Domestic slave trade
One of the ways in which the domestic slave trade affected black life is by changing the social, economic value of women’s labor. Women and girls started performing the same tasks as men- working in the plantations as slaves. According to Diana Ramey Berry, enslaved women and girls worked in the fields, performing the same physical labor as their male counterparts. Although women and girls still performed other feminine occupations like cooking, cleaning, sewing, and weaving, they started working in traditionally male jobs, especially in the fields. Therefore women’s gender roles changed from cooking and cleaning to performing manual tasks in the cotton plantations. They became agricultural laborers like their male counterparts.
Secondly, the domestic slave trade brought about a lot of misery to black life. According to (Deyle, 2005), the domestic slave trade brought about immense human suffering as the slaves were transported from the Upper south Deep South to work in the plantations. Deyle (2005) argues that these Africans were subjected to harsh working conditions like long working hours. The trade also brought misery by separating families and increasing the climate of insecurity in the community. The most affected people were women who were forced to work in the field instead of performing their traditional jobs of cooking, laundry, weaving, and nurturing. The domestic slave trade also distributed the population of African Americans throughout the south.
Enslaved Africans tried to resist bondage in many ways, though it was challenging to do so. The enslavers curtailed their efforts to oppose slavery. Most of their efforts did not bear fruits, and the slaves were put under control by the owners of the farms. Anyone found resisting were severely punished and hunted down with dogs. Chapter 7 explains some of how the enslaved resisted slavery by burning a meal, stealing food, and feigning ignorance. Other methods of resisting bondage included stealing from the owners, robbing him of his property, and profit. They would sabotage the operations in the farms by damaging the machinery and tools so that it would never work again or take a lot of time to repair. The slaves could avoid work by working very slowly or pretending to be sick.
Cobb (2016), explains that pregnant women would terminate their pregnancies so that the newborn babies would not be subjected to slavery. In doing so, women rebelled against the slavery system as well as deprived the enslavers of another slave. In other circumstances, women who used to cook would poison the enslavers using medicines from plants (Cobb, 2016). They could use any means to kill the owner of the plantations. Other slaves would run away as a means of resisting slavery.
The most significant opportunity that African Americans had to freedom was education. In chapter 6, Wilma King explains the importance of education among the enslaved in their path to finding freedom. Education established the enslaved as intellectuals, orators, and writers, which allowed black women to create essential roles both for themselves and for the entire American society. The obstacles to freedom faced by blacks include stereotyping and myths about black inferiority. Southern state laws and customs also denied the enslaved Africans access to education and literacy.
Free blacks maintained a close relationship with the enslaved blacks to ensure they were freed too. Free blacks would stage demonstrations to ensure that their enslaved colleagues were released. One of the central attempts to free enslaved Africans was led by Gabriel, who organized thousands of slaves to attack Richmond to end slavery in Virginia (Cobb, 2016). The 1781 Haitian Revolt was a great inspiration to both the free and enslaved blacks that they could win the battle of ending slavery. The revolt terrified the whites throughout the United States. Free black people also used to challenge the prevailing stereotypes about black inferiority, their aim being to free their enslaved colleagues. Free African Americans fought for freedom and equality and protested against slavery and racism. All this was done to ensure that the enslaved Africans were freed.