Chapter 19: African American at Mid-Century
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 racism | discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race |
| discrimination | unequal treatment based on a person's race, gender, religion, place of birth, or other arbitrary characteristic |
| segregation | a social separation of groups of people, especially by race |
| oppression | the feeling of being weighed down or held back by severe and unfair force |
| How were slaves defined by law? | as property, not human beings |
| The population of the US in 1850 | 23 million including 3.6 million African Americans |
| The slave life according to law | slaves have no wife, children, country, home and they can own nothing |
| Limitations for free African Americans in the South | 1. forbidden to own guns 2. not allowed to travel freely 3. not allowed to work at certain jobs |
| Cotton gin | the invention that made cotton profitable and led to the expansion of slavery in the South |
| Why did non-slaveholding white southerners support slavery | 1. Cotton brought new wealth to the south 2. They thought someday they would also be able to own slaves |
| Why was it good for slaves when the price of slaves rose? | Slaves became more valuable and workers took better care of them |
| Why was it bad for slaves when the price of slaves rose? | Owners were less willing to free slaves because they were worth more money |
| About three quarters of rural slaves had this job | field hands |
| Other jobs for slaves | skilled seamstresses, carpenters, blacksmiths, cooks, servants |
| Slave cabins | consisted of a single room where the entire family lived with a fireplace for cooking and heat |
| Negro cloth | rough, coarse homespun linen made for slaves |
| Harsh punishments to keep slaves under control | beating, whipping, branding, torture |
| Ways to control slaves by making them dependent on their masters | treating slaves like grown-up children, keeping them ignorant from the world |
| Day-to-Day resistance to slavery | quiet acts of rebellion like pulling down fences, braking tools, working sloppily, damaging crops, sneaking food, pretending to be sick |
| Open defiance of slaves | slaves refused to work, fighting back, slave uprisings, running away to the North, setting fires and poisoning their masters |
| Nat Turner | a slave who led a bloody uprising in Virginia. |
| Slave families | Did not exist legally. The southern states didn't recognize slave weddings, and children were owned by masters |
| Slaves' worst fear | being sold away from their families |
| Lessons taught to slave children by their families | silence, obedience, respect, pride, kindness, hope |
| Slave social events on Saturday nights | corn-husking, pea-shelling parties, quilting bees, music from home-made instruments |
| Slaves' Sunday religion and recreation | church, eating, hunting, fishing, dancing, singing, tale-telling, all helped them forget the sorrows of slavery |
| slave churches | invisible churches met in slave quarters or forest clearings known as "hush arbors" |
| Black preachers' lessons | Told the story of Moses leading his people out of slavery in Egypt |
| Black worshipers | sang spirituals that expressed the desire for freedom |
| African American culture | based on African traditions mixed with the reality of slavery |
| African dancing | helped slaves to express feelings, escape cares, and refresh their spirit |
| African legends and folktales | based on small but clever characters outwitting the larger but duller animals like in the Br'er Rabbit (like slaves outwitting masters) |
| racism | discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race |
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