Slavery by Greta C.

Many of the slaves in the Chesapeake (or mid Atlantic region) interacted with whites frequently, much as was the case in the North. However, these slaves had less autonomy and suffered harsh treatment more often. They were better supervised than their low country counterparts being that they worked in tiny groups on smaller plantations. Just as was the case in the lower south, there was antagonism between different groups of slaves. The economy was built and maintained on the lash-scarred backs of unwilling slaves.  They were viciously whipped for the slightest infraction, but not to the extent they perished, because they were property and represented an investment.  Also treated as pieces of property, slave women frequently were raped by their white owners, sometimes as their husbands watched, helplessly.  It was a social system built on the total humiliation of one group of people by another, the dehumanization of other human beings.

Some of America’s most revered leaders and founders, George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were themselves slave owners.  Jefferson inherited some 250 slaves from his father and father-in-law.  Despite his professed objection to slavery in principle, he kept slaves until his death.

http://www.nytimes.com

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