The Old South and Slavery

Chapter 12 had a lot of interesting topics that related to slavery. I have always been interested in reading about the lives of slaves and the cruelty that they had to endure. While reading this chapter, there were several things that stood out to me. The first one would have to be the section on king cotton. I knew that cotton was one of the primary cash crops, but did not know the particular reason as to why. After reading, I realized that it was because of the high demand of cotton due to the growth of British textile industry. This demand led to an increase in slaves because they enabled a planter to harvest large fields of cotton at a quicker pace. This idea of raising cash crops and owning slaves were some of the main reasons that contributed to the difference between the North and the South. While the North prospered in industry work and became more urban, the South thought that it wasn’t worth investing their time and money into, and continued to preserve the practice of growing and selling cash crops.

Another section that caught my attention was the one titled “Life Under Slavery.” In this part, I got a glimpse of the daily routine of a slave. They would wake up before sunrise and continue to work even after the sun went down. Since darkness made it impossible to do fieldwork, they toted bales to the ginhouse, gathered wood for supper fires, and fed the mules. After all the tasks were completed, they didn’t even get to sleep in a comfortable room or bed. They had to sleep in log cabins or wooden planks. I know for sure that I would not be able to last one day in their position.

Towards the end of the chapter, I thought it was very creative how the slaves developed their own language, known as pidgin. Also, they developed songs and dances for recreational purposes, which left me in awe at their attempt to remain optimistic, despite having to go through so much suffering.