Slavery was a widely controversial issue during the American antebellum era. White southerners were generally for slavery because of the benefits it brought them and the Northerners against it because of how degrading it was. How the slaves felt about slavery and how they learned to cope with it, however, is usually not mentioned. Not much evidence was ever left by slaves because the majority was illiterate and those who could read or write were not typical. Nevertheless, a significant amount of evidence was left that can help to understand slaves" thoughts and feelings about slavery and how they learned to survive.
The conditions of slavery greatly varied depending on location, wealth of the owner, number of slaves, and job description. The daily work for most slaves varied between 10 to 14 hours per day, sometimes even as high as 18 hours. Some worked under the task system where each slave had a specific task to complete each day. House slaves, who were mostly women, had lighter work than field slaves but were often on call 24 hours a day. Other slaves in the city had it better off working at an assortment of jobs, such as carpentry, blacksmith, or weaving. The worst possible punishment for these types of slaves was being sent to work in the fields, as fieldwork was the most grueling. The work on the sugar and rice plantations was the hardest, especially at harvest time. .
Family life was an indispensable part of a slave's life. Family gave slaves a sense of identity and a purpose to life. Bearing children gave mothers a unique privilege and honor that no master could take away from them. Children, also, brought a matchless joy into the lives of everyone around them. Unfortunately, as many as one third of all slave families were broken apart as individual members and sold. Slaveholders gave slaves no legal rights over their children and did not allow slaves to be legally married.