As noted in our history, slavery began in the early 1700s. Former slave William J. Anderson stated in his 1857 account that "these facts will seem too horrifying to be told and that there are some of the real “dark deeds” but his story, our story” (“Master/Slave,” March 2007). Slavery was an abomination and it had to be ended. It was all about ownership, treating slaves as less than human, and knowing that you were going to live a slave and die a slave. The relationship between master and slave was a simple one, a mentality like I belong to you. Harriet Jacobs (who was a former slave) said that "she realized that her property status defined her place in the master-slave relationship and that no matter how human a master might be, he or she she could sell a slave with little or no means. discomfort” (“Master/Slave” March 2007). Slave women had to endure numerous sexual abuses from their masters. If they refused the advances, they were beaten, so that “enormous numbers of slaves became the concubines of these men” (“Master-Slave Relations”). If a slave, a mistress, were to give birth to offspring to her master, the child would then always be a slave, but most of the time, a house slave. Female slaves were purchased to produce more slaves. Basically, the slave woman's main purpose was to produce more workers. This is how their “stock” of slaves increased. like a well-oiled machine to them, they continued to work until their masters allowed them to stop. Often this happened from sunrise to sunset. Slaves were treated less than humans. Most southern plantations were divided between houses. slaves and field slaves; lighter-skinned slaves were house slaves and darker-skinned slaves were field slaves. The...... middle of paper...... after their death, they are buried and forgotten as if they were. never existed. It is said that most of your slave marriages were annulled by their masters because slaves were traded and sold by their families without any warning. “32% of marriages were annulled by their masters. A slave husband could be separated from his wife and children from their mother. (http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00394/life.htm). Religion played an important role in slavery, as most slaves were Christians and recognized that the Bible did not suit their masters and that slaves were punished. Works Cited “Master-Slave Relations.” Accessed January 26, 2014. http://www.bowdoin.edu/~prael/projects/gsonnen/page4.html.National Humanities Center, “Master/Slave.” Last edited March 2007. Accessed January 26, 2014. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/text6read.htm.