Enslaved Labor and the Land

The institution of slavery deprived people of African descent of any legal rights, and granted an enslaver complete power over Black men, women, and children, who were legally recognized as property. The systemic racial inequities in the United States today connect directly back to the institution of slavery and the subjection of people of African descent for the benefit of white supremacy. From the country's founding in 1783 until the 13th Amendment in 1865, the U.S. Constitution permitted the institution of slavery, which was deeply ingrained in the political, economic, and social structure of the United States.

White enslavers forced enslaved Africans to work on plantations. Enslavers considered enslaved people chattel property and thought of them as no different than livestock. White people maintained the institution of slavery through physical and emotional threats of harm, including beatings, rape, and family separation.