The History of Slavery in America
By: Timmy Eppich
Slavery in America
How were slaves in America treated? Slaves worked long hours, they would work up to 18 hours a day. There meals consisted mainly of fatty meats like bacon. Slaves were punished if they made a mistake or didn't work hard enough in the field. The main punishment for a slave would be getting whipped. Slaves were not allowed to attend school because plantation owners feared the if they knew how to read and right they could contact people on the outside world and plan to escape. If a slave was caught trying to escape he was either brutally whipped or killed.
Finally in 1865 slavery became illegal in the United States with the 13th amendment to the US constitution. In 1787 slavery is made illegal in the northwest territory of the US. In 1820 the Missouri compromise made slavery illegal bans slavery north of the southern boundary of Missouri. In 1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and creates the underground railroad to help slaves escape to freedom. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stow's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published and is was one of the most influential books of all time. Abe Lincolns views on slavery were not that he wanted to end it during the civil war but that he wanted to hold the country together. The emancipation proclamation turned the civil war into a war on slavery because it didn't free a single slave.
My Plan to Improve Racism
How to Improve Race Relations
Why do these tensions still exist today. The legacy of slavery is contributing to these racial tensions. It is very hard to forget about our Americans legacy of slavery because so many people supported slavery and were willing to die to keep it. Also because our country had about 10.7 million slaves and because between 1.2 and 2.4 million slaves were killed in America.
My idea to improve race relations in America is to create a museum to show the terrible history of slavery. My museum will be in Washington DC. My museum will have artifacts from 1619 when slavery started to 1863 when slavery ended. it will have artifacts such as clothes, whips, and other belongings of slaves from that time period. Also there will be an exact copy of a slave shed so you can see what conditions slaves had to live in.