Indenture Servants and African Slavery

Slavery had been in our society since the beginning of America. The number of slaves grew up in America consisting over eighty percent of the population in the colonies from 15th century to early 19th century. There were two types of slavery in America, the indentured servants and African slaves. These two groups of slaves were the number one workforce in America before. Indentured servants were men from Europe who made labor contracts in exchange for passage in America. And indentured servants had to work for their masters for certain amount of time, basically four to seven years. On the other hand, the African slaves were sold by their masters who were also African to Europe to work in America. African slaves worked in colonial America, especially in the south colonies. Indentured servants worked under their masters with a better treatment, and they were able to receive their freedom when they finished their contract, and their jobs were easier, and they were mostly white men while the African slaves has a harsh treatment to them, African slaves were slaves in their whole lives, and even their children, and their jobs were more harder compare to indentured servants, and they also worked in plantation. First, indentured servants were treated as a member of family by their masters and they were provided with food, clothing, and a small amount of land while African slaves were treated as property and abused by their masters. Indentured servants lived in the same house with their masters. Their jobs were helpers on their masters’ farm and house servants. Those were the common jobs of indentured servants because they were unskilled. Indentured servants were also provided land as a part of their wage. Africans slaves on the other hand were only provided food and a small place to sleep in. African slaves worked as artisans, farmhands, or personal servants. And they were also the one who cultivated the farms of their masters. Africans slaves were also not provided