free blacks in the South
Revolutionary War idealism
Mullatoes – children of white planters and slaves
Purchased freedom from after-hours work
Freed slaves had their own land
Had their own slaves in some cases
Couldn’t work certain jobs
Couldn’t testify against whites in court
Could be hijacked back into slavery
In the North-250,000 free blacks
250,000 in the north as well
Many northern states wouldn’t allow them to enter
Denied right to vote
Barred from public schools
1835, farmers in NH hooked up a schoolhouse to oxen and dragged it into a swamp because it allowed blacks to enroll
Competition for jobs from Irish
Antiblack feelings stronger in the north than south

5. Plantation Slavery 4 million slaves in the South in 1860
1808 outlawed slave imports in U.S.
1807 Britain abolished slave trade
British West Africa Squadron captured slave ships and freed captives
3 million Africans shipped to Brazil and West Indies after 1807
Smuggling into the south
Slaves as investments
Increase in slave population from reproduction – slave South was outside of tropical disease range
Planters spent $2 billion in slaves by 1860
Dangerous work, like putting on a roof, given to Irish immigrant – better his neck be broken than a slave’s
Tunnel blasting, swamp draining
Some females promised freedom if they could produce 10 children
Planters would often take advantage of their female slaves, producing mulatto population

6. Life under the lash Living conditions varied by plantation Flogging
Black belt
South Carolina and Georgia into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
More stable in deep South
Religion
Worked dusk to dawn in the fields
Minimal protection from murder or unusually cruel punishment
Some banned sale of child under 10
Couldn’t testify in court, Marriages not legally recognized
Slaves would regularly be whipped
Strong-willed slaves sent to “breakers” who would literally break them
Bad beatings left marks that reduced resale value, and too much beating made workers sullen

7. Burdens of Bondage Denied education “Revenge” Runaways, rebellions
Slow labor – fostered white myth of “black laziness”
Took food and other goods their labor helped make
Sabotaged work equipment
Poisoned owner’s food
Runaways, rebellions
Nat Turner
Amistad
Nat Turner – preacher, 1831, 60 Virginians slaughtered – soon extinguished
Amistad – 1839 – slaves seized command of the ship and tried to sail back to Africa – driven ashore on Long Island
Imprisoned and trialed, JQ Adams gave them freedom in 1841, Africans returned

8. Emancipated Slaves in the U.S. 1790-1850
In groups of four you will put yourself in the shoes of a freed slave woman and her family.
Take 15 minutes to decide where you would go. Make sure you consider both the pros and the cons of the location you choose.

9. Discussion
Each group will briefly explain which location they choose and why.

10. Exit Ticket Explain why you choose the location for your family
Salisbury, MD
Boston
NYC
Canada

11. Homework
In 1 paragraph explain which of these four locations you would go to if you were a runaway slave. Make sure you explain the benefits of the location you choose, the drawbacks of this location, and why you choose this location instead of the other three locations. Due on Tuesday 11/3.