What did it mean to be free in antebellum America?

Ahmad L. Whitaker

U S History to 1877 - HIST 009 - 04

Albert Thompson

April 12, 2021

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What is slavery? Slavery and enslavement are defined as both the state and the condition

of being a slave—one who is forbidden to quit their service for another person while treated as

property. Slavery as a whole can be traced back to the first civilizations, such as Sumer in

Mesopotamia, which dates back as far as 3500 BC. It is even mentioned in the Mesopotamian

Code of Hammurabi in 1860 BCE, where it refers to it as an established institution. Slavery

would make its appearance in America in 1619 in the Jamestown Colony, and that was the start

of slavery in the colonies. America would go through all types of things before it got to the

antebellum period in the South. The Antebellum South was a historical period in the United

States' history from 1783 until the start of the American Civil War, which would take place in

1861. The antebellum South was defined by the rise of abolition and the United States'

increasing sectionalism between abolitionists and supporters of slavery.

To be a freed person in Antebellum America was not only a dream, but it was also almost

impossible to hold onto. As history shows us, though some blacks were able to free themselves

from the jaws of slavery and white terror, the United States had put in place systems to basically

pull the freemen and free women back in. Freed blacks in the antebellum period were more than

outspoken about the injustice of slavery. But to make the assumption that they had some type of

voice or some type of say as to how well they were treated is something a martian would say.

However, they could still express themselves and their concerns to some capacity, and abolition

was on the rise, so this was the time to speak up. But of course, this was determined by whether

they lived in the North or the South. In the South, a free man would continue to live under the

shadow of slavery. The amount of restrictions placed on them would make them unable to travel

or assemble as freely as those in the North.

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There was a multitude of things that would happen to freedmen and most times get them

killed in the South. As I said earlier, freed people in the South did not get the decencies the freed

in the North had. Freedmen were targeted in the South because most were well known in a trade

and had some type of skill. Another thing that would contribute to the targeting of freedmen was

their involvement in the lives of people who were currently slaves. History tells us so many

stories where a freedman is murdered because he was trying to free his family or his wife or

anything of the sort. It is stated in Harriet Jacobs's "Incidents in the life of a slave girl," Harriet

actually fell in love with a freeman. She had fallen in love with a young carpenter that she had

known for countless years. They would go on to try and get married, but the slaver of Harriet

Jacobs would threaten the freedmen with death if he stepped foot on his property. Also, the

freedmen wanted to buy Harriet, but the slaver was not trying to make that happen either. The

slaver was actually jealous and did not want their love to happen. The text tells us that even

though the husband was free, if he married a slave, he still had no power as to how she was, and

the child would still be born into slavery. Harriet would instruct her husband to travel to a free

state, "where his tongue will not be tied," and he would do so. This was not the end that most

freemen saw, as slave masters would find a way to have the freeman killed or sold back into

slavery. There were so many systems in place to put freed people back into slavery even before

slavery became an institution focused on the enslavement of colored persons.

When it actually came to being free, the experience differed based on where you were

located, ie. North or South. In every part of history, the difference in treatment towards Black

people in the North is the polar opposite to how they were treated in the South. The freed people

of the South were subject to all levels of discrimination and danger while in the South.
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To start, buying or getting your freedom was almost impossible. We see in Harriet's

writing that her grandmother was in pursuit of this freedom. The same grandmother was free at

one point, but her family was caught and sold back into slavery. The slavers she had treasured

her, and she would grow up as a house slave. The grandmother had a trade in baking and would

go on to want her freedom. The slave owners knew this and supported her and also promised her

and her children that they would be free upon their deaths. With all this, the grandmother would

trust the mistress with a whopping three hundred dollars which is the equivalent of $9,393.36

today, simply because the mistress begged for it as a loan and promised to pay it back. The

mistress never paid it back, but by law, slaves could not have possessions, and in the will of the

mistress, she gave her entire family to her sister. Slaves would work so hard and do so much to

meet a fate like this, trusting the word or writing of their slave master. In the end, the slaver

would never hold true to their word, and legally they did not have to. This is what I meant when I

said there were multiple systems in place to make sure people stayed in the institution of slavery.

Freed people in the North were assumed to be better off, and they were, but not as much

as people believe. They were discriminated against as much as blacks in the South. History tells

us that the North was partially free. The only thing that was for sure was that education was seen

as a luxury to the blacks, whether they were free or enslaved.

Schools were racially segregated, and that was not something that could have been

changed. This would leave a multitude of black children to be taught in old and usually decrepit

churches. It was not like the teachers were motivated either because the black schools were not

being funded like the white schools were.

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It can be seen across history that being free was not something easy, and it did not

guarantee freedom. The target on your back followed you as you left the fields, and it stayed as

you navigated through antebellum America. Even being a freed person gave you an even bigger

target since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed and even before that. Whether free or not,

white America would always try and find a way to put you back in chains, and it did not change

until the American Revolution, and even after that, it stayed true.