2. • 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 cancelled
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.
5. 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
6. 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.
