Overview of Slavery

Detail of Large group of slaves standing in front of buildings on Smith's Plantation, Beaufort, South Carolina, 1862. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

• Slavery Timeline
  See key events in the history of slavery in America.
• Slaves in South Carolina: 1525-1865
  Read more about the selling of slaves, the life of a slave, and black revolts in South Carolina.
• A Year in the Life
  Read the entries from a plantation account book to learn more about the life on a plantation.
• Enslavement
  Read selections from letters and first-person narratives from former slaves.

In Their Own Words

• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938
  Read the first-person accounts of slavery from former slaves.
• Recollections of Slavery by a Runaway Slave
  This slave narrative was published in The Emancipator in 1838.

Slavery in the Colonies

• Contract of Indenture
  This contract specified a three year period of indenture for labor in exchange for transportation and a sum of money.
• Eighteenth Century Overseer Site
  Learn more about the culture, life, and hardships of overseers in South Carolina in the eighteenth century.
• Slave Code of South Carolina, May 1740
  South Carolina’s Slave Code of 1740 was a series of laws aimed at controlling the population of enslaved African Americans.
• The Stono Rebellion
  The Stono Rebellion was the largest slave uprising in the British Colonies until the American Revolution.

Culture

• The Gullah Creole Language
  The Gullah language has influences in African dialects, West Indian languages, and English.
• The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection
  Plantation owners preferred slaves from the African rice-growing region of West Africa to cultivate the rice crops in South Carolina and Georgia.
• Early African American Religion
  African religious customs blended with Christianity as slaves held secret religious meetings and sang spirituals with double meanings of salvation and freedom from slavery.
  • A Slave Preaching
• Negro Spirituals, 1867
  Read the lyrics of many spirituals sung by former slaves and written down for the Atlantic Monthly magazine in 1867.

Images & Artifacts

• Cast in Bondage
  Copper neck tags from Charleston highlight the experience of slaves hired out as laborers.
• Beyond Face Value: Depictions of Slavery in Confederate Currency
  Explore Confederate currency that featured images of slavery.
• Images of Slave Life
  Explore images of slave life along the African coast, America, and the Caribbean islands.
• Slave Artifacts
  Take a look at several artifacts made and worn by slaves, including shackles, servant tags, and a slave-made chair.

Abolitionism

Abolitionist Sarah Moore Grimké (1792-1873). Image courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

• Sarah Grimke Sarah Grimke and her sister Angelina became ardent supporters of the Abolitionist movement.
• Breaking the Chains: The End of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
  Read more about the end of slavery in Britain and the Americas.
• Petition from Pennsylvania Abolition Societies asking South Carolina to Abolish the Slave Trade, 1795
  This petition was sent to the South Carolina Assembly asking to end their involvement in the slave trade and prepare slaves for eventual freedom.

Explore with DISCUS*

* Requires access to the DISCUS databases. Learn more here.

• Slavery
  Find out more about slavery and indentured servants in the Americas and around the world.
• Free African Americans: 1619-1860
  African-Americans who were free had many restrictions that kept them from enjoying complete freedom.
• Troublesome Property: The Many Forms of Slave Resistance
  Slaves resisted their masters in many ways, from running away to suicide to music and singing.