Atlantic Slave Trade - Slave punishments

2. LEARNING INTENTIONS
• Describe the different methods that owners used to
punish their slaves

3. Owners kept control of their slaves through different actions,
including the fear of punishment. There were many different
methods used to punish slaves.

4. Owners had many ways of
punishing slaves that rebelled
against them.
The most common of these
was whipping.
Other slaves were made to
watch, and sometimes another
slave did the whipping.

5. Other punishments
included not being given
food or being forced to
work longer hours.
Sometimes slaves would be
chained up, including to
other slaves.
Slaves who tried to escape
might be branded too.

6. Sometimes slaves were made
to wear strange devices, such
as punishment collars or
face masks.
These aimed to not only
cause pain and
embarrassment, but also to
make it impossible for slaves
to eat or sleep properly.

7. Some slaves were
threatened with being sent
to a faraway plantation, or
having their family sold, so
they might never see loved
ones again.
Female slaves were also
suffered sexual abuse and
rape at the hands of owners
or their workers.

8. There were also more extreme
punishments. These included
being half-hanged, burned,
and having limbs amputated.
Ultimately a slave could be
killed, but this obviously cost
the owner money and so was
only rarely done (usually after
violent rebellion).

9. Thomas Thistlewood was a
slave owner. His diary
describes brutal punishments
he gave to slaves, including:
• Beating slaves and rubbing
salt into their wounds
• Raping female slaves
• Tying up slaves, covering
them with sugar and
leaving them to mosquitos