Slavery in the North and South

Life for enslaved people was different in the Southern and Northern colonies. In the South, enslaved people worked mostly on big plantations. In the North, they worked mostly for small farmers and businessmen. When Northern farmers and businessmen ran out of tasks for their enslaved workers, they allowed them to find their own jobs, working for themselves or for other white men. The workers were allowed to keep some of their wages.

This man is acting the part of a slave, like Venture, who worked on his own to earn money.

Venture was smart, honorable, and strong enough to work around the clock in many different occupations; still, it took him nearly 30 years to earn enough money to purchase his own freedom and that of his wife and children. Before he did, he suffered at the hands of slaveholders and other white men, who beat and cheated him.

List two things that Venture's story tells you about slavery in America that you didn't know before.