History of slavery in North Carolina

In 1860, there were nineteen counties in North Carolina where the number of slaves was larger than the free white population.

Settlers imported slaves from Virginia or South Carolina because of the poor harbors and treacherous coastline.

The economy's growth and prosperity were based on slave labor, devoted first to the production of tobacco.

The oppressive and brutal experiences of slaves and poor whites led to their using escape, violent resistance, and theft of food and other goods in order to survive.

Men, women, and children worked variously as domestic servants, skilled artisans, field laborers, and more in urban settings and on both small farms and large plantations.

Plantations are often defined as large land holdings that produced cash crops beyond subsistence requirements.

Alternatively, some scholars distinguish a plantation from a farm based on the number of people enslaved by the property owner.

[1] Below is a list of dates of laws and events that were relevant to slaves in North Carolina.

Some white churches had balconies where enslaved people were allowed to attend services with their masters.

Fear of revolts did not allow enslaved people to organize churches until after the Civil War.