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BEFORE THE WAR
At the time of the Civil War, men and women of African descent
suffered from all sorts of racism and discrimination. Approximately
four million in the South and border states of Delaware, Maryland,
Kentucky, and Missouri endured the hardships and debasement of slavery.
Another quarter million free blacks lived in the slave states, while a
little over 200,000 resided in the free states. As free blacks they may
not have been owned, but their civil liberties scarcely resembled those
of white people.
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BLACK AND WHITE SOLDIERS STAND BESIDE A BUILDING FORMERLY USED TO
AUCTION SLAVES. (LC)
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The institution of slavery varied dramatically from region to region
and also from rural to urban life. The crops, the size and number of
slaves on the farm, local custom, and the imagination of white owners
determined how they employed slaves and what privileges they would grant
them. Most slaves worked in agriculture, but some labored in urban
pockets as servants, skilled artisans, and even factory workers. Slaves
who worked on small farms and plantations experienced more careful
supervision. In the complex and faster-paced city life, whites were not
able to scrutinize the conduct of their slaves quite so well, so that
urban slaves carved out a freer, more flexible world for themselves.
Usually, slave labor was demanding physically, and sometimes it was
utterly brutal. Standard practice required bondsmen to toil from
sunrise until after sunset, in most instances six days per week. Some
masters were absolutely savage. They whipped, abused, and degraded their
slaves on a regular basis. Other chattels, such as Elijah Marts,
received decent treatment from their owners. Even under
a kindly master, though, enslavement stripped black people of some of
their fundamental human dignity. Their master may have supplied all the
essentials for a comfortable lifestyle, but the institution of slavery
stifled their complete development. It deprived them of the possibility
of achieving their ultimate dreams and aspirations. Like whites, they
wanted a better life for themselves and a much better life for their
children and grandchildren. The absence of freedom and the prevalence
of racism prevented slaves from realizing those hopes and fulfilling
their fervent prayers.
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AN ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE LATE 1700'S ANNOUNCING "NEGROES FOR SALE." (LC)
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FIVE GENERATIONS ARE REPRESENTED IN THIS
PORTRAIT OF A SLAVE FAMILY IN BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA. (LC)
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The same was true for free blacks, North and South. They were free
but not equal. In the Northern states, they composed barely one percent
of the population. They tended to hold inferior jobs, receive inadequate
education, and could vote in only a handful of states. Free
blacks who resided in the slave states had
even fewer civil liberties. Worse, Southern whites viewed them with
suspicion, as the instigators and leaders of slave protests and
rebellions. Once sectional tensions mounted, whites in the slave states
kept a careful eye on free blacks.
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