Jun 15 2011 03:46 pm
Posted by under June 16 Assignment
Similarity and difference with NYC during 1800 and 1865.
Difference
During 1850’s Urban slaves enjoyed greater mobility and cultural autonomy than did the rural counterparts. City slaves partook of a wider world. They had access to food, drink, entertainment, and the common sociability of urban life. They sometimes ran their own churches and they often sneaked away to talk and drink with fellow slaves, free African Americans and even working class whites in the backalley groceries and grogshop scattered throughout every southern city. Preferring to avoid costs of housing their slaves, some master gave their slaves permission to live as well as work away. When slaves lived out, they often resided in rented rooms on the fringes of town where free blacks and poor whites also lived. On the other hand, rural slaves such as Bondsmen on plantations lived in the slave quarters and saw only their masters’ families and occasionally slaves from a nearby plantation. (Chudacoff and Smith, 73)
Common
The Civil war, like all wars, had a disruptive effect on American cities during 1863. The riots erupted in New York Cities as well as in Richmond, Virginia. In New York, the turmoil lasted for four days which resulting more than four hindered deaths. Similarly, many people died in Richmond as well. However, the war itself had varying effects on cities, depending on the social and economic climate. (Chudacoff and Smith 81-83)