Daily life of a slave

1. Daily life of a
Slave
by: Logan
Fallon,

2. Field Workers
Being a field slave was not easy. A field slave worked
from sunrise to sunset. During harvest, they worked an
eighteen-hour day. A field worker was out in the field
when the first sign of light and then until it was too dark
to see. Women field workers worked the same hours as
men.Women that were expected to work until the child
was born, and after the child's birth the woman worked
in the field with the child on her back. After a day on a
cotton plantation the slaves got in a line to have their
cotton weighed and receive their daily food. The
minimum amount of cotton to be picked in one day was
200 pounds. The field slaves were driven all day long by
a white overseer with a whip. At about the age of twelve
a child's work became almost the same as an adult's.
Slaves got Sundays off and maybe parts of Saturday
unless it was during harvest. On very hot days slaves
might be given one to two hours off at midday. Slaves
sometimes hunted and fished during their free time.

3. House Slaves
Most house slaves were living in better conditions than field
workers. Although house slaves did not get Sunday off and usually
attended church with the master and mistress. House slaves
cleaned, cooked, served meals, and took care of the children. Some
house slaves lived in attics, closets, or corners in the big house
even if their families lived in the quarters. A cook's day was long
and hard. A cook got up early in the morning to cook breakfast,
and the day ended with cleaning up after dinner and gathering
firewood for the next day. These slaves sometimes stole food from
the owner. A house slave had a better chance to learn how to read
and write. They often listened in on their owner's conversations so
they were able to warn field slaves of the owner auctioning certain
slaves and other important things. House slaves did many other
things such as: waited on tables, washed, ironed, took up and put
down carpets, hauled the large steaming pots for the preservation
of fruits, lifted the barrels with cucumbers soaking in brine,
opened up the barrels of flour, swept floors, dusted furniture, hoed
and weeded gardens, and collected the chicken eggs. They also
took care of the infants allowing the wife to do whatever she
wanted. These slaves also weaved, quilted and spun linens.
Although house slaves had more privileges, being a house slave
was not much, if any easier than being a field worker.

4. Clothing/Housing
•Clothing: Every year each slave would receive
2 linen shirts, 2 trousers, 1 jacket, 1 pair of
socks, 1 pair of shoes, an overcoat, and a wool
hat.
•Housing: Slaves houses were usually shacks
with dirt floors, sometimes they were made
of boards nailed up and the cracks were
stuffed with rags. Beds were straw and grass,
old rags, and one blanket for covering. Plus
one single room could have as much as a
dozen people in it men, women, and children.

5. Food/Families
•Food: Each month one slave family would
receive cornmeal salt herring and 8 pounds
of pork or fish.
•Families: Over 32% of marriages were
cancelled by masters as a result of slaves
being sold away from their family. A slave
husband could be separated from his wife
and the children from the mother.

6. Punishments
Slaves could be killed for murder, burglary,
arson, and assault upon a white person.
Plantation owners believed that this 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 more 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.

7. Education, Foundation. (2002). Daily life of a
plantation slave. Retrieved from http://
library.thinkquest.org/CR0215086/
dailylife.htm
Education, Foundation. (2003). The life as a
slave. Retrieved from http://
library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00394/life.htm
Education, Foundation. (2003). A slave's life.
Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/
06aug/01071/slavelife.htm
Citations