was another slave who, after escaping from a slave plantation outside of Washington, D.C. at the age of 19, described living conditions on his plantation: Our houses were but log huts- - the tops partly open- - ground floor- - rain would come through. My aunt was quite an old woman, and had been sick several years; in rains I have seen her moving from one part of the house to the other, and rolling her bedclothes about to try to keep dry- - everything would be dirty and muddy. I lived in the house with my aunt. My bed and bedstead consisted of a board wide enough to sleep on- - one end on a stool, the other placed near the fire. My pillow consisted of my jacket- - my covering was whatever I could get. My bed tick was the board itself. And this was the way the single men slept- - but we were comfortable in this way of sleeping, being used to it. I only remember having but one blanket from my owners up to the age of nineteen, when I ran away (Drew 45). These living conditions caused many to resort to immoral methods of survival, as Henderson relates: Our allowance was given weekly- - a peck of sifted corn meal, a dozen and a half herrings, two and a half pounds of pork. Some of the boys would eat this up in three days- - then they had to steal, or they could not perform their daily tasks. They would visit the hog- pen, sheep- pen, and granaries. I do not remember one slave but who stole some things- - they were driven to it as a matter of necessity. I myself did this- (Drew 48). Mealtime was far from a joyous occasion. In regard to cooking, sometimes many had to cook at one fire, and “before all could get to the fire…the overseers horn would sound: then they must go at any rate” (Drew 50). Slaves like Henderson “never sat down at a table to eat except at harvest time” (50). He says, “This (eating at harvest time) was more like people, and we liked it, for we sat down then at meals,” (50). The sla...
