The Era of Slavery

Twelve years after the arrival of the Dutch Vessel in Jamestown, the slavery era began. Slavery in North America developed into an uncontrollable form of social relation. One slave in particular is Frederick Douglas. Frederick Douglas was born a slave and thereafter won his freedom at the age of 20. During this era, slaves were sold to plantation and small farm owners. The work performed by these slaves specialized in cotton and tobacco.  The identities of slaves in this era was that of hard working, under privileged, and deprived.  Frederick Douglas helped change the identity and way of thinking of African Americans. Raised as a plantation slave, Douglass went on to become a writer, orator, and major participant in the struggle for African-American freedom and equality.  "Because of their ingrained racial prejudice and ignorance about the sophisticated cultures in Africa from which many of their slaves came, Southern whites were convinced that free blacks would be savages--a threat to white survival. So Southerners believed that slavery was necessary as a means of race control."