1. Life in the Cotton Kingdom
Slavery, Abolition, and the Quest for Freedom: The Coming of the Civil War,
Chapter 6
Life in the Cotton Kingdom

2. 1835 Advertisement
A slave buyer offers cash for men, women, and children in this 1835 advertisement.

3. I. The Expansion of Slavery
Invention of cotton gin, 1793 Made cotton profitable
Rapid territorial expansion of slavery
Atlantic coast to Texas
Forced removal of American Indians
Slave population increased six-fold,
Grew fastest in Alabama and Mississippi

4. Map 6–1. Cotton Production in the South, 1820–1860
Cotton production expanded westward between 1820 and 1860 into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and western Tennessee.

5. Ownership: Slaves in the Old South
Slavery unevenly distributed
25% of white families owned slaves in 1860, down from 36% in 1830
Nearly half of slaveholders owned fewer than five slaves
12% owned more than twenty slaves
1% owned more than fifty slaves
Typical slave lived on a sizeable plantation

6. U.S. Slave Population, 1820 and 1860

7. Map 6–2. Slave Population, 1820–1860
Slavery spread southwestward from the upper South and the eastern seaboard following the spread of cotton cultivation.

8. Black Slaveholders In 1830, only 2% of free blacks owned slaves.
Protected their families from sale and distribution
Southern states made manumissions harder
Threatened to banish former slaves

9. The Battle of Put-in Bay
In this engraving, which dates to about 1860, slaves harvest cotton under white supervision on a southern plantation. Note the division of labor with women picking and men packing and carrying.

10. II. Slave Labor in Agriculture
Slaves in the South
55% cultivated Cotton
10% grew tobacco
10% produced sugar, rice, hemp
15% domestic servants
10% trades and industries

11. Agriculture, Industry, and Slavery in the Old South, 1850
Map 6–3. Agriculture, Industry, and Slavery in the Old South, 1850.
The experience of African Americans in slavery varied according to their occupation and the region of the South in which they lived.

12. Slave Labor in Agriculture (cont.)
Tobacco
Labor intensive crop
Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina
Rice
South Carolina and Georgia coastal waterways
Large plantations needed large labor force
Some with 300, 500, one planter with 1,000 slaves

13. Slave Labor in Agriculture (cont.)
Sugar Along the Mississippi River
Southern Louisiana
-Warm climate
Long growing season
Sixty inches of rain per year
Constant labor
Harsh conditions ~ hot and humid
African Americans feared being sent to work here

14. Cotton Exports as a Percentage of All U.S. Exports, 1800–1860
Figure 6–1. Cotton Exports as a Percentage of All U.S. Exports, 1800–1860
Cotton rapidly emerged as the country’s most important export crop after 1800 and key to its prosperity. Because slave labor produced the cotton, increasing exports strengthened the slave system itself.

15. Slave Labor in Agriculture (cont.)
Cotton
Most important crop in the South and the nation
Exports more than 50%
Increased exports strengthened slavery itself
Cotton plantations employed bulk of slaves
Britain and New England textile mills
Mississippi and Alabama ~ leading producers
Price for slaves increased

16. Cool Down
Explain why you think most slave owners owned very few slaves?
List the four main crops that required slave labor.

17. Hauling the Whole Week’s Picking
Hauling the Whole Week’s Picking, painted in 1842 by William Henry Brown, shows slaves at work on a Mississippi cotton plantation. Brown emphasizes the heavy physical exertion required of men, women, and children.

18. III. House Servants and Skilled Slaves
25% of slaves did non-agricultural duties House servants ~ elite slaves
Cooks and maids
Less physically demanding
Better food and clothing
Grueling, hard work in 19th century kitchens
Closer white supervision than field hands
Skilled craftsmen ~ elite slaves
Carpenters, blacksmiths, and millwrights
Traveling for tool and spare parts gave a taste of freedom
“Hiring out” – sold service to another

19. Urban Slavery Urban slaves Domestics, washwomen, waiters, artisans
Interacted with free black community
Urban slaves had opportunities to earn money when not working for masters
Hired out and paid masters a portion of earnings
More self-sufficiency ~ masters had less control

20. Industrial Slavery
About 5% of 1860 slave population Textile mills in South Carolina and Georgia
Iron Works in Virginia and other locales
Lumber industry, naval stores
Most industrialist in the South hired slaves
Slaves preferred industrial to plantation
Greater self-rule
Path to freedom for some

21. Population Percentages in the Southern States, 1850.
Map 6–4. Population Percentages in the Southern States, 1850.
The percentages of slaves, free African Americans, and white people varied from state to state. In the upper South white populations were substantially larger than black populations. In the deep South, however, the races were more in balance.

22. Punishment Physical punishments Fear of the lash
For good performance
Fear of the lash
Induced discipline and work
Encouraged cooperation for mutual protection

23. Louisiana Slave Displays Scars
In this 1863 photograph a former Louisiana slave displays the scars that resulted from repeated whippings. Although this degree of scarring is exceptional, few slaves were able to avoid being whipped at least once in their lives.

24. Slave Punishment

26. Check Point
Breaking of Kunte Kinte

27. The Domestic Slave Trade
The Selling of slaves from plantation to plantation
South and westward cotton expansion Upper South sells excess slaves to Lower South
Upper South sent 50% slaves to Lower South,
“Sold down river”
Economic necessity
Profit
Form of punishment
Separated families

28. A Black Father Being Sold Away from His Family
This woodcut of a black father being sold away from his family appeared in The Child’s Anti-Slavery Book in Family ruptures, like the one shown, were among the more common and tragic aspects of slavery, especially in the upper South, where masters claimed slavery was “mild.”

29. A Slave Coffle
Before 1850 Washington, D.C. was a major depot in the domestic (or interstate) slave trade. This woodcut portrays a slave coffle—a group of slaves bound together—passing the Capitol Building in about 1815.

30. VII. Slave Families No legal standing Unions were encouraged
Reduced rebelliousness in young, single men
Slave weddings
Most could chose their mates
Jumping the broom
Southern white concept of patriarchy (male dominance) saw white men have complete power over their wives.
Because black men lacked power, their wives were more like partners than servants

31. Slave Families (cont.) Children - Survival skills
deception and cleverness
Instructed in family history, religion, conduct
Folk stories
Extended family relationships
High infant mortality
Diseases
Unsupervised play with white children

32. Exploitation
Sexual exploitation Long-term relations between slave women and masters common in 19th century
More common was forced sex
Justifications:
Black women were promiscuous and deduced white males
Reduced Prostitution
Promoted purity among white women

33. Virginian Luxuries
Throughout its existence, slavery in America encouraged white men to exploit black women for sexual purposes and to abuse black men and women physically. Virginian Luxuries, painted c. 1810, aimed to expose and ridicule these practices.

34. Sexual Exploitation Story
In Antebellum south (pre-civil war) case of Robert Newsom and Celia
Robert Newsom 60 year old slave master, Celia 14 year old slave
Repeated abuse
She murdered him in 1855
Celia’s attorney argued that Missouri law made it a crime to “take any woman unlawfully against her will” and Celia had the right to defend herself.
White male jury
Convicted her of murder and executed

35. Cool Down
Why was physical punishment so widely used by slaveholders?
Could slavery have existed if it wasn’t for physical abuse? Explain.

36. VIII. The Socialization of Slaves
Subtle survival skills
Mental agility
Self-confidence
Learned to watch what they said around whites
Learned not to talk back
Learned to camouflage their feelings

37. Religion Coping mechanism Mid-19th century most slaves Protestant
Biracial Baptist and Methodist churches
Racially segregated
Shared cemeteries
Slaves believed white churches taught “Servants obey your masters”
Preferred semi-secret black church
Moses and deliverance
Emotional - Musical

38. Plantation Burial
British artist John Antrobus completed this painting in about It is named Plantation Burial and suggests the importance of religion among enslaved African Americans.

39. The Character of Slavery Legacy
Historians have debated the character of the old south’s slave system
1910’s – U.B. Phillips, slavery a benign institution
Christian slave owners cared largely for content slaves; rescued an inferior race from barbarism
1950’s – Exploitation for white profits
Most masters never met their slaves face to face
Stories of whippings, domestic slave trade, family separation.