Comparing Lives.

The question is 3 im answering is just going to compare the living conditions of slaves, indentured servants, and poor immigrants in the American colonies. And who lived he best and who lived the worst. I predicting that the poor immigrants most likely had the worst living conditions. And the indentured servants most likely had the best living conditions.

The living conditions on the plantations were generally very difficult for slaves. A strong family and community life helped sustain African Americans in slavery. People often chose their own partners, lived under the same roof, raised children together, and protected each other. Brutal treatment at the hands of slaveholders, however, threatened black family life. Enslaved women experienced sexual exploitation at the hands of slaveholders and overseers. Bondspeople lived with the constant fear of being sold away from their loved ones, with no chance of reunion. Historians estimate that most bondspeople were sold at least once in their lives. No event was more traumatic in the lives of enslaved individuals than that of forcible separation from their families. People sometimes fled when they heard of an impending sale.

Indentured servants were often scorned in their time as beggars and riffraff. Labor was hard and living conditions were generally harsh for indentured servants. Many servants had difficulty adjusting to the climate and native diseases of southeast Tidewater Virginia, and many servants did not live to receive their freedom. Runaway servants, of which there were many, were punished by increasing their time of service if they were captured. But conditions changed in Virginia, however, and, by 1700, recruitment of tobacco plantation labor from England was no longer as important due to the increasing availability of African slaves for the harsh plantation work.

When immigrants entered the U.S and did not have nowhere to stay, however they found out about “tenements” from sources. It was not like living in mansions, condominium’s, or anything. These tenements were for poor immigrants that just came to the United States to start a better life. These tenements were overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe housing. At least 18 people lived in one tenement apartment. There were only two toilets stalled on each floor and one bathtub in the kitchen of the apartment. When people had to use the bathroom and both toilets was in use they had to go to the backyard of the tenement and do there business there. Meanwhile, the tenements are about four to six stories high. Immigrants only had to pay ten dollars a month rent.

It seems as the poor immigrants lived the best because they didnt have people beating on them and being harsh to them. They may have not lived the best but they were not treat bad. They had their own life. And slaves and servants kind of lived the life they were both treated bad and put through tough labor. But the only thing that is different from the slaves from the servants is the slaves got beat but servants did too if they tried to run away.