Many enslaved African Americans suffered many challenges throughout their daily lives, due to slavery. However, in order to relieve themselves from the hardships of their lives, they luckily found comfort within their community and culture. Family, as a matter of fact, was the most important part of their community. Family was so important that slaves were even more frightened of being seperated from their families than the punishment in slavery. Unfortunately, one slave named Josiah Herison had to go through the experience of being seperated from his family, after he and his family were auctioned off and seperated. Meanwhile, those families that were not seperated, tryed to keep their heritage alive by passing down their family histories along with their African customs and traditions.They even told folktales, to educate others on how to survive under slavery. The practice of telling folktales even showed slaves that they could survive slavery by tricking  powerful slaveholders. In addition, within the slave culture, religion was a very important aspect to slaves . Many slaves of the early 1800s were mainly Christians, who believed that they were God's chosen people. Their religion was mixed with parts of the traditional African religion  with those of the Christian religion. In order to demonstrate the beliefs of ther religion, slaves sang spirituals. However, in order to express their religious beliefs and worship, slaves had to hide and keep out of sight from slaveholders. By continuing to practice and express their religion, this was the only way slaves could reisist slaveholders attempts to control them completely.

Slave Uprising; 
During slavery, the possibility of a violent slave revolt from occurring was very low, yet white southerners still feared this of happening.  In addition, although possibility of violent slave revolts was very rare, slaves still managed to rebel, however, they rebelled in smaller ways. For instance, some slaves often worked at a slower pace, ran away for a short amount of time , and some even attempted at escaping slavery permanently, but often returned back after having visited their relatives. For the most part, escaping slavery was really difficult , due to the punishment that would result, if captured. Yet many still managed to escape slavery and gain their freedom. For those rebellions that were planned , they were often put to a stop before leading up to violent revolts  For example, two planned rebellions, one lead by Gabriel Prosser in 1800, and another by Denmark Vessey in 1822, were put to an end before leading up to a violent slave revolt. As a result, both Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vessey were executed for their rebellious actions. Unfortunately , there did come a time, in which the most violent slave revolt in the country occurred. This slave revolt , in 1831, was known as Nat Turner's Rebellion. This tragic event occurred after a man named Nat Turner, led a group of enslaved African Americans in an effort to kill all slaveholders and their families, in the country, after having claimed that God had told him to end slavery. This rebellion resulted in the killing of Nat Turner's family, who held him as a slave, along with 60 white southerners, and 100 innocent slaves. Nat Turner was eventually captured after many attempts of hiding from authorities, in caves and in the woods. In the end, Nat Turner was eventually executed, after having confessed on trial that his life was worth being taken due to his rebellious actions, and slave codes were strengthened, leading  to a stricter control over slaves.  Despite the resistance that slaves had, slavery continued to spread.

Slaves in the South were mostly required to work on farms and plantations, due to the fact that they lived in rural areas. These enslaved men were given a variety of jobs depending on the size of the plantations. The Gang Labor system  was being used  among plantation owners, requiring for large sizes of field hands to work at the same given time period . Majority of the time when these slaves were working for an intolerable amount of hours, they  were not given the opportunity to have a break for lunch( as stated by former slave Harry Mcmillan ). There were slaves that were not required to work on the large plantations, or to be on the fields, some worked as Butlers , cooks, or as nurses in the owners household , even thou there were times were this slaves were required to work 24/7, the clothing , food , care, and shelter that was given to them was better compared to the enslaved men that were required to work on plantations. Some enslaved men were given the opportunity to buy their freedom , from the payment that their owners provided to them.-by Daniela 

At this time period slaveholders had a deplorable view towards their slaves , seeing them as some sort of property rather than as human beings. These slaves were mostly 
sold at an auction, in order for slaveholders to make profit out of them  . Whether these slave families would remain together depended on the buyer, if the buyer was only willing to pay for the slave that was capable to do the work( heavy laborer, carpenter, or blacksmith), then the family would be obligated to be turned apart. Slave Traders in order to obtain money not mattering the costs ,would even go to the depths of kidnaping African Americans, and them be selling them to slavery, some of this African Americans would protest against it showing to these slave traders the contract, or birth certificate demonstrating that they were actually free citizens, but these individuals just wouldnt listen to them (a great example of this could be Solomon Northtop, a free African American, that was kidnaped in Washington DC, were he spend 12 years as a slave until he finally was able to prove his identity).On top of all the unjustified excessive  work that this enslaved families had to go thru, their living conditions werent exactly the best. Planters housed them in dirty floor cabins with few furnishing, and leaky roofs. The clothing that they wore was mostly created by them from discared scrap material,  and their diet was mostly based on the food that they had in the gardens(vegetables, and chicken for the eggs), thanks to the fact that there were some slave owners that allowed for slaves to cultivate their food source, or to feed themselves from what they possessed on their gardens. There were laws created to obtain (the slave owners) further control towards the slaves(slave code), controlling their actions and prohibiting them their right for education .All this was done because the slave holders feared that if the slaves earned enough knowledge, they would be encouraged to create a rebellion.
-by Daniela 

Slaves found comfort in their community and culture. One way of coping with the torture that they were put through was social activity. Slaves made a priority to find time and energy to socialize, even after a long days work. Family was everything to most slaves, at a young age most African American children were separated from their families. Salves kept heritage alive by telling folk tales to teach lessons. Most enslaved African Americans turned to religion as well. They saw them selves like Hebrew slaves in Egypt. Most got religion from the slaveholders. Slaves worshiped in secret as they were not "allowed" religion. Salves saw culture and religion to be the one thing that their slaveholders could not control. Slaves would rebel against the slave system everyday. Gaining freedom was key and all precautions were taken to ensure that one day slaves would be free.-by Ariana 
 

Slave revolts rarely occurred , but even thou  this was the case, white southeners still lived in a great fear. Two  slave rebellions were miraculously  prevented were between the years 1800-1822, the first one was created by Gabriel Prosser, near Richmond, Virginia. The second one was by Denmark Vesey, in Charleston, South Carolina. Most of the individuals that would result on planning or starting these rebellions would be executed, but in the eyes of the enslaved people they were seen as heroes. But in the year of 1831 the most violent slave revolt  was held, all by Nat Turner(a slave from Southampton Country, Virginia)  and the fellow slaves that were with him .Were by the night of August ,1831, he had already taken care of 60 white man, and those innocent slaves that were doing an attempt of stopping this revolt resulted being killed, with at outcome of more than a 100 of them. This act resulted on the states re-enforcing the Slave Codes, placing an stricter control towards enslaved citizens.-by Daniela

Slaves, as young as 10, worked day in and day out with only minutes for rest. Children were held to the same standards as any other adult. Slaves were supervised by Drivers(who were also sometimes slaves themselves) who made sure they worked rigorously and efficiently. The drivers also carried out punishments such as being beaten or whipped in front of others, sometimes even as an example to warn others. But not all slaves worked on plantation, some slaves worked as butlers, maids, and as cooks. Slaves that were skilled artisans were often have their services sold by their owner to other people. These slaves were sometimes allowed to keep some of their earning. Eventually, they could make enough money to buy their freedom from their slave owners.

Family bonds were almost never kept in the life of a slave. Slaves would usually be sold at auctions for profit where families were torn apart because a person may be willing to buy one slave but not that slave's family. Once they were bought they would have a living quarter that would house 8 - 12 slaves and would be 10ft x 10ft at maximum. They were given worn out clothing, no footwear, and schedule to work with that including long hours of work and short time for rest. Some planters would offer better conditions in exchange for harder work while others resulted to punishments for encouragement. Laws called "slave codes" were used to limit slaves and their rights for example, in some states punishments were given those who taught slaves literacy.

Slaves had found hope in their community and culture through the hardships of being a slave. Slaves relied on the comfort of family as the most important aspect of
their lives. They passed down their heritage through folktales to teach others how to slavery. Most slaves were Christian and compared themselves to the slaves in
the old testament. They sang spirituals, which were Christian songs that involved African and European music, to express their beliefs. Maintaining their beliefs
was against the wishes of the owner themselves because this was used to rebel against planters having full control over slaves. Slaves who courageous enough to 
escape angry slave owners to visit or permanently escape to the north. These acts would eventually lead to uprisings that leave the land around them scarred.

Many revolts were conjured but few ever came to see the light of day. Conspiracy leaders like Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey were executed before their plans could be fulfilled. Although, one of those exceptions was Nat Turner who led the most vicious slave rebellion in 1831, believing God sent him on a mission to abolish slavery. Him and a group of other slaves would kill about 60 white people on a rampage. In this time, more than 100 innocent slaves would be murdered in an attempt to stop the riot. Turner's plan for equality would backfire as after a 2-month long chase he was caught and hanged, and new slave codes would clench tighter on the necks of the slaves.