From: Tasheeva Drayton
Date: 4/27/00
Time: 12:13:26 AM
Remote Name: 155.247.152.65
Tasheeva Drayton Week Fourteen
Slaves knew that they were free, but according to this it says that they ran muck. They didn't know what to do with themselves. Many of them didn't believe that they were free so the ran away just in case they were. Some of them didn't know what to do about land food and other life necessities and they died of starvation. They refused to work because in their definition of freedom work was not required. They were free to do as they pleased. Families separated from each other trying to find their own way. However all of them refused to stay on the plantation any longer than they had to. Some were beaten into submission. They were forced to stay on the plantation against their will and against the new law. The slaves that stayed on the plantation were now being paid and treated a men and not as animals. The whites refuse to let their slaves go in some cases the army had to come in and release the slaves. The plantation owners told their slaves of their freedom and ask them if they still wanted to work on the plantation if they refused they were whipped. Some felt the slaves should have never been freed in the first place. They threatened the slaves thinking that that would keep them there, but it did not work. In order to keep their plantations running they resorted to paying the slaves and they could no longer whip them. Other primary sources that would give you a clear view on this might be a slave diary, abolitionist papers, novels written around this time, political cartoons and history books.