The Effects of Slavery on the African-American Family Structure

During the mid-1800s, it was challenging being a slave. Belonging to another human being instead of being free brought numerous hardships African Americans had to endure. It brought about unimaginable pain, frustration, disruption, and stress. In America, slavery was glorified, even though, families were separated and destroyed. Slavery made it tedious to have stability in families because of the effects it had on the African American people. After reading “How Affected African American Families” and “Narrative of Jenny Proctor,” slavery caused African American families to cope with separation, unfair marriage stipulations, horrible living condition, mistreatment and labor, and also the ending of slavery.

The “Public Sale of Negroes, by Richard Clagett, depicts a typical auction in 1883. Although, it is important to note that “typical” in the 1800’s is very far from the typical of today. What is interesting or peculiar about this auction and many others in this time is that they were auctioning and selling people. The “Institution of Slavery” or chattel slavery, or even simply slavery, was the mistreatment of people as personal property and objects, where they were bought and sold and forced to perform work and labor. This “institution” was entirely legal, recognized at the writing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and ended by legal abolishment December 1865,

This paper discusses the experiences of African American Women under slavery during the Slave Trade, their exploitation, the secrecy, the variety of tasks and positions of slave women, slave and ex-slave narratives, and significant contributions to history. Also, this paper presents the hardships African American women faced and the challenges they overcame to become equal with men in today’s society. Slavery was a destructive experience for African Americans especially women. Black women suffered doubly during the slave era.

During the times of slavery, colored individuals were labeled as “other” in the United States. Black families were categorized as pathological, deviant, and in need of fixing. Black families struggled a lot. Poverty rates were sky high for single women who were the head of their household, especially for Black and Latino women. They were also the face of the homeless community, which was growing rapidly. The government then decided to implement marriage and fatherliness encouragements to ease poverty which resulted in societal problems surrounding the Black and Latino women.

The life of African Americans in the 1800 was so harsh and unfair. Their owners would treat them cruelly and made them work long hours. They were not fed and had no sanitation which led to malnutrition and disease. Many young girls also went through sexual abuse and owners wouldn’t even get prosecuted because they were the ones who ruled everything. They separated many families from husbands, wife’s, and children. Those who were not prepared suffered every day because they were not with their families. Many of them never saw their family again.

During early 19th century, the entrenchment of Southern slavery, there was discussion between planters who benefitted from it and abolitionists who fought against it. Most Americans, especially those in Southern states, understood that slavery system could not help parting from their economic and social system. Southern slavery system brought big economical benefits. However, it negatively influenced American society as a whole rather that positively.

In this debate, the discussion will surround whether or not slavery destroyed the Black family. A family is a social unit living together and people descended from a common ancestor. The debate focuses on Wilma A. Dunaway who posits that slavery did destroy the Black family, and her opponent, Eugene D. Genovese, who says that slavery did not destroy the Black family. By analyzing Dunway, Genovese, and a host of other writers I have gather my own ideas for one side to agree with.

In today's world, there is such a big emphasis on education and its importance. And there should be an emphasis. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same attitude about receiving a good education. This article attempts to discuss the attitudes of African American's towards education when a stable family structure is absent.

Several African American families were separated and torn apart. Thousands of slaves were forced from the East to the Southwest or Deep South. Several people died from this passage due to conditions like malnutrition and extreme labor. The idea of “fictive kin” became a mechanism for the enslaved to cope with the new conditions. Fictive kin, though not blood relations, created family-like relationships with other members of the slave society that had been torn from their families. With the brutal expansion of slaves, many slaves became angered and violent. Rebellion was more likely than ever in this time. Religion was another coping mechanism among the enslaved. Plantation churches were a place of comfort for the enslaved people. The churches emphasized the slaves pursuing reward in their next

During the antebellum South, many Africans, who were forced migrants brought to America, were there to work for white-owners of tobacco and cotton plantations, manual labor as America expanded west, and as supplemental support of their owner’s families. Harriet Jacobs’s slave narrative supports the definition of slavery (in the South), discrimination (in the North), sexual gender as being influential to a slave’s role, the significant role of family support, and how the gender differences viewed and responded to life circumstances.

   Historically, the job of women in society is to care for the husband, the home, and the children. As a homemaker, it has been up to the woman to support the husband and care for the house; as a mother, the role was to care for the children and pass along cultural traditions and values to the children. These roles are no different in the African-American community, except for the fact that they are magnified to even larger proportions. The image of the mother in African-American culture is one of guidance, love, and wisdom; quite often the mother is the shaping and driving force of African-American children. This is reflected in the literature of the

Imagine being forced to work for people who have bought you, and not being treated equally due to your race. Well this act occurred during the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth century. This was known as slavery. African Americans were sold to Caucasians, where their freedom would be taken away from them. It was a consistent struggle to fight through the discrimination, that was occurring. African Americans who were willing to risk their lives had the ability to have freedom. However, it was a long crucial journey for people on the underground railroad. Even so, freedom wasn’t always guaranteed. Caucasians did awful things to African Americans, which will never be forgotten. The Pledge of Allegiance says “ … one nation, indivisible…” however, at one point we were not a nation. We were divided. To this day and in one hundred years we will always have that division, based on the act of slavery.

Slavery had also been present in New York from the earliest days of Dutch settlement. As their role expanded so did slavery in the city, 30 percent of its laborers were slaves. Most came from different cultures, spoke different languages, and practiced many regions. Slavery allowed different individuals who would never otherwise have encountered, their bond was not kinship, language, or even race, but the impressment of slavery. They eventually came together an created a cohesive culture and community that took many years, and it processed at different rates of speed in different regions.

As it was common for large amounts of African slaves to live on one plantation, families began to become prevalent among slave communities. Slave owners actually encouraged marraige because it generally meant better moral among the slaves and thus less opposition, as well as, because slave marraiges meant children which would become the slave owner’s next generation of laborers. Therefore, slave families grew quickly and became a key aspect of slave culture. Instead of relying on friends on the plantation, slaves had their families to go back to. Black mothers found great joy and happiness in their newborns, even though childbirth deaths were common, but

Shielded from the atrocities of slavery during her childhood, Jacobs depicts family life among slaves as one that remains intact in a “comfortable home” (29) through the example of her own family. Each member held limited rights along with the ability to work and the privilege to use their earnings as they pleased. It is not until the death of her mistress where she finally begins to feel the effects of slavery in the sudden separation of her family who are “all distributed among her [mistress’s] relatives” (Jacobs 33). The separation of family is one of the most integral subjects of her narrative since “motherhood [plays a great role] in her life” (Wolfe 518). Jacobs appeals to the emotions of her female audiences by contrasting a slave mother’s agonies in her separation from her children with the “happy free women” (40) whose children remain with her since “no hand” (40) has the right to take them away. The separation of families in Douglass’s narrative does call for some pity but the event is not as tragic in comparison to