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The 550,000 enslaved Black people living in Virginia constituted one third of the state's population in 1860. Travelers to Virginia were appalled by the system of slavery they saw practiced there. In 1842, the English novelist Charles Dickens wrote of the "gloom and dejection" and "ruin and decay" that he attributed to "this horrible institution."

A majority of inhabitants in some of Virginia's eastern counties were held in bondage. In the western counties, rugged terrain made slavery impractical. In 1829, white citizens there demanded representation in a government controlled by easterners with different interests. In 1861, they formed the new state of West Virginia rather than join the Confederacy.
Slave Life
The majority of enslaved men, women, and children provided agricultural labor for their enslavers. Trained craftspeople worked in skilled trades such as coopering, blacksmithing, and carpentry. A smaller group of men and women cooked, cleaned, served meals, and raised the children of the enslaver's family. On Sundays, enslaved individuals tended to their own gardens and livestock provided by their enslavers, practiced religion, and engaged with family and friends.

Through their families, religion, folklore, and music, as well as more direct forms of resistance, African Americans resisted the debilitating effects of slavery and created a vital culture supportive of human dignity. At the same time, enslaved Black people exerted a profound influence on all aspects of American culture. Language, music, cuisine, and architecture in the United States are all heavily influenced by African traditions and are part of a uniquely American culture.
Slave Religion and Folklore
Throughout slavery and beyond, spirituality and the church served a vital role in Black communities. Religious practices nurtured the soul and fostered pride and identity in the face of the dehumanizing effects of slavery and segregation. Baptist and Methodist ministers preached hope and redemption to enslaved people who fashioned Christian gospels into a communal music of spirituals about salvation, deliverance, and resistance. They also helped preserve African traditions through music, funeral customs, and call-and-response forms of worship. Religious meetings-whether secret gatherings in the woods or church congregations-became crucibles for collective activism.

Enslaved African Americans continued a rich tradition of African parables, proverbs, and legends. Through folklore, they maintained a sense of identity and taught valuable lessons to their children. The central figures were cunning tricksters, often represented as tortoises, spiders, or rabbits, who defeated more powerful enemies through wit and guile, not power and authority.
Music and Food
The musical traditions of enslaved communities merged European practices with intricate rhythm patterns, off-key notes, foot patting, and a strong rhythmic drive. Music was incorporated into religious ceremonies as shouts and "sorrow songs;" "field hollers" and work songs helped coordinate group tasks; and satirical songs were a form of resistance that commented on the injustices of the slave system.

African Americans adapted Indigenous, European, and African food traditions-such as deep-fat frying, gumbo, and fricassee-to feed their own families as well as those of their enslavers. Pork and corn were the primary rations issued to those who were enslaved, but they were supplemented by plants and animals grown or raised or gathered from nearby rivers and fields.
The Slave Trade and Slave Auction
After an 1808 act of Congress abolished the international slave trade, a domestic trade flourished. Richmond became the largest slave-trading center in the Upper South, and the slave trade was Virginia's largest industry. It accounted for the sale-and resulting destruction of families and social networks-of as many as two million Black people from Richmond to the Deep South, where the cotton industry provided a market for enslaved labor.

Prices of enslaved people varied widely over time. They rose to a high of about $1,250 during the cotton boom of the late 1830s, fell to below half that level in the 1840s, and rose to about $1,450 in the late 1850s. Males were valued 10 to 20 percent more than females; at age ten, children's prices were about half that of a prime male field hand.
Resistance
The management of an enslaved workforce was a frequent topic of debate among slaveholders. Over time an elaborate system of controls was developed that included the legal system, religion, incentives, physical punishment, and intimidation to keep enslaved people working. None was completely successful.

While slaveholders asserted that their workforce was loyal, they also lived in constant fear of a revolt. White southerners prohibited enslaved African Americans from learning to read, restricted their movement, prevented them from meeting in groups, and publicly punished those who attempted to escape slavery. Slave codes also punished white Virginians who assisted Black people in violating the codes.

Denied their unalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, enslaved Americans were trapped in a cruel and unacceptable lifestyle. Some enslaved Virginians instigated organized, armed rebellion or attempted escape, even though success was unlikely and punishments included execution and disfigurement. Most engaged in day-to-day resistance-breaking equipment, stealing foodstuffs, slowing the work-pace. The most effective resistance was the formation of a distinct culture that perpetuated African American traditions of music, storytelling, and cuisine, and was bolstered by strong religious beliefs.

Travelers to Virginia were appalled by the system of slavery they saw practiced there. In 1842, the English novelist Charles Dickens wrote of the "gloom and dejection" and "ruin and decay" that he attributed to "this horrible institution." Inevitably, the intolerable abuses caused a number to commit suicide. A few initiated rebellion--the ultimate crisis imagined by the slaveowner.
Gabriel's Conspiracy, 1800
Gabriel was a literate enslaved blacksmith hired out to work in Richmond by his enslaver, Thomas Prosser of Henrico County. With some freedom of movement, access to others enslaved men, and information about uprisings elsewhere, Gabriel planned a rebellion against slavery in central Virginia. Two enslaved men betrayed the plot. In response, white Virginians arrested and prosecuted more than seventy men for insurrection and conspiracy. Gabriel and twenty-five of his followers were hanged.
The Nat Turner Revolt, 1831
Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher and self-proclaimed prophet, led the bloodiest slave revolt in U.S. history in Southampton County. Over the course of two days in late August 1831, he and his conspirators killed 58 white men, women, and children before government troops quelled the insurrection. The state tried and executed Turner and 19 conspirators. White vigilantes retaliated with violence, resulting in about 40 additional deaths.

The event sent shockwaves throughout the nation and deepened the divide over slavery. Defenders of the institution blamed "Yankee" influence and what they believed was the violent character of Black people. Antislavery factions argued that this revolt demonstrated the corruptive effects of slavery and refuted enslavers' claims of the "contented" slave.

Turner's revolt also prompted Virginia's General Assembly to debate the fate of slavery in its 1831-1832 session. Legislators considered proposals for abolition, but ultimately decided to maintain slavery. They also passed new restrictions on Black Virginians, including requiring Black congregations to be supervised by a white minister, and making it illegal to teach Black people to read. This was the last time a government of a slave state considered ending slavery until the Civil War.
John Brown's Raid, 1859
Led by the radical abolitionist, John Brown, eighteen whites and five African Americans, seized the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in October 1859. Among them was Dangerfield Newby, a former slave from the Shenandoah Valley. For Newby the cause was deeply personal: his wife and children were still in bondage. After a failed attempt to buy their freedom and fearing their sale to the Deep South, Newby joined Brown's small army. He was killed on the first day of fighting. Brown's attempt to take rifles stored there, escape into the mountains, and start a slave revolt failed. Five raiders escaped, ten were killed, and nine-including Brown-were captured and executed. Sectionalist tension heightened as southerners feared additional violence.
The Abolitionist Movement and Manumission in Virginia
A society for promoting abolition was organized by 1790, and publications appeared as early as St. George Tucker's Dissertation of 1796. The self-criticism and efforts for abolition ended, however, after Nat Turner's rebellion of 1831. From that point forward, most white Virginians approved of the practice, denied its evils, and defended it as a "positive good."

In 1782, the General Assembly allowed enslavers to free the people they enslaved. Some did. Many of their manumission documents are written with condemnation of "the injustice and criminality" of slavery: "Being fully persuaded that freedom is the Natural Right of all Mankind and that it is my duty to do unto others as I would desire to be done by in the like situation, I hereby Emancipate and set free the said Slave ______."
The Colonization Movement
The growing number of free Black individuals in Virginia-more than 30,000 in 1810-challenged the assumption that black skin equaled enslavement. Free persons of color also presented what enslavers feared was a dangerous example. These tensions prompted the 1816 creation of the American Colonization Society, devoted to removing free Black Americans to Africa. A number of white Virginians-including James Monroe and John Randolph of Roanoke-joined antislavery northerners in this effort.

The colonization movement was controversial among Black Americans. As New York City's Colored American newspaper explained, "This Country is Our Only Home. It is our duty and privilege to claim an equal place among the American people." In 1830, Liberia had only about 1,400 settlers. Ultimately, 15,000 Black people emigrated and-in some ways-patterned their society after the American South.

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Slavery | Virginia Museum of History & Culture

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The 550,000 enslaved Black people living in Virginia constituted one third of the state's population in 1860. Travelers to Virginia were appalled by the system of slavery they saw practiced there. In 1842, the English novelist Charles Dickens wrote of the "gloom and dejection" and "ruin and decay" that he attributed to "this horrible institution."

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CODIFICATION
OF THE
STATUTE LAW OF GEORGIA,

INCLUDING THE
ENGLISH STATUTES OF FORCE:
IN FOUR PARTS.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED
A COLLECTION OF STATE PAPERS,

OF
ENGLISH, AMERICAN, AND STATE ORIGIN;

TOGETHER WITH AN
APPENDIX, AND INDEX.,

AND ALSO
A COLLECTION OF LEGAL FORMS,
IN USE IN GEORGIA.

COMPILED, DIGESTED, AND ARRANGED, BY
WILLIAM A. HOTCHKISS,
BY AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE.

(SECOND EDITION)
AUGUSTA:
PUBLISHED BY CHARLES E. GRENVILLE.
1848

1. Latter clause of this act repealed. Omitted.

2. See ante chap. xxx, ¶ 53, p. 771.

3. See preceding ¶ 13.

4. Query as to constitutionality of this provision for indictment.

5. See ant Chap. xxx, ¶ 21, p. 762.

6. See post ¶ 23-34-43.

7. See preceding ¶ 27.

8. See succeeding ¶ when jurors may be drawn.

9. Act of Dec. 19, 1816, Prince 791.

10. See ante ¶ 43.

11. Sheriffs to execute sentence for capital offences.

12. Repealed by act of Dec. 19, 1793. See post ¶ 56, 57.

13. For the performance of duties in the trial of slaves and free persons of color.

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Slave Codes of the State of Georgia, 1848

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CODIFICATION OF THE STATUTE LAW OF GEORGIA, INCLUDING THE ENGLISH STATUTES OF FORCE: IN FOUR PARTS. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A COLLECTION OF STATE PAPERS, OF ENGLISH, AMERICAN, AND STATE ORIGIN; TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX, AND INDEX., AND ALSO A COLLECTION OF LEGAL FORMS, IN USE IN GEORGIA.

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Family Life. Despite the facts that marriages between slaves were not recognized by law and family members could be sold away at any time, most slaves married, maintained monogamous relationships throughout their lives, and lived in households headed by mothers and fathers. Indeed, slaveholders often encouraged their slaves to marry (in part to increase the number of slaves they owned), but the threat of separation remained an everpresent barrier to stability. Precise numbers are impossible to determine, but some historians believe that approximately one-third of all slave marriages were broken by the sale of the husband or wife. In the face of this instability slaves established strong communities based on extended family members and nonrelatives, who were often called "aunt" or "uncle." Young children often were not raised solely by their motherswho had to return to their labor in the big house or in the fields as soon as possible after they had given birth-but were cared for by a network of older, slave women. In his Narrative Frederick Douglass explained, "I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life" because her master had hired her out to another planter. Douglass's experience reveals most vividly what abolitionists claimed to be one of the most virulent evils of slavery: that slaves were deprived of one of the most basic comforts of life, a family. Even for those who did grow up with their families one of the first lessons they learned about their fate as slaves was that their parents were not the ultimate authority-the master or mistress was. Parents could not protect their children from punishment or abuse but could only help their children develop ways to cope with their masters or mistress's maltreatment.

Field and House. Slaves who lived on small farms performed a wide variety of tasks alongside their owners, men and women following the gendered divisions of labor their masters and mistresses performed. On large plantations most slaves were field hands who generally worked from sunrise until sunset every day but Sunday. Those who were skilled artisans, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, or shoemakers, were not only relieved from the drudgery of field work but were likely to be hired out to ironworks, laundries, textile mills, shipyards, sawmills, or even white artisans' homes, where they would earn wages, a portion of which each might be allowed to keep. The most coveted work on the plantation, though, was in the big house. The household servants, most of whom were women, were viewed as the master's and mistress's pets, and often slept in the same house, ate the same food, and wore the same clothes as the master's family. While their living conditions were thus better, household servants were just as overworked as field hands and often received equally brutal punishments. Female household servants not only worked all day but might be required to be available at all hours of the night as well, sleeping outside the doors of the children's rooms. Harriet Jacobs told how her aunt, the "nightnurse" to her mistress's children, "was compelled to lie at her door, until one midnight she was forced to leave, to give premature birth to a child. In a fortnight she was required to resume her place on the entry floor," treatment which eventually ruined her health. Although household servants were often overworked and abused, they were still viewed as privileged; mistresses used the threat of sending them to the fields to control their behavior. In

fact many household servants were sent to the fields, permanently or during harvest time, and many had families in the quarters, indicating that house and field slaves were not as socially separate as historians once believed.

Enslaved Women. Harriet Jacobs, in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), one of the few slave narratives written by a woman, wrote, "Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women." They worked in the fields just like men, but then they had to perform their womanly duties at home, doing the cooking, cleaning, and washing even though they had worked as long and as hard as men all day. Inheriting a social system of male dominance from their African ancestors, slave women were expected to be subservient to their husbands. Although they appeared to live under the same gender codes as white women, slave women were not accorded the same respect or allowed the same kind of modesty. Most were provided with only scanty clothing and often had to strip on the auction block for the inspection of prospective buyers. One slave woman recalled, "We was all chained and dey strips all our clothes off and de folks what gwine buys us comes and feels us all over. Iffen any de niggers don't want to take dere clothes off, de man gets a long, black whip and cuts dem up hard." And much as slave parents could not protect their children from their masters, neither could slave husbands protect their wives or daughters from the sexual advances of their masters, masters' sons, or overseers. Stories of sexual exploitation and abuse by slave owners abounded, suggesting that many of them took slave women as concubines. Any children born of the union only increased the master's stock of slaves, as the law dictated that the mother's status determined that of her children. This rule increased the emotional toll of childbirth for slave women, as they contemplated the fate of their children in slavery. And a slave woman who bore her master's child had to endure the additional burden of the wrath of the mistress, who could not ignore the lighter shade of the baby's skin or the resemblance to its father. The jealousy of mistresses often led to the sale of the mother and child and sometimes to violence. According to one anonymous account a mistress in Georgia "slipped in a colored gal's room and cut her baby's head clean off 'cause it belonged to her husband." Only a very small minority of slave women were able to escape the sexual abuse and violence they suffered because the flight to the North was a difficult one that few women attempted.

Moments of Leisure. Although house servants lived under the constant supervision of their masters, field hands on large plantations and the slaves on smaller farms did have some time on Sundays and late at night to themselves. They then could gather in the slave quarters, the center of their social life, and share stories, dance, play music, sing, and perform "shouts," descendants of African tradition in which dancers formed a circle and chanted. Despite the myth propagated by slaveholders that the singing of slaves was evidence of their contentment, many slave songs were full of protest and lamentation. The spirituals sung in the fields and at religious meetings were an especially important outlet for feelings, such as the desire for freedom, that could not be expressed directly in the presence of whites. Likewise, folktales featured trickster figures such as Br'er Rabbit, who learned to outwit stronger but less intelligent animals. These tales taught lessons of survival and were adapted from African folklore into a unique African American oral tradition. As evangelical religion became increasingly influential among slaves, so did the injunctions to abandon dancing, which many did. But the religious meetings of slaves incorporated the emotional and spiritual expression of both joy and pain through handclapping, singing, and a rocking back and forth of bodies and heads, an important substitute for the expression afforded by dancing.

Resistance and Revolt. Many slaves found subtle and not-so-subtle ways to resist the absolute control their masters had over them. Some sabotaged crops or withheld their labor by claiming to be sick. Others stole from their masters to supplement their meager rations or inadequate clothing, and some even committed arson or murder. Many hoped simply to run off, but the prospect of escaping was daunting. Men were loathe to leave children, wives, and mothers, few of whom were capable of such a dangerous journey on foot to the North. The Underground Railroad, a secret network of people in the North and South who helped runaway slaves reach freedom, operated from 1820 until the Civil War, aiding about one thousand slaves each year. Some tried desperate expedients: Henry "Box" Brown had himself shipped to Philadelphia in a box that was three feet long, two and one-half feet wide, and four and one-half feet high, while Harriet Jacobs hid herself in a crawl space in her grandmother's attic for seven years. The most desperate expedient of all, insurrection, was also tried. In 1822 a freedman named Denmark Vesey began secretly organizing slaves and free blacks in Charleston, South Carolina, to take over the city. In 1822, just before he planned to act, a few slaves revealed the plan to their masters, preventing what could have been the bloodiest slave revolt in America's history. One hundred thirty-one African Americans were arrested and thirty-seven hanged, including Vesey. Nine years later in Virginia slaves under the charismatic leadership of Nat Turner started a bloody uprising in which they killed sixty white men, women, and children. Within forty-eight hours most of the rebels were killed or arrested, but Turner himself remained at large for more than two months before he was captured and executed. In the meantime hysteria had spread among whites all over the South. Black people were terrorized, their houses searched for evidence of plots, and many were killed at the whim of white patrols. State legislatures called emergency sessions to pass laws restricting the rights of free blacks and making manumission more difficult. All across the South whites tightened their hold over African Americans, both free and slave.

Philip S. Foner, History of Black Americans: From the Emergence of the Cotton Kingdom to the Eve of the Compromise of 1850 (Westport, Conn..: Greenwood Press, 1983);

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women in the Old South (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988);

John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss Jr., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans, sixth edition ( New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988);

Larry E. Hudson Jr., To Have and to Hold: Slave Work and Family Life in Antebellum South Carolina ( Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997).

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The Social World of the Slaves Sources Source for information on The Social World of the Slaves: American Eras dictionary.