Families and Freedom

It could be considered almost ludicrous that most African-Americans were

content with their station in life during the civil war. Although that was how they were

portrayed to the white people, it was a complete myth. Most slaves were dissatisfied with

their stations in life, and longed to have the right of freedom.

Slavery in America up to the civil war grew at a fast rate. The southern states had

a massive issue with finding labor. These states solved their economic issue with slaves.

Cultivation of crops on plantations could be supervised while slaves used simple routines

Cultivation of crops took massive amounts of work done by hand. While industry had not

yet taken its full effects in the area of farming the work was left to African slaves.

With slaves to harvest the crops, the low price of labor made earning profits an easy

bonus for Southern slaveholders. Slaveholders for the most part took an active role in

managing their property and their slaves. Managing the slaves most of the time was

through terror and violence. The terror that was enforced on slaves was messing with

their family structure. Owners often saw themselves as the slave’s superior guardian.