Slavery on the Plantation Slavery came about in the 1600s when the first slaves were shipped from Africa. They were kidnapped, traded for tobacco and other products, or sold by their tribes for violating laws. The richness of the South depended on slavery. Slaves were owned by one in four families. Whites controlled blacks, from their birth to death. Slaves had no rights because by controlling them strictly, it would keep them from rebelling against …showed first 75 words of 486 total…

…showed last 75 words of 486 total…slaves did not have shoes. Overseers were cruel and vicious. The slaves were practically worked to death in eight to ten years. The slave life on the Southern plantations was grim and dark. Ploski, Harry A., and James Williams. Reference Library of Black America. Vol 5. New York: Gale Research, 1990. Katz, William Loren, ed. Slavery to Civil War. Vol 2. New York: Franklin Watts, 1974. Cowan, Tom, and Jack Maguire. Timelines of African-American History. New York: Perigee Books, 1994.