Slavery on the plantation
During the era of slavery in the United States, not all blacks were slaves. There were a many number of free blacks, consisting of those had been freed or those in fact that were never slave. Nor did all slave work on plantations. There were nearly five hundred thousand that worked in the cities as domestic, skilled artisans and factory hands (Green, 13). But they were exceptions to the general rule. Most blacks in America were slaves on plantation-sized units in the seven states of the South. And with the invent of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, more slaves were needed to work the ever-growing cotton game (Frazier, 14). The size of the plantations varied with the wealth of the planters. There were small farmers with two or three slaves, planters with ten to thirty slaves and big planters who owned a thousand or more slaves. Scholars generally agree that slaves received better treatment on the small farms and plantation that did not employ overseers or general managers. Almost half of the slaves, however, live, worked and died on plantations where the owners assigned much of their authority to overseers. The plantation was a combination factory, village and police precinct. The most obvious characteristic was the to
Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Hartford 1881. Twice a year the slave was issued a clothes ration. A South Carolina planter described a typical allowance in his plantation manual: "Each man gets in the fall two shirts of cotton drilling, a pair of woolen pants and a woolen jacket. In the spring two shirts of cotton shirting and two pair of cotton pants.... Each woman gets in the fall six yards of woolen cloth, six yards of cotton drilling and a needle, skein of thread and a half dozen buttons. In the spring six yards of cotton shirting and six yards of cotton cloth similar to that for men's pants, needle, thread and buttons. Each worker gets a stout pair of shoes every fall, and a heavy blanket every third year." (Green, 109-111) Berkin, Miller, Cherny, and Gormly. Making America: A History of the United States. Boston 1995. The housing units of most slaves were family-type cabins, but some lived in large barracks that were filled with slaves of all ages, conditions and size. The cabins had windows but generally they had only wooden shutters and no glass. The window let in flies in summer and cold in winter, but closing the shutters shut out the light. When the shutters were closed against flies and cold, the most reliable source of light was an open fireplace or stove, which was also used for heat and cooking. The need for light and a cooking fire prompted slaves to build fires even at the hottest time of year. Ever-present fires increased the danger of cabins burning down, especially because chimneys were generally made of sticks held together with dried mud. It was a common procedure to put five or six slaves into one room. Everything from births, sickness, and death happened in those rooms (Berkin, 267). Real instructive punishment was administered and/or supervised by the slave master or overseer. The usual punishment was thirty-nine lashes with a cowskin whip. It was not unusual, however, for slaves to receive one hundred or more lashes. And few slaves, no matter how obedient or humble, reached old age without receiving at least one lashing. The most common offense for a lashing was impudence. According to Frederick Douglass, "Impudence might mean almost anything, or nothing at all, just according to the caprice of the master or overseer at the moment. But, whatever it is, or is not, if it gets the name of 'impudence' the party charged with it is sure of a flogging. This offense may be committed in various ways; in the tone of an answer; in answering at all; in not answering; in the expression of the countenance; in the motion of the head; in the gait, manner and bearing of the slave." This, reinforced by the bells, horns and military formations of plantation life, were used to keep the slaves off balance. The horn or bell usually sounded about four in the morning. Thirty minutes later the field hands were expected to be out of their cabins and on the way to the fields. Strugglers and late sleepers were lashed with the whip. Overseers and drivers, armed with whips, drove the work force. The overseer sometimes carried a bowie knife and a pistol. He often rode a horse, accompanied by a vicious dog. The basic division in the wor
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2179
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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