The life of a slave in the cotton plantation economy of North America

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject History - America, grade: 1,0, University of Heidelberg (Institut fr bersetzen und Dolmetschen), language: English, abstract: Slavery is a phenomenon which had already been common practice in ancient times and has influenced human history up till today. Historian and author Stanley Elkins compared the practice of slavery in the southern states of the U.S. to 'national socialist concentration camps' (Meiner, Mcke, Weber 120). Unfortunately, it was the sad truth. Slaves were imported from Africa and sold against their will like goods. The sole objective was effective economic exploitation of work force. The purpose of this term paper is to take a closer look and especially illustrate every day hardships of a slave's life on a North American cotton plantation. In this regard, the books Schwarzes Amerika from Meiner, Mcke and Weber, Out of Many from Farager, Buhle, Czitrom and Armitage as well as The Enduring Vision from Boyer, Clark and McNair Hawley serve as a basis for statistics and detailed information. The life of slaves was subject to constantly changing factors which leads to the conclusion that the standard of life was significantly worse on a big plantation than on a small manageable cotton farm. Furthermore, wealth and the plantation owner's character influenced a slave's everyday life as well. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that not all circumstances and factors applied to every plantation.