The Portuguese, in the 1600s, began exporting a number of slaves to the New World. Here, slaves were shipped to the lands of many different colonies. For example, some slaves were sent to work in the Spanish colonies. Some were also sent to the colonies of Virginia and Brazil to work on plantations. States like Alabama and Mississippi, which relied on cotton, had large populations of slaves. Plantation slaves lived in small cabins with dirt floors and little or no furniture. The cabins did not escape the cold winter winds. Domestic slaves, however, benefited from better cabins, working conditions and food than field slaves. Many large plantations often needed slaves to work inside the plantation. These slaves who worked inside could sometimes travel with the master's family. Slaves in plantation houses cleaned, cooked, served meals, and took care of the master's children. Slave drivers were often convinced by the master to manage their fellow slaves because they were promised that they would be treated differently and given better privileges. The drivers were generally hated by the rest of the slaves, leading to violence between the slaves and the drivers. It was normal for southern slave owners to break up families; kept some, sold some when they needed it to raise funds. The separation and sale of slaves was repeated thousands of times throughout the slave states. Many slave children, after being separated from their families, had very little memory of their siblings and parents. Slave owners also did not know that some slaves were married. Married slave couples could be separated and sold at any time. Music and entertainment... middle of paper......organized rebellions to gain their freedom. A common form of rebellion among slaves was flight. In many cases, slaves only left the plantation for a short time. Slaves fled in droves, following the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada and the Northern states. Slaves also fled to the Indians and joined them in their wars against white settlers. The slaves liked to play pranks on the patrolmen, whom they called patterrollers or paddyrollers. The patrolmen's job was to control the slaves and prevent them from breaking the laws. Slave patrolmen had the power to enter a slave's cabin without permission and search it. In conclusion, there were many levels of mistreatment of slaves. Work on the plantation was hard, no matter what they did. The intensity of the abuse from the master was due to where you worked on the plantation..