In what ways did family relationships affect enslaved people? (You can think of ways the relationships were helpful and also ways the relationships were exploited by enslavers.)

I n some ways enslaved African American families very much resembled other families who lived in other times and places and under vastly different circumstances. Some husbands and wives loved each other; some did not get along. Children sometimes abided by parent’s rules; other times they followed their own minds. Most parents loved their children and wanted to protect them. In some critical ways, though, the slavery that marked everything about their lives made these families very different.