The life as a slave was very difficult.
Here are some things that were in a slave’s life.
Clothing:
Every year, slaves usually received two linen shirts, two pairs of trousers ,
one jacket, one pair of socks, one pair of shoes, an overcoat, and a wool hat.
Food:
Slaves usually received cornmeal salt herrings, and eight pounds of pork or
fish each month for food.
Housing:
Slaves houses were usually wooden shacks with dirt floors, but sometimes houses
were made of boards nailed up with cracks stuffed with rags. The beds were
collected pieces of straw or grass, and old rags, and only one blanket for a
covering. A single room could have up to a dozen people-men, women, and
children.
Childhood:
When a slave was only 12 months old his/her mother could be sold far away. When
a slave was four, they sometimes worked as a babysitter. When a slave was
around the age of five, they would run errands and carry water to the field
slaves. Around the age of eight, children would be expected to work on the
plantation.
Families:
Over 32% of marriages were canceled by masters as a result of slaves being sold
away from the family home. A slave husband could be parted from his wife, and
children from their mothers.
Punishments:
Slaves could be killed for murder, burglary, arson, and assault upon a white
person. Plantation owners believed that this severe discipline would make the
slaves too scared to rebel.
In South Carolina one slave owner would
put nails in a barrel sticking out on the inside of the barrel, then put the
slave in and roll him/her down a very long and steep hill. Another punishment
slave owners used was to whip their slaves. Other slave owners in Virginia
smoked their slaves. This involved whipping them and putting them in a tobacco
smokehouse.
Some other punishments were getting
beaten with a chair, broom, tongs, shovel, shears, knife handles, the heavy end
of a woman’s shoe, and an oak club.
Religion:
On of the main reasons masters didn’t want their slaves to become Christians
involved the Bible. This was one reason why most plantation owners did what
they could to stop their slaves from learning to read. In the South, black
people were not usually allowed to attend church services. Black people in the
North were more likely to attend church services. Drums, which were used in
traditional religious ceremonies, where banned because overseers worried that
they would be used to send messages.
For more information visit the
following sites:
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00394/life.htm
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/rise-of-slave-trade-black-history-in-colonial-america.html#lesson
