Visit Your Local PBS Station PBS Home PBS Home Programs A-Z TV Schedules Watch Video Donate Shop PBS Search PBS
Slavery and the Making of AmericaPhoto of a slave family on a plantation in Georgia
Time and Place Slave Memories Resources The Slave Experience

The Slave Experience: Family
Intro Historical Overview Character Spotlight All in the Family Personal Narratives Original Docs
Introduction The Family
Get the Historical Overview
All in the Family Illustration of slave buyer separating family
How did enslaved parents try to make life better for their children? What impact did changing agricultural interests have on the slave family? Who did slaves marry? Who did they depend on for support? How did enslaved spouses, parents, and children cope with the constant threat of separation?
Read and find out!
The Carter family included both free and enslaved members. Their racial identities covered a spectrum from black to white. Learn how the make-up of the family changed over time. Illustration of slave buyer separating family
Personal Narratives Illustration from the book NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF HENRY BIBB, AN AMERICAN SLAVE
Go Illustration of slave buyer separating family
Photo of actor portraying Emmanuel Driggus Character Spotlight: Emmanuel Driggus

Read and listen
to compelling first-hand accounts of life under slavery and Reconstruction.
Go!
Around 1640, Virginian planter Captain Pott purchased Emmanuel Driggus and his wife, Frances, as slaves. Pott then contracted their two adopted daughters into service. Read more!
Learn about Henry Bibb and the family lives of other slaves by investigating documents dating from the Colonial, Antebellum, and Reconstruction periods of American history.
Go!
email this page to a friend
About the Series K-12 Learning Feedback Support PBS
SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York.
© 2004 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.