Female Slavery

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In 1860, half of all slaves in the United States were women. As field slaves, women worked mostly to produce crops such as cotton and tobacco. As houseslaves women were domestic servants cooking and raising the children. Later on they were used in many factories because they could work at lower maintenance costs, instrumental in the development of the United States. Because of forced labor, they had very little time to tend to their own families. Most slaves were able to hold onto a stable family but many slave men could not handle the sexual exploitation by the slave owners on their women. Many families were broken up in order for slave owners to profit from the labor of slaves. Many black women had to become a carer to the children of the slave owner while neglecting their own.  Black women as a result were also involved in the struggle to overturn slavery. Women such as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth are prime examples of such women. Black women were also very active in the struggle against the oppression of women.

Harriet Tubman was one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, Underground Rail Road leader before, dureing, and after the Reconstruction Era.