Colonial life for African Americans usually consisted of extreme amounts of labor for food and housing and little more. They were the backbone America built its economy upon. If it were not for them cotton and tobacco growing would have been untenable and the young nation would surely have failed!

The only thing I have against the Founding Fathers is that most of them did not oppose slavery, save Benjamin Franklin. The expansive freedom they showed each other was not extended to the African Americans, who made up about twenty percent of the colonies.

The legalized practice of slavery occurred in every colony but the economic hardships suffered by the southern qualities led to them instituting official laws on the issue much earlier than their northern counterparts. The majority of the twenty percent of African Americans were slaves but not all of them. The first census taken in 1790 showed that eight percent of all African Americans were free.

Slave labor was seen as required for farming and tobacco cultivating. It was also used in the cotton fields. The labor was used even though questions on the morality of the issue were raised even then. It was seen as an economic necessity since tobacco cultivation in particular was so labor-intensive.

Most African Americans lived in the Chesapeake region and in this area they made up about half the population. Whether free or not they established families and networks of communication and many subtle means of resisting their social condition.

Even though they were enslaved they were not without their dignity. African Americans became deeply religious in general and developed strong bonds. Their horrible oppression was overcome through collective will and even though their masters smiled they knew well the darkness that motivated their actions and would sing of it often in their hymns... when they were out of earshot of the white majority.

Learn more about this author, Royce Radcliffe.
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