Child Possession
Husbands and wives were not the only ones facing problems of separation during slavery. With more and more blacks gaining their freedom, slave owners became agitated at the loss of free labour and resorted to taking full possession of their slaves’ children. Free slaves lost rights over their children. The cost of freeing children was higher than freeing one’s wife or relative. Several freed blacks thus opted to return to slavery to be reunited with their children and for fear of never seeing their children again.
