U.S. Social History Project: Life as a Slave

Living the life of a slave was no walk in the park, it was very difficult some of the things they got and went threw are:

For clothing every year they would get two linen shirts, two pairs of pants, one jacket, one pair of socks, one pair of shoes, a overcoat, and a wool hat. Today that would be like torcher to us but it was heaven to them.
Slaves normally lived in wooden shacks with dirt floors, but sometimes the houses were made of boards nailed up with cacks stuffed with rags. The beds were collected pieces of straw or grass, and old rags, and only one blanket for a cover. One room could have up to twelve people in it. In todays time we would call them homeless basically.
As a slave when your 12 months old the mother could be sold and you would be left 2 grow and work on that plantation. when a slave child turns 4 they would sometimes work as babysitters, at the age of 5 they would run errands and carry water tothe field slaves. Around the age of 8 children would be expected to work on the planation.
over 32% of marriages between slaves were canceled by masters as a result of slaves being sold away from thier family home. a slave husband could be separated from his wife, and children would also be separated from their mothers.

In order to keep the slaves from trying to rebel their punishment for murder, burglary, arson, and assault on a white person was murder. The plantation owners believed this severe discipline would make the slaves too scared to try anything. In South Caroline one slave owner would put nails on a barrel sticking out on the inside of the barrel, then put the slave in and roll him or her down a very long steep hill. another punishment for slaves was to whip them. owners in Virgina smoked their slaves which means whipping them and putting theim in a tabacco smokehouse. some other punishments included getting beaten with a chear, broom, tongs, shovel, shears, knife handles, the heavy end of a woman's shoe, and an oak club.
Slave owners prevented their slaves from learning how to read and becoming Christians because they didnt want them to read the Bible. In the South black people were not usually allowed to attend church sevices, in the North black people were more likely to attend church though. Drums which were used in traditional religious ceremonies where banned because overseers worried that they would be used to send messages.

Slave life was no joke they could never slack off or lose their cool or else they could get punished or even worse be killed.

U.S. Social History Project