Slaves (Slavery) in U.S. History

Punishment
There were very harsh punishments for slaves. There was a law that provided slaves with virtually no protection from their masters. On large plantations the power was delegated to overseers - refer to the 1st post to what overseers were. Slaves were under considerable pressure from the plantation owners to maximize profits. Plantation owners did this by bullying the slaves into increasing productivity. The punishment used against slaves were the use of whipping. Sometimes slave-owners physically abused (mutilating) and used slaves as a symbol or calling them names (branding).

Education
In the early 19th century there were no schools in the southern states of America that admitted black children to free public schools. Some brave teachers in North Carolina, ran secret night schools. There was a teacher, who was caught teaching black children in Norfolk, Virginia - the teacher went to prison. In 1834, Connecticut, passed a law making it illegal to provide a free education for black students.

"In 1849 Charles Sumner helped Sarah C. Roberts to sue the city of Boston for refusing to admit black children to its schools. Their case was lost but in 1855 Massachusetts legislature changed its policy and declared that "no person shall be excluded from a Public School on account of race, colour or prejudice."

Source: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAslavery.htm