At that time the Black slaves did not sleep in hammocks but on boards laid on the dirt floor.
Separate one or two-room structures, designed to accommodate one- or two-family units, were the most popular house type, although many enslaved laborers slept where they worked—in kitchens, laundries, and stables.
For the most part, they were housed in the same lodgings as their owners, usually in an attic or back room. When households were too small to accommodate all its enslaved laborers, and the proprietor was wealthy enough, a separate building for the more senior servants -- cooks, drivers, etc.
For the enslaved, this was actually a luxury. Most cabins contained more primitive box beds or pallets stuffed with moss that laid on the floor. Children slept on sacking, which could like pallets, be rolled up and stored during the daytime.
The enslaved on plantations lived in slave quarters, collections of small and very basic huts which were often positioned near to masters' and overseers' houses and the main buildings of the plantation. These were primitive houses, and often people slept on straw placed on the floor of the one-room building.
Slaves, especially those in the field, worked from sunrise until sunset. Even small children and the elderly were not exempt from these long work hours. Slaves were generally allowed a day off on Sunday, and on infrequent holidays such as Christmas or the Fourth of July.
They would try beating him or putting on thumb screws or torturing him in some way in order to break him and make him eat; or they would force-feed him by forcing open his jaws and forcing food into him.
Providing for family, whether that be food or furniture, also fell to men during their free time at night. Female slaves saw the dark- ness as a time to care for the needs of family.
Sixteen to eighteen hours of work was the norm on most West Indian plantations, and during the season of sugarcane harvest, most slaves only got four hours of sleep. The punishment for disobeying an order was far worse than just accepting what was asked.
On Sundays, enslaved individuals tended to their own gardens and livestock provided by their enslavers, practiced religion, and engaged with family and friends.
Maize, rice, peanuts, yams and dried beans were found as important staples of slaves on some plantations in West Africa before and after European contact. Keeping the traditional “stew” cooking could have been a form of subtle resistance to the owner's control.
The standard rations enslaved people received were cornmeal and salted fish, which they harvested themselves. These monotonous rations provided protein and carbohydrates but lacked essential nutrients and were not always sufficient for the demands of daily work.
A broad and common measure of the health of a population is its life expectancy. The life expectancy in 1850 of a White person in the United States was forty; for a slave, it was twenty-two. Mortality statistics for Whites were calculated from census data; statistics for slaves were based on small sample-sizes.
Slaves were punished for not working fast enough, for being late getting to the fields, for defying authority, for running away, and for a number of other reasons. The punishments took many forms, including whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, and being sold away from the plantation.
Large plantations had field hands and house servants. House servants performed tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and driving, while the field hands labored for up to 20 hours a day clearing land, planting seed, and harvesting crops.
On a typical plantation, slaves worked ten or more hours a day, "from day clean to first dark," six days a week, with only the Sabbath off. At planting or harvesting time, planters required slaves to stay in the fields 15 or 16 hours a day.
Recalled a former enslaved man: "The peas, the beans, the turnips, the potatoes, all seasoned up with meats and sometimes a ham bone, was cooked in a big iron kettle and when meal time come they all gathered around the pot for a-plenty of helpings!" This took place at noon, or whenever the field slaves were given a ...
Boys and girls under ten assisted in the care of the very young enslaved children or worked in and around the main house. From the age of ten, they were assigned to tasks—in the fields, in the Nailery and Textile Workshop, or in the house. In 1796, for instance, eight of the fourteen nailmakers were aged ten to twelve.
In ordinary times we had two regular meals in a day: breakfast at twelve o'clock, after laboring from daylight, and supper when the work of the remainder of the day was over. In harvest season we had three.
Some of the worst working conditions were those in mines or quarries. Enslaved people were forced to work with no respite, in deep, dark and narrow tunnels. The work was both physically demanding and dangerous, with the tunnels risking collapse.
In contrast, female slaves were owned property and therefore lacked such honor, as was manifest in their expected performance of sexual duties and their inability to protect their own physical integrity.
Gladiator fights
The games were seen as both a high and low art: lucky or successful gladiators could earn respect, admiration, money and social status through participating and winning. But many gladiators were also slaves, forced to compete and die for the entertainment of the people.
Basic garment of female slaves consisted of a one-piece frock or slip of coarse "Negro Cloth." Cotton dresses, sunbonnets, and undergarments were made from handwoven cloth for summer and winter. Annual clothing distributions included brogan shoes, palmetto hats, turbans, and handkerchiefs.
In good weather the captives were brought on deck in midmorning and forced to exercise. They were fed twice a day and those refusing to eat were force-fed.
What does Potato Hole mean? The term comes from slavery, when slaves had to dig holes in the earthen floors of their cabins. It was the only place they had to keep food cool — and, in some cases, to hide it and store it.