The Life of A Slave

The book that Haley and I had to do an outline about, Life in the American Colonies, says a bit about the life of a slave during the journey to and life in America:

"Conditions during the voyage to America were appalling. Slaves were crowded closely into dark spaces below deck, with nothing more than an open tub as a toilet. In good weather conditions, they might be taken on deck for forced exercise, but in bad weather- or when the crew feared their human cargo might rebel- they were chained permanently below deck. Disease flourished... and traders expected many deaths among the slaves. Slaves had no legal status in the colonies.

"Being a slave in the New World made heavy demands on these unwilling immigrants. Cut off from everything they knew, the colonial slaves had to learn a new language and new ways to work. Forming relationships with slaves who had come earlier or who were born in the New World was sometimes difficult, and so were the demands by whites that blacks adopt a "racial etiquette" acknowledging the rights of all whites to dominate all blacks.

"Most slaves... labored fifteen-hour days on southern tobacco or rice plantations. Under these terrible conditions, hundreds of thousands of African Americans took their place in the life of the New World."

Obviously, the African slaves lived in really terrible conditions. They never had the hope of going back to Africa or being treated fairly.