American Slavery was not the Vast Evil it is Portrayed as

My goal is simply to show slavery in America was not the vast evil it is portrayed as. Of course I am not saying this is true of each and every case, but that it is generally true of slavery as a whole. I dont think it is needed to describe what we are told slavery was like so I will not waste any time hear. I will simply challenge some of what we is genrally believed. Note- Many quotes will come from former slaves from the slave narratives, the language is unaltered for authenticity. The slave’s diet and living quarters“Dey had to feed us an plenty of it, cause us couldnt wuk if dey dident feed us good. ”-Alec Bostwick Georgia Slave NarrativesTo purchase an expensive slave and not feed them, would not give the purchaser a return on their purchase. As owners knew, slaves need energy to work. If you underfed them, then you would lose out on their potential production. Slave’s food consumption passed the free man’s consumption of 1879 by 10%. They averaged 6oz of meat a day (1 oz below free whites) and ate a variety of fruits/vegetables/grains. The slave’s diet exceeds the modern [1964] recommended daily intake. Poor whites use to come to large plantations and beg for food from the slaves. The federal census of 1860 determined that the ordinary plantation was well quartered with 5.2 slaves per house compared to 5.3 for whites. Since the family unit was often encourages by owners, slave’s families often got or would get, if they married and started a family, a house of their own on the plantation. The slave’s material condition was greater than the northern industrial worker of the time. Scientist, Sir Charles Lyell, said of the slave quarters “Neat as the greater part of the cottages in Scotland”. “The slaves were well provided for” -Northern abolishionist Frederick Law Olmsted Medical treatment"Old massa have doctor for us when us sick. We's too val'ble"-Abmstead Barrett Texas Slave narratives"De owners always tuk care of us, and when us got sick dey would git a doctor”-Henry Cheatam Alabama Slave Narratives “Studies of probate record suggest that most slaves received as much medical care as their owners” -T. J Stiles, author of “Jesse James last Rebel of the Civil War” Laws were in place to ensure that the owner's must care for and meet the needs of the slaves. Plantation owners spent more money on slaves than freemen did on their children decades after the civil war. Often on larger plantations they would have their own mini-hospital, with an on-site doctor. Smaller plantations would often have an on-site nurse. In the decades following the war, when the slaves were freed, African American’s life expectancy dropped by 10% and sickness rose by 20%. They received better medical care while in slavery under the care of an invested master. “White folks jus had to be good to sick slaves, cause slaves was property. For old master to lose a slave was losin money” -Rachael Adams Georgia Slave Narratives Condition of the slave in the South / Work all day, no play? “To say that they are under worked and overfed and are far happier than the labors of great Britan would hardly convey a sufficiently clear notion of their actual condition. They put me much more in mind of a community of grown children, spoiled by to much kindness, than a body of dependents. Much less a community of slaves”-Louis F Tasistro of Great Britain“The slaves do not go around looking unhappy, and are with difficulty, I fancy, persuaded to feel so. Whips and chains oaths and brutality are as common, for all that one sees, in the free as the slave states. We have come thus far, and might have gone ten times as far, I dare say, without seeing the first sign of negro misery or white tyranny”-Bostonian Charles Elliot Norton, while in South Carolina“One might almost imagine one's self to be in Hayti [Haiti] and think that colored people had got possession of the town and held sway, while the whites were living among them as sufferance”-Englishmen James Silk Buckingham, visited Virginia in 1840'sMany thought that slavery was beneficial to the negro, especially the removal from Africa. By leaving Africa, their quality of life increased in every way. Southern slaves worked 10% less than northern farmers on average, because crop production took less time than animal and dairy farming common in the north. In the 1840's Scottish observer William Thompson said slaves don't work “One fourth so much as a scotch. ” Some plantations had 5 hour work days and others were always done by 2-3 in the afternoon. Because of sick slaves old and young, usually around 1/3 of slaves on a given plantation were not working or doing very light work. Slaves’ income varied, and with good effort would be rewarded with higher level jobs, such as running the plantation. 7% of slaves were in some managerial job. Slaves had down time as well as their own money to spend. Often they had their own business on the side to make extra cash to spend. Slave “renting” was common, this is where a skilled slave [carpentry, blacksmith etc] would advertise their services, negotiate their own contracts, and own their own place of business. Slaves in America learned more skills than anywhere in Africa. Slaves started dominating certain trades in cities. This caused some southern whites to get upset at the slave owners because the slaves were taking all the carpentry, blacksmith, and cabin making jobs. Slaves often owned property of their own on the plantation. In typical slave owning Germantown, LA, slaves maintained their own accounts at stores and freely made purchases at the stores. During free time Slaves worked at local stores, earning the same wages as whites according to store records. Slaves sold goods to the store that they made or grew in their downtime and from their own property. At the store, slaves purchased “luxury” and “snack” items, as basic needs were cared for by their owner. The slaves also bought gun powder, knives, and writing utensils. In the book,Time on the Cross, they estimated slaves received as much as 90% of the wages they earned (with modern tax rates, few earn that much today. “Slaves received on average better and more certain compensation [for work] than any laboring people”-R. L Dabney, A Defense of Virginia and the South Many would purchase their own freedom, other slaves, and land. Some would become prosperous slave owners themselves, or tradesmen and business owners. Often slaves and free blacks worked a plantation owned by a white that was residing in other part of country; the owner would only be their seasonally. “De young folks don't know nothing about good times and good living, dey don't understand how come I wish I wuz still in slavery. "-Adam Smith, Mississippi Slave Narratives "Wen I sit and think of all the good things we had to eat an all the fun we had, 'course we had to work, but you knows, when a crowd all works togather and sings and laughs, first thing you know--the works all done. "-Ellen King, Mississippi Slave Narratives “That was a happy time, with happy days. I’ll be satisfied to see my Savior that my old marster worshiped and my husband preach about. I wants to be in heaven with all my white folks, just to wait on them and love them, and serve them, sorta like I did in slavery time. That will be enough heaven for Adeline" -Adeline Johnson Slave Narratives"Lawsey man, dem were de days! We usta have some good times. We could have all the fun we wanted on Sa'dday nights, and we sho had it, cuttin monkey shines, and dancing all night long. Sometimes our mistis would come down early to watch us. "-Sidney Bonner, Alabama Slave Narratives“Miss, us niggers on de Bennett place [Plantation] wuz free as soon as we wuz bawn. I always been free”-Hannah Irwin, Alabama Slave Narratives“Cotton pickin was big fun too, and when dey got through pickin de cotton dey et and drank and danced till dey could dance no more”-Rachael Adams Georgia Slave Narratives“Slavery times wuz sho good times. We wuz fed an' clothed an' had nothin to worry about”-Sarah and Tom Douglas, Alabama Slave Narratives“In slavery days the negroes had quilt tings, dances, picnics and everybody had a good time”-Arrie Binns Georgia slave narratives“Dem days fore de war was good old days, speically for de colored folks. .oh missy dem was good old days us would be lucky to have em back. You could hear niggers singin in de fields cause dey diden't have no worries lak dey got now. .. dat cornshukin wuz easy wid everyone sigin and havin a good time together. .. old times when folkes loved one another den dey does now. ”-Jasper Battle Georgia Slave Narratives“How they sang; how they laughed and grinned. .. heard amongst the black folks endless singing, shouting and laughter; and saw on holidays black gentlemen and ladies arrayed in such splendor and comfort as freeborn workmen in our english towns seldom exhibit”-English novelist, William M. Thackeray"I think slavery was a good thing. I never suffered for nothin'. "-Perry Sheppard, Slave Narratives“My white people dey good tuh me. .. .why, ah was jes lak dey's chullun [Children] ah played wid em, et wid em an' eb' n slep wid 'em. .. .. Dem was good ol times, ah tel yuh, honey. .. .”-Mrs. Candis Goodwin, Virginia Slave Narratives“"I think slavery was a mighty good thing for Mother, Father, me and the other members of the family, and I cannot say anything but good for my old marster and missus, but I can only speak for those whose conditions I have known during slavery and since. For myself and them, I will say again, slavery was a mighty good thing. ”-Slave Mary Anderson, North Carolina Slave Narratives Refrences -Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938-Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery by Robert William Fogel and Stanley Engermann 1974 W. W Norton and company NY,NY. -Myths of American slavery Walter D Kennedy 2003 Pelican publishing company Ran out of room sorry