Online lesson 5

Questions
a. When and how did slavery begin in the southern US states?
b. Which country were the slaves primarily brought from?
c. Who traditionally bought and owned the slaves?
d. What were the laws/rules that the slaves had to abide by?
e. Were slaves considered "people" under the law? If not, how did slaveowners see them?
f. How does the notion of slavery relate to TKAM? Does the study of slavery help you understand the novel better?

Answers
1a) Slavery started in the southern US state in year 1638. It started when trade went on between the African companies and the English. Slaves were need to do hard labour for example, in farms.

1b) Slaves were brought from Africa the the Untied States.

1c) The British people were the first to buy slaves but first-century Romans were the first to own slaves

1d) Slaves was outside the protection of common law, they are also not allowed to go against whites and their owners or try to run away (escape). In the past it was allowed for the owner to kill the slave.

1e) Slaves were not considered as “people” as they did not have any human rights. In the past, It was also legal for owners to kill their slaves. The slaves that refused to obey their masters were treated badly and they might be killed as they was not under the protection of the law. Slave-owners see slaves as animals or “free” workers. They are among the lowest standards of servants and they serve their owners till they die, and everything regarding the slaves are controlled by their owners.

1f) The blacks are not seen as human. The whites think that blacks are uneducated and have no integrity. As for slavery, the slaves were also not treated and seen as humans. The owners treat the slaves like animals, ordering them to do many hard jobs and subjecting the slaves to violence. The slaves were punished for not working fast enough, and some were even murdered. Many slaves were separated from their family forcefully and could not resist. This is almost the same treatment of the blacks from the whites in TKAM. For example, whenever the whites fight with the blacks in court, the white would surely win no matter how much evidence the black has, like the case of Tom Robinson.

Reflections
What I have discovered in this exercise is quite similar to the events in Mississippi Burning. Our group topic is about slavery, it seems that the way slaves are treated and the way blacks were treated in Mississippi Burning were very similar. The slaves in the US during the past, were all blacks and were not considered “humans”. They did not have any human rights. Slaves in the past were as good as animals, the slave-owner could do anything to them even murder them. In Mississippi Burning, the whites could just attack the blacks anytime they wanted to and never got arrested for it. Even the policemen who saw blacks being beaten up did not do anything to stop it. This was similar to how it was legal for whites to kill blacks in Mississippi Burning. I feel this is not fair at all for the slaves and blacks for they were being discriminated just by their skin colour.