Amazon.com description: Product Description: For more than 150 years, starting before 1700, people from Africa and their descendants were forced to work as slaves on large plantations in the American South. They worked long days for no pay and without a say in their own lives. They endured cruel punishments, poor food, shabby clothes, and ramshackle housing. Plantation slaves suffered many hardships, yet they fought not only to survive but also to preserve their humanity. At this they were successful, working and developing skills, and creating loving families and homes.