Some of the earliest traces of slavery are in the Code of Hammurabi in 1760 BC, there probably earlier traces as well. It has traces as old as Sumer 2500 BC and tons of other ancient civilizations. It started out as a punishment,then if a slave was born from another slave, to pay off debt, and also capturing someone from war. In africa, slaves were used for many different things, from trading to household, and to working on the land provided. Slaves were often put onto ships as ‘cargo’ and then put into a pen once off the ship, then they were washed with oil or tar or animal fats to make their skin look nicer. Strong men and strong woman were sold first usually, due to they thought they would do more work, They were sold in two types of ways, one is called Grab and go, where you buy a ticket and then run in and get 1 or more slaves you wanted, the other way is Highest bidder wins, which is where they have the bidder's bid as high as you can pay until everyone else ‘drops out’ of bidding. Although it was completely outlawed by 2007, there are more slaves in …show more content…
She talks about how she would pick cotton as a slave when she was younger. She explains she has to pick 300 pounds of cotton everyday in order to not get whipped, she says she’s never been whipped, as she does get up earlier than the other slaves to get a head start. The other slaves would get whipped enough to have blisters, and then another man came a popped the blisters as they worked. She also tells that they never got enough to eat, so they (slaves) would steal food to put into a box they had under the fire place.
This shows a tiny bit of 19th century slavery with explaining how working was a hard and painful job, and that sometimes, being sneaky was a way to stay alive, and working harder than they already tried to push the slaves made it less painful. (Tell the story, Life in