Slavery, Free Blacks, and Abolition - APUSH

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the conditions of slavery, free Black individuals, proslavery defenses, and key figures and publications of the abolitionist movement for AP US History.

% of Whites Owning Slaves

75% of Southern whites did not even own slaves; of those who did, 88% owned twenty or fewer, with a majority owning less 5.

Wade Hampton

The country's leading slave owner, with over 1000. Was an aristocratic planter, whose life was modeled after English manorial life.

Staple or Cash Crops

Cotton was the leading cash crop, but slaves also raised rice, corn, sugarcane and tobacco.

Field Slaves

Slaves who worked out in the field tending to the land and working outside of the house. In many instances, they worked as mechanics, blacksmiths, drivers, carpenters, and in other skilled trades.

House Slaves

Slaves who worked inside of the house cooking and taking care of the family. They also spun, wove, and sewed.

Task System

Gave slaves the option of possible free time once their task was accomplished.

Gang System

Form of slave labour where slaves worked from sunrise and sundown.

Overseer

Responsible for plantation discipline alongside drivers and masters. Often harassed enslaved women.

Slave Diet

Inadequate to meet the demands of their heavy workload. In their quarters they passed down skills which allowed them to supplement their poor diet.

Slave Housing

Lived in crude quarters that left them vulnerable to bad weather and disease. Had minimal clothing and bedding. In their quarters they were able to let down the masks they had to wear for whites.

Fannie Kimble

Wrote about slave homes on Butler Island. Called them "filthy and wretched in the extreme."

Slave Discipline

Slaves were punished for not working fast enough, being late to the fields, defying authority, running away, etc. Punishment took many forms, such as whippings, torture, mutilation, and imprisonment.

Slave Religion

Many slaves turned to religion for inspiration and solace. Some were Muslim, other were Christian. Most practiced Christianity, but not their masters' (it justified slavery).

Child Mortality

Was extremely high on these plantations, generally around 66%, and on one rice plantation it was as high as 90%.

Rape

There were no safeguards to protect them from being sexually stalked, harassed, or raped, or to be used as long-term concubines by masters and overseers.

Slave Codes

Set of laws outlining the treatment of slaves. Varied from state to state, but had the same main ideas. Slaves were property, could not testify, leave without permission, gather without a white, possess anti slave literature, and could not strike a white.

Henry "Box" Brown

Was a slave on a farm used for shipping. He built a crate, put air holes in it, added the postage and climbed into it. He was carried to freedom in Philadelphia by the Adams Express Co.

William and Ellen Kraft

Slaves who with money earned from William, purchased cloths as a young white man (Ellen) and his slave (William), bought train tickets and boarded the train to freedom.

Denmark Vesey

A free Black man and community leader in Charles, SC. He was accused and convicted of planning a major slave revolt in 1822. Although not realized, its potential (megumi) scale led to increased restrictions on all African Americans.

Gabriel Prosser

Organized a similar large-scale revolt 2 years earlier. Was discovered, and Governor Monroe sent troops to capture him and his conspirators. Was arrested and given a trial without a jury.

Gabriel's Slave Conspiracy

When James Monroe was governor of Virginia, Prosser and his allies planned to kidnap him, take Richmond (VA) and negotiate for freedom. Were captured and given quick trials without a jury.

Nat Turner

Slave from Southampton County, VA. Was said to have mystical powers. He ran away once but returned to his aster. He believed he had been picked by some divine power to deliver his ppl from slavery.

Fierce Rebellion

Upon a solar eclipse in February, Nat Turner and his followers killed his master, Joseph Travis, and his family. Thne moved through other families and killed 60 whites in under 24 hours. Eventually were overpowered by state and federal troops.

James Henry Hammond

A senator and wealthy plantation owner from South Carolina. Proposed the mudsill theory.

Mudsill Theory

Proposed by James Henry Hammond. Stated that "in all societies there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life." This class, says Hammond, makes it possible for the higher class to move civilization forward.

George Fitzhugh

A Virginia lawyer and author of two books and numerous articles advocating slavery. He argued that the Negro race is inferior to the white race. He also believed they were fortunate to be taken care of in the way they were.

James Boon

A free-black North Carolina artisan who, despite his excellence as a carpenter, spent most his time trying to remain fiscally solvent and whose property what little there was, stayed in the hands of creditors.

Lunsford Lane

An example of self-purchase. He raised income by curing and selling pipe tobacco in Raleigh, North Carolina. He purchased his freedom and that of his family. He published his slave narrative in 1842.

Pierre Chastang

He carried supplies for Andrew Jackson's troops during the War of 1812 and, when yellow fever spread in Mobile in 1819, he cared for the sick and buried the dead. He was freed by popular subscriptions for these public services.

Newport Gardner

An example of the unusual flexibility afforded in purchasing one's freedom, doing so with winnings from a lottery.

Jehu Jones

The proprietor of one of Charleston, South Carolina's finest white only hotels, amassing a fortune. He was also able to send his son away to Amherst College.

Tommy LaFon

A Black businessman in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a merchant, lender and real estate investor who lived at the top of the New Orleans social structure and at his death had holdings valued at $\$500,000$. Had a bust constructed in his honor.

Martin Delany

An affluent free Black, was a leading black physician and writer, having studied at Harvard Medical College. He later served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States

Written by Martin Delany. A widely read essay on what he believed the future held for Black people in this country.

William Johnson

"The Barber of Natchez," left a 16-volume diary detailing his life. Was born to a slave woman and white owner. Was freed alongside his mother and acquired a barbershop. By 1834, he owned a town lot and 3 slaves. Was kind to his slaves but believed in strict discipline (still regarding slave morals).

Cyprian Richard

A free Black slave owner. Purchased an estate in Louisiana with 91 slaves for $\$225,000$.

Andrew Durnford

A free Black slave owner in Louisiana. He loaned his white neighbors money ($\$26,000$) and slaves (52) to help get their crop in.

Benjamin Lundy

An early Quaker abolitionist from New Jersey. His form of abolition was not restricted to the North, as he traveled throughout the South preaching anti-slave material.

Genesis of Universal-Emancipation

Written by Benjamin Lundy. Was an abolitionist newspaper.

Manumition

Where a slave owner voluntarily frees their slaves.

William Lloyd Garrison

Head of the best-known group of antislavery reformers. He denounced all compromise and called for immediate emancipation on moral grounds. He viewed slavery as sinful.

The Liberator

An antislavery newspaper headed by William Lloyd Garrison. Believed in immediate emancipation of slaves.

Gag Rule in Congress

Abolitionist petitions inundated Congress. This rule tabled (set aside) such petitions, leading people to be concerned about their freedom of speech.

Theodore Weld

An evangelical minister who joined William Lloyd Garrison to form the "American Anti-Slavery Society." He viewed slavery as a moral issue and called domination of one race uncivilized.

American Anti-Slavery Society

Formed by William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Weld and his wife Angelina Grimke.

American Slavery As It Its

Written by Theodore Weld. Was a slave narrative exhibiting the hardships of slaves in the South. These hardships were taken directly from southern newspaper ads.

Angelina Grimke

Joined William Lloyd Garrison alongside her husband Theodore Weld to form the "American Anti-Slavery Society."

Sarah Grimke

An early abolitionist. Was known as the mother of the Women's Suffrage Movement.

Frederick Douglass

The most outstanding Black abolitionist. Was born the slave son of a white father. Was taken from his mother to another home where he frequently watched his aunt get beaten. With the assistance from a free black sailor, he escapes to Massachusetts where he joined Garrison in the fight against slavery. He split up with Garrison when Douglass wanted to take political action.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass's autobiography. Became a bestseller with translations in French and German.

The North Star

An antislavery newspaper founded by Frederick Douglass. He demanded not only freedom but full socioeconomical equality for all Blacks.

Sojourner Truth

One of the most powerful free Blacks working effectively against slavery. Was born a slave in New York and sold in auction. She was wrongly accused of being a man and was forced to show her lady parts. Remained an advocate of Women's Suffrage.

Charles Lenox Remond

Born in Salem, MA. Initially expressed pro-Garrison ideals, yet later championed violence and revolts. Was among the first 17 members of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Was born free and had not experienced slavery.

David Walker

Born in NC and moved to Boston. He was a free black (born to slave dad and free mom). He argued that if the slaveowner would not free the slaves, then te slaves should take their freedom.

Walker's Appeal

The most vigorous denunciation of slavery published in the US to its date. It encouraged open slave rebellion. Was healthy but one day found dead. The question of poison was never answered.

Henry Highland Garnett

Considered the "Thomas Paine of the abolitionist movement." While at the Buffalo Convention of Colored Citizens, he gave an address endorsing the idea of a National Slave Strike. He used his own commercial line of ships to transport blacks "back to Africa."

The Underground Railroad

Established to assist slaves to freedom. Was a secret network of routes, safe houses, and abolitionists that helped Blacks escape to free states.

Harriet Tubman

Most famous "conductor" of the Railroad. Risked death or worse by organizing trips into the south to liberate slaves. Her expenses were usually paid by free Blacks. Was all business and no nonsense and would threaten to kill a slave that sought to turn back.

Sambo Mask

By fooling the master or overseer with their subservient behavior, they resisted additional ill treatment, but helped create negative stereotypes in the process. It made running away very difficult.

Eli Whitney

Created the cotton gin, which helped clean out cotton quicker.

Hinton Rowan Helper

Wrote "The Impending Crisis of the South."

Henry David Thoreau

American transcendentalist who was against a government that supported slavery. He wrote "Civil Disobedience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This Transcendentalist argued that slavery violated the "Oversoul" precept that all are divine.

Poor Whites / Po' White Trash

At the bottom of the white class structure in the South, these people did not own land, living rather in the swamps and on the hillsides, often working as laborers alongside slaves.

Indigo / Rice

A staple crop commonly grown on the sea islands of Georgia and South Carolina.

William T. Johnson

This affluent free black slave owner found that money could not buy basic civil rights.

Stono Uprising

The bloody slave revolt that took place in South Carolina in the 17th c. when slaves overpowered guards and fled south to Florida.