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An Annotated Bibliography: Urban Slavery

Ben Thompson
Ms. Schmidt
English 11
November 22, 2016
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Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Penguin Group,
1997. Print.

The lives of the city slaves was much better than the lives of the plantation slaves for a

few reasons. First of all the owners of the city slaves cared about how their slaves looked

because it was a representation of how the lived. They gave them a few sets of clothes,

and made sure they had enough to eat. They did all of this because how the slaves looked

represented how the owners treated the slaves. In the city they treated the slaves well

because the slaves did everything. It was in the best interest of the slave owners to take

good care of their slaves and they would take good care of them. Part of the reason

behind this was because some people didn’t grow up in slave holding houses, but rather

married into them. This was not always true however. For example Fredericks owners,

The Aulds, barely gave their slaves enough to eat. Some people for one reason or another

couldn’t bring themselves to treat the slaves as humans. Some could and they treated their

slaves better than others.

"Introduction to Colonial African American Life." Introduction to Colonial African American

Life : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site. The Colonial
Williamsburg Foundation, Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.history.org/almanack/people/african/aaintro.cfm>.

Early in America’s history there were not many city slaves. Most of them were usually

women, and they did all of the cooking, and cleaning. The men that lived in the city

during this time were either gardeners, or coachmen. The urban slave’s day didn’t end

when it got dark like it did for the plantation slaves. The urban slaves had to work seven
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days a week until the days chores were done. Even in the early days the urban slaves

were still treated better than the plantation slaves, because they got new clothes, and

better food. Some urban slaves were even afforded the opportunity to learn a trade. They

could then go and sell their skill to an artisan in return for very little money. The city

slaves were often very close with the other slaves in the town. This allowed them to keep

up on the news around town and sometimes helped some slaves escape.

PBS. PBS. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/living/history2.html>.

The urban slaves usually were assigned less labor intensive work than those who lived on

the plantations. The urban slaves usually were apprentices to anyone from tailors to

blacksmiths. They were afforded many new opportunities because of their skills that got

them away from their master for the day or in some cases their freedom. Most slaves

lived with their masters in their attic or basement. Sometimes if their owner was wealthy

enough the senior slaves were given their own houses to live in. They were given enough

to eat and new clothes when needed. Hiring out was another perk of being an urban slave.

This was when a slave who was skilled in a certain craft could work to buy their freedom.

This was a very common practice in the Carolinas and Virginia. In many cases the city

slaves were better off doing this because they were free for good and didn’t have to hide.
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Written by Dr. Troy L. Kickler. "Urban Slaves a Little-Recognized Part of The Southern
Economy - North Carolina History Project." North Carolina History Project. Web. 17
Nov. 2016. <http://northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/urban-slaves-a-little-recognized-
part-of-the-southern-economy/>.

There were many more urban slaves than people may realize. Approximately 10% of the

souths slave population lived in the cities. Many of them were trained to do a number of

things. All were trained in one craft. Many cooked and cleaned, but some worked in

factories during the civil war. Then after the war they were still employed in the factories

and would work for less than the white people. This allowed the factories to make more

money boosting the southern economy. This allowed the south to put more money into

their war effort allowing them to draw out the Civil War. They also contributed to the

southern economy after the war by working to buy their freedom. Then later taking a

little bit more pay to do the same job.

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