Modern research seems to prove what novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe said with her 1859 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The dehumanizing experience of slavery affects every member of society. Many African American humans were really affected by slavery. Slavery was a problem that faced all Americans in the years prior to the American Civil War. Many Americans wanted to bring about an end to it but were unable to come up with a workable plan.
Slavery in America stems well back to when the new world was first discovered and was led by the country to start the African Slave Trade-Portugal. The African Slave Trade was first exploited for plantations in that is now called the Caribbean, and eventually reached the southern coasts of America. Slavery was a practice which was much favored by the South. In the North, Americans were more industrial oriented, and had little use for slaves. The woman slaves usually worked in the homes, cooking and cleaning, whereas the men were sent out into the plantations to farm. Slaves were of all ages and sexes so the young girls would usually help in the house also and young boys would help in the farm by bailing hay and loading wagons with crops. The slaves made up .
nearly a third of the South's population around the year of 1860. Their was nearly 4 million slaves in the southern states. .
As you can see slavery was very common in the southern states. George Washington was America's hero. He was America's first president. He was a slave owner. He deplored slavery but did not release his slaves. His will stated that they would be released after the death of his wife. Washington wasn't the only president to have slaves. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "All men are created equal," but died leaving his blacks in slavery. .
Owners housed their slaves and provided them with food and clothing. Field hands worked long hard days, longer than any other slaves. Their workday generally lasted from sunrise to sunset.
