In the American South, half of all slaves were under the age of 16.

Infant and child mortality were high due to undernourishment. Most infants were weaned early, within three or four months of birth, and then fed gruel. They suffered from night blindness, abdominal swellings, swollen muscles, bowed legs, skin lesions, and convulsions.

About half of all U.S. slave children grew up apart from their father, either because he lived on another plantation, had been sold away, or was white.

Slave children were whipped or even required to swallow worms they failed to pick off of cotton or tobacco plants.

The top uses for slave children were cleaning and sexual abuse:

Owners often beat and raped children for pleasure as young as 10 years of age.

Science also had a use for slave children:

James Sims Is Celebrated In America As A Hero Of Science : With full support by the community, he did experimental surgery on slave children. He would operate on children using a shoemaker’s tool to pry their bones apart and loosen their skulls. These experiments had a 100% fatality rate.

• Pedophilia
• Child Murder
• Child Hangings
• Child Beatings with whips
• Child mutilation
• Child kidnappings
• Child labor

Some people see this as a blessing.