1. Station 4 Read through all the information cards
Key Question: How Powerful were slaves?
Read through all the information cards
Decide which cards are relevant to answering the key question; put those which are not relevant to one side.
With the cards that you feel are relevant, place them in order of importance; which card would be most useful in answering the key question?
Select the two most important cards: explain what you have learnt about the power of slaves and how what you have learnt might answer the key question
Extension Task
Draw an image/diagram summarising the main content of the two most important cards

2. Between 10.5 to 12.5 million made it to the Americas and Caribbean from the 1400’s-1900’s
Between 35-40% of the population of southern states of America were slaves, although this varied from state to state ( e.g. some parts of South Carolina were 95% slaves)
By 1860, there were only 12,000 African-American slaveholders in the south. Many laws were being passed by the government to free slaves so some landlords would sell slaves to an already-free black person; they then became free in all but name
Those who were slave masters in the southern states of the USA enjoyed a great deal of control and influence over the economy, politics and lives of the people in the south. They were able to do so because of the wealth that they had gained from their plantations.
Slaves were expensive to buy in America; by 1860 they were roughly £50,000; meant that for many slave masters they were seen as an investment to be protected so by and large, slaves were well fed and looked after
The Southern states of the United States of America were extremely wealthy; most of their money came from growing Cotton to export it
Only 400,000 slaves were taken to North America; the vast majority went to the Caribbean and Brazil
The wealth of the southern states of America was dependent on slaves and slave production; without slavery, the economy would have been left in severe difficulty.