Final answer:
The grandmother remained in slavery until death due to her long-term status as property, her lack of economic value in old age, and the common practice of slaveholders disregarding family and kinship ties among slaves for economic benefit.
Step-by-step explanation:
The grandmother would not be taken into slavery because she had already been living as a slave her entire life and was considered property until her death. Despite her years of service and the wealth she helped to create for her owners, she was not granted freedom but was instead abandoned in her old age due to her lack of economic value to her owners. In the brutal institution of slavery, family ties and faithfulness were often disregarded, and many elderly enslaved people were left in conditions of neglect and isolation.
During the antebellum period, enslaved families were under constant threat of separation, with kinship networks regularly disrupted by slaveholders through sales, hiring out, and, upon the death of an enslaver, redistribution among heirs or creditors. Slaveholders rationalized their actions with the belief in paternalism, but the harsh reality was that of extreme exploitation and disregard for human bonds among enslaved people.