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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 totalitarian regime placed on the slave. One example of this was a communal nursery, which prepared slave children for slavery and made it possible for their mothers to work in the fields. The woman who cared for black children was commonly designated "aunty" to distinguish her from the "mammy", the nurse of white children. Sometimes one women cared for both white and black children. Boys and girls wandered in around in a state of near-nudity until they reached the age of work. On some plantations they were issued tow-linen shirts, on others they wore guano bags with holes punched in them for the head and arms. Children were never issued shoes until they were sent to the fields, usually at the age of six or seven. Young workers were broken in as water boys or in the the "trash gang." At the age of ten or twelve, children were given a regular field routine. A former slave recalls, "Children had to go to the fiel' at six on out place. Maybe they don't do nothin' but pick up stones or tote water, but thy got to get used to bein' there." (Johnson, 40-45) Cooking on the plantation was a collective project. On most plantations food was prepared in a common kitchen and sent to the workers in the field. In most cases, however, slaves were expected to cook the evening meal in their cabins. The food, which was issued once a week, was generally coarse and lacking in variety. The usual allocation was a peck of corn and three of four pounds of bacon or salt pork. They were also given milk, potatoes, peas and beans, molasses, and fish. Fractional amounts, usually one-half, were allotted to each child in the family. Most slaves supplemented this meager fare by trapping coons and opossums in the fields or by stealing corn from the master's corncribs and chickens from his chicken coops. Slaves made a distinction between taking and stealing. It was considered right to take anything that belonged to white folk but it was wrong to steal the property of other slaves (Olmsted 69-72). While the diet provided to the slave kept them alive and functioning, it lacked many important nutrients, and diet-related diseases plagued slave communities. The diseases and other inflictions that befell slave include hernia, pneumonia, and lockjaw. Because of the lack of proper sanitation, slaves also suffered from dysentery and cholera more severely than the whites (Berkin, 266-267). 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) Clothes came in two sizes, large and small, and women and men were apparently issued the same kind of shoes. It is said that these shoes burned and blistered in the summer and got stiff as a board in cold weather. On some plantations the same man shod slaves and horses (Olmsted, 67). 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). Furnishings in slave houses were usually fairly crude. Bedding generally consisted of straw pallets stacked on the floor or occasionally mounted on rough bedsteads. Other furnishings were equally simple--rough-hewn wooden chairs or benches and plank tables. The basic division in the work force on larger plantations was between field slaves, who, as the name implies, worded in the fields, and house slaves, who worked in and around the house (e.g. maids, cooks, butlers) or performed services as specialists (e.g. nurses, gardeners). Although word in and around the house was generally lighter, it brought disadvantages, including constant surveillance by the whites and the mental stress of putting on a public mask. For these reasons, most slaves hated to be put to work outside their area, a fact noted by Olmsted, who said: "Slaves brought up to house work dread to be employed at field-labour, and those accustomed to the field detest the close control and careful movements required of the house-servants. It is a punishment for a lazy field-hand to employ him in menial duties at the house... and it is equally a punishment to a neglectful house-servant, to banish him to the field-gangs." At the top of the slave structure was the figure called the driver, an blunt title that pointed to the function, driving slaves in the fields and maintaining order in the quarters. Feared and detested by most slaves, the driver was an integral part of the plantation command structure, holding a position roughly comparable to a master sergeant under a lieutenant (overseer), under a captain (slave owner). When there were two or more drivers, one was named head driver. Owners believed that was the most important slave on the plantation, and was not required to work like other hands. They were to be treated with more respect than any other slave by both master and overseer.... He is to be required to maintain proper discipline at all times. He is to see that no slave idles or does bad work in the field, and to punish it with discretion. Slaves had no rights. This was done to keep them from revolting against their masters or attaining too much power. They were not allowed to communicate with each other or have meetings of any sort. To leave the plantation, a worker was required to have a pass signed by the master and overseer. Slaves could not own property, although some masters authorized it. Knives, guns, or any kind of weapon was not allowed. Forced separation of family members was a constant, dreadful threat used by the slave masters to keep them in line. 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. Solomon Northup, a free black who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, said the hands worked steadily and "with the exception of ten or fifteen minutes, which is given them at noon to swallow their allowance of cold bacon, they are not permitted to be a moment idle till it is too dark to see, and when the moon is full, they often labor till the middle of the night." Men, women, and children worked in the fields. The women cut down trees, dug ditches and plowed. The old and the ailing worked, oftentimes in the yards, feeding poultry, cleaning up, mending clothes and caring for the infants and the sick. At the end of the workday the slaves still had chores to do, from feeding the mules and swines, cutting wood, and so forth (Johnson, 124-130). Fear, work, the whip, hard words, and the fields was the life for most slaves, day in and day out, season after season, with a half-day on Saturday perhaps and whole day off on Sunday. Although the slaves were under the surveillance of the whites in order to prevent conspiracies and revolts, they were able to engage in a form of worship different from that of the whites. The field hands were especially attracted by the Methodist and Baptist missionaries who, in their revival meetings, preached a simple doctrine of salvation through conversion in which a highly emotional experience was of primary importance. The spirituals, or religious folk songs, grew out of these relatively independent religious meetings. The marriage between slaves was not legally recognized but was encouraged by the master. It was thought that a married couple with children would be less likely to attempt escape. The marriage ceremony was instructed by the wisest and most respected slave on the plantation, and included the ritual of jumping the broomstick. Males and females were expected to remain faithful after the marriage. The marriages lasted a long time, some thirty years or more. The life on the plantation was the only life known to a slave. Few slaves ever had the opportunity to leave the plantation so it was the only world they knew. One can think of a plantation as an isolated island, with occasional contact from the outside world. It was only through making contact with the outside world that slaves became aware that they too deserved freedom and gained the knowledge to obtain it. Bibliography: BIBLIOGRAPHY E.Franklin Frazier. Black Bourgeoisie. New York 1957 Berkin, Miller, Cherny, and Gormly. Making America: A History of the United States. Boston 1995. Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Hartford 1881. Johnson, Charles S. Shadow of the Plantation. Chicago 1941. Olmsted, Frederick Law. The Cotton Kingdom. New York 1948. Green, Bernard V. Bondage of a People. Miami 1991. Word Count: 2037
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