blacks and white in the south Essays - Slavery In The United States

In the past, slavery was looked upon as a good economical institution. However, slavery had a huge negative social impact on the black and white southerners. In Jacobs narrative ?Incidents in the life of a slave girl?, she talks about her experience being black and a female slave in the 1800s. In addition, the experience of the white southerners is also projected. Slavery had a huge effect on the religious views, family dynamic and psychological state of the black and the white southerners.icagl Slavery had an effect on the family dynamics of the white and black families in the south. Since slaves were treated like property, slave masters felt that they could do as they please with their property with no questions asked. In her narrative Jacobs tells of the way slave masters used this to illicit horrible acts on the slaves. He told me I was his property; that I must subject to his will in all things. Many slave masters used this reasoning to have sexual relationships with their female slaves. It resulted in them having a large amount of children with their female slaves and many mixed families. I once saw a white two beautiful children playing together. One was a fair white child; the other her slave, and also her sister. Due to the adultery committed in the marriage by the slave master, the wife was often jealous, angry and bitter towards her female slaves. She also tended to be a bit harsher and crueler when it came to punishing her slaves. The mistress, who ought to prot ect the helpless victim, has no other feelings but jealousy and rage. The mixed children were frowned upon in the slave community and the white household; some mixed children were sold immediately at birth or killed so the wife of the slave master wouldn?t have to see the sign of her husband?s adultery. Due to the mixed families in later generations of black families it caused segregation and issues in the black community amongst fair skinned and darker skinned black people. Being that the slave master could do what he wanted with his slaves he often tore families apart by forcing slaves to marry other slaves on different plantations just to breed them like animals for profit. It also affected the white household of the slave master. It often desensitized the white children to the violence they always saw towards the slaves their parents owned. It caused the family to become dysfunctional seeing their slave master father and mother argue and fight over his adultery and fathering the illegitimate slave children. The daughters often rebelled by sleeping with the male slaves and having their own mixed children just to spite their fathers. Most often the slave masters sons took on the same role that the father had once had, if he was cruel and harsh to slaves the son had to be too. Slavery messed the family dynamic up in the white and the black family units, infants and children were sometimes torn from the mothers at birth or at the auction block for profit. Many slaves were separated from families and never seen again. Religion and its views in the black and white households were affected due to slavery. Slaves that were brought from Africa already had their own views on religion. There is a great difference between Christianity and religion at the south. Slave masters denied the slaves from practicing their African religious rituals. Slaves could only worship in the white churches that would allow them in. Many whites felt it was unfair to have to worship in the same church as blacks. If you disobey your earthly master, you offend your heavenly master. White preachers often used their sermons to get slaves to be more obedient and loyal to their masters. Southern whites often used Christianity to justify slavery and the inhumane cruelty used to enforce power and create fear in the slaves. The slaves who knew how to read and write like Jacobs felt this was a false Christianity the whites were teaching them and trying to get them to practice. Jacobs tells about how God told in the bible to love one a nother and treat each other