African-American Slavery
When you got to the plantation (a big farm), someone would
tell you which cabin to sleep in. You would share that cabin with a lot of
other people.
During the day you worked in the fields, planting or
hoeing or picking cotton, and
at night you ate corn mush, sweet
potatoes, peanuts, and whatever your owners had left over or didn't
want to eat, like turnip greens or pig
guts. People learned how to cook these leftovers so they would be good to
eat. But most people were hungry and tired all the time.
A wedding from 1820
After you got married, you lived in a cabin with your husband
or wife and your kids. You had to work all day, so an older woman or someone who
was disabled would take care of the kids - but often not very well.
Scars from a whipping
One bad thing about being a slave was that your owner, or the overseer, or any free person, could beat you whenever they wanted to, or torture you, or embarrass you, however they wanted. They didn't have to have a reason.
A child being taken from his mother
Another bad thing about being a slave was that your owner could
take your husband or wife or kids away from you any time he or she wanted. Your
owner could just decide that you should have a different husband, and that would be
that. Or he could decide to sell your wife or your child to someone who lived far away.
First page about slavery
Black people after the Civil War
Later North American People
North American
people before 1500
Main North America page
Main people page
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