It included coerced sexual relations between enslaved men and women or girls, forced pregnancies of enslaved women, and favoring women or young girls who could produce a relatively large number of children.
Mothers were taken from their own children to nurse the offspring of their masters. And slave children were torn from mothers and brought into the house to be raised alongside the master's sons and daughters.
While some women attempted not to become mothers, and a minority were unable to reproduce, most women negotiated childbirth and raising children within the confines of the slave regime, and they took a lot of care in raising their daughters to survive enslavement as females.
Evidence indicates that many enslaved parents named their children after the first generation or so of family members brought to America. Recognizable patterns of change in names and naming practices are evident from the mid-eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century and on through the 1860s.
The risk of sale in the international slave trade peaked between the ages of fifteen and twenty five, but the vulnerability of being sold began as early as age eight and certainly by the age of ten, when enslaved children could work competently on the fields.
As a result of this high infant and childhood death rate, the average life expectancy of a slave at birth was just 21 or 22 years, compared to 40 to 43 years for antebellum whites. Compared to whites, relatively few slaves lived into old age.
During their limited leisure hours, particularly on Sundays and holidays, slaves engaged in singing and dancing. Though slaves used a variety of musical instruments, they also engaged in the practice of "patting juba" or the clapping of hands in a highly complex and rhythmic fashion.
9 Slaves were prohibited from marrying because, as long as they were in a state of bondage, they lacked the capacity to enter into any legally enforceable civil contracts. Once emancipated and granted the capacity to contract, the right of freed slaves to marry was undisputed.
Running away carried heavy risks. If runaways were caught, they would be physically punished, usually by whipping, and might be made to wear chains or handcuffs to prevent them from running again. But if an escape was successful, they did not just gain their freedom.
At the age of sixteen, enslaved boys and girls were considered full-fledged workers, tasked as farm laborers or forced into trades.
Slave children, under their parents and masters, lived in fear of punishment and isolation. Though circumstances widely varied, they often worked in fields with adults, tended animals, cleaned and served in their owners' houses, and took care of younger children while their parents were working.
Most slaves never knew the day they were born. They often had to guess at the year of their birth. Knowing one's birthday gives a sense of destiny.
Slaves were punished for not working fast enough, for being late getting to the fields, for defying authority, for running away, and for a number of other reasons. The punishments took many forms, including whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, and being sold away from the plantation.
Within African American communities, couples who entered into unions were considered to be married. Marriages could be established as simply getting the slaveholders permission and sharing a cabin. If they shared vows, the wording had to be modified.
Slaves might attempt to run away for a number of reasons: to escape cruel treatment, to join a revolt or to meet with friends and families on neighbouring plantations. Families were not necessarily kept together by those who bought and sold them.
African slaves no longer had access to their natural herbs, butters and oils to take care of their hair. They resorted to bacon grease, butter, and kerosene as their moisturizers, conditioners, and shampoo.
At least 2 million Africans--10 to 15 percent--died during the infamous "Middle Passage" across the Atlantic. Another 15 to 30 percent died during the march to or confinement along the coast. Altogether, for every 100 slaves who reached the New World, another 40 had died in Africa or during the Middle Passage.
Music was a way for slaves to express their feelings whether it was sorrow, joy, inspiration or hope. Songs were passed down from generation to generation throughout slavery. These songs were influenced by African and religious traditions and would later form the basis for what is known as “Negro Spirituals”.
Although the enslaved Africans were permitted provision grounds and gardens in the villages to grow food, these were not enough to stop them suffering from starvation in times of poor harvests.
In 18th-century America, the typical age of marriage for middle-to-upper class white women was 22 and 26 for men. Women began courting as early as 15 or 16, but most delayed marriage until their early twenties.
During the fighting, in 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This document freed all enslaved people in the Confederate states. In 1865 the Confederacy was defeated. Then slavery was abolished in the United States by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
During the winter, slaves toiled for around eight hours each day, while in the summer the workday might have been as long as fourteen hours. Sunday was a day off for everyone at Mount Vernon, both free persons and slaves.
Some became slaves after being captured in wars or raids. Others became slaves because they had committed crimes or could not pay their debts. Some people were sold into slavery by their relatives. Others were children of slaves.