Slaves (Slavery)

This is a photograph showing a group of Slaves. The photograph was taken in May, 1862 in Cumberland Landing, Virginia.

Source: http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/slavery.html

Slavery is a system in which people are the property of others. Slavery in the United States was a form of unfree labor which existed as a legal institution in North America and continued in the South for more than a century. When the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution in 1865 was brought, it ended slavery.

Slaves can be held against their will from the time they were captured, from birth, purchased, wanting to leave but can't leave - to refuse to work, or slaves demanding money to be paid for the work they do. In some societies it was legal for an owner to kill a slave. In others it was a crime to kill a slave. The number of slaves today remains 12 million to 27 million. Most slaves were Black and were held by Whites. Some Native Americans and Blacks also held slaves and there were also a few white slaves as well.

The First English Colony in North America - Virginia, first imported Africans in 1619. Slavery spread to areas where there was good-quality soil for large plantations of high-value cash crops. The majority of slaves were in Southern United States. Large groups of slaves were thought to work more efficiently if directed by a managerial class called overseers - usually white men.