Chapter 2 Drawing the Color Line

Chapter 2 Drawing the Color Line

1. Reasons for Using Slaves

   • White slaves were much less common than black slaves.
   • There was quite a bit of money in farming tobacco.
   • Natives couldn't be enslaved, an alternative was needed.
     • Natives usually died from sickness and exhaustion while working.
   • Colonists didn't have enough manpower on their own.

2. Facets of African Culture

   • Poor climate habitability meant civilizations could rarely afford gigantic empires.
   • Feudalistic, similar to European cultures.
   • Largest source of slaves in history
     • Warlords and kings sold their own subjects to black slave traders.
       • African slave labor was less intensive than European slave labor.

3. Treatment of Black Slaves

   • Black slaves were treated as property. Expensive property.
   • Compared to white slaves, black slaves were often abused.
   • Slaves were given little to no pay or leisure time.
   • Slaves were often worked to death.
   • Slaves were measured in how hard they worked, with prices adjusted accordingly.

4. Products of America

   • Corn
   • Valuable spices
   • Tobacco
   • Land
   • Personal/religious freedom

5. Reaction to the state of black slaves

   • Racemixing was punished by flogging.
   • Indifference on their plight from religious institutions.
   • Slave owners either treated their slaves well but as lessers, or as property to be punished as the owners saw fit.
   • No outrage was found on most people's part, since the slaves were acquired "legally"
   • In times of strife, racial tensions lessened.