No Longer Yours:
Aspects of Slavery and Freedom Seeking in North Carolina

Earth-The Life and Labor of Enslaved People in North Carolina

The enslaved before capture knew the richness of the earth, the presents that sprang from its soil, and the treasure beneath its surface. Most of life, for nearly all men, occurs on the earth. The building of families, the sustaining of communities, fighting in war, battling natural disasters, sleeping, dancing, and cooking—nearly all activities of life take place on the earth. The earth may have different flora and fauna depending on the region of the earth but that does not change what happens on the earth for most humans. See a short clip on slave life HERE

What changed for the Africans and the Native Americans captured for enslavement was how they were expected to live on the earth. Slavery forced a set of human relationships that altered the expectations of life and what was expected to happen on the earth. This chapter is broken into two parts and introduces readers to how enslaved people found a way to live and engage in labor on the earth in the state of North Carolina. This chapter presents an overview. In part one, this chapter peeks into how the life of the enslaved people was generally organized and looks into how enslaved people survived. Part two introduces readers to some of the tasks enslaved people performed on the earth that are not widely known, such as railroad work, gold mining, and iron working.