Differences Between African Slave Life and European Indentured Servant Life The lives of African slaves and the lives of European indentured servants were very different. African slaves were African and the Europeans treated them like animals. Although the European indentured servants were also treated badly, they were fellow Europeans and weren't treated as bad. Indentured servants were freed after their period of duty and were paid to do their work. They weren't captured to be indentured servants they were often lured. Slaves were taken by force and slavery went on indefinitely.
One reason why the African slaves were different from the European indentured servants is obvious because the Africans were African and the Europeans were Europeans. Therefore, that changed many things since they were different races. Since Africans weren't counted as people they didn't have any rights at all and they were owned by their master. They didn't have any living space so about ten slaves would stay in one room with absolutely no furniture.
English: Family on Smith's Plantation, Beaufort, S...
English: Public domain image more than 100 years s...
English: Slaves in eastern Africa."Our beds were collections of straw and old rags, thrown down in corners and boxed in with boards, a single blanket the only covering,"� says an African slave. When it was time for the slaves to be sold their buyers would put them on a block and say how healthy they were and examine their teeth as if they were animals to explain how much work they could do. However, the indentured servants were treated a bit differently because they were fellow Europeans. They had rights, a few, but some. They even could vote if their masters permitted them to do so. After their period of duty they were able to do everything that their masters could do. Indentured servants were bought and sold but they weren't examined like they were animals as the slaves...