Southern Colonies

Plantations & Small farms

• Plantations were more like small villages than farms
• Plantation owners needed slaves, because they were too big
• Small farms usually grew their own food and didn't use slaves
• In the backcountry, there were lots of small farms

Family Life

• The children of wealthy planters lived fairly easy lives
• Parents hired tutors for kids
• Boys learned to ride horses, fish, plant crops, hunt, etc.
• Girls learned to cook, sew, sing, etc.
• Backcountry farmers often lived far from the nearest town

Southern Slavery

• The importance of slavery changed over time
• In early 1600s, indentured servants did much of the hard work
• Slavery began to get popular when more plantations were built
• In the 1600s to the 1700s, more and more slaves were brought over
• In 1750, slaves worked in all of the colonies, but mostly in the South

Life under slavery

• Slaves weren't treated like humans
• Bought and sold as property
• Families were torn apart
• Slaves got whipped and punished if not working
• Never had any food, drinks, or good clothes to work in

African american Culture

• To survive harsh lives Africans formed "families" with their community
• Another strength was religion
• Africans created a culture that blended African and American custom 
• They remembered their past by telling stories from Africa
• In South Carolina, enslaved Africans created a new language, (Gullah)