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Slaves and Owners Slavery, a social system that defined men and women as things, vested owners with enormous power over those they owned. Southern Slaveholders - "masters" and "mistresses," as they liked to be known - enjoyed full command over the slaves' labor and nearly unchecked power over their persons. Owners could buy and sell slaves as they saw fit, for any reason or no reason at all. They could beat, whip, and physically abuse their slaves with virtual impunity. Owners dictated where and how the slaves lived, how they worked ans played, and with whom they associated. Slaves learned this fact early in their lives. and their owners never allowed them to forget it. (Remembering Slavery, the book: chapter 1, page 3) Voices: Tonea Stewart reads the words of Caroline Hunter Laura Smalley |