As Booker T. Washington recounts in his Slave Diet Bulletin, a common breakfast was cornbread and pork. On days when that wasn't available, he'd head to the animal shed. There, he'd steal some of boiled Indian corn kernels used to feed the cows and pigs.
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 ...
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.
The usual diet for slaves was cornbread and pork. Washington wrote that he did not see very much of his mother since she had to leave her children early in the morning to begin her day's work.
These crops included several basic starches central to the African diet, for instance rice, okra, tania, black-eyed peas, cassava, yams, and kidney and lima beans. Other crops brought from Africa included peanuts (originally from South America), millet, sorghum, guinea melon, liquorice, watermelon, and sesame (benne).
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.
Fried chicken, the iconic dish of American slavery
And there was no shortage of fried chicken in the houses, consumed almost on a daily basis, since subject to a rapid deterioration: there were no refrigerators at the time, so the meat had to be cooked and eaten immediately.
On Sundays, enslaved individuals tended to their own gardens and livestock provided by their enslavers, practiced religion, and engaged with family and friends.
During the winter, slaves toiled for around eight hours each day, while in the summer the workday might have been as long as fourteen hours.
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.
A bowl of grits or porridge was prevalent in slave kitchens and eaten by both the slaves and their owners. Grits is the ultimate comfort food, taking on the flavors of whatever region uses it.
One of the ways in which they tried to bring death on when they couldn't jump overboard: they tried to just starve themselves to death. And so, in order to discourage this they would force the slave to eat.
Slaves ate a high-fat, high-calorie diet that would allow them to burn 3,000 calories a day working, she explained. Southern food began to be called soul food during the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s, according to Hurt.
Some enslaved men and women refused to eat, hoping to starve themselves to death. This might involve holding food in their mouths and then spitting it out when the crew weren't looking although this could lead to floggings and force-feedings as punishment. Leaping overboard to drown was another means of escape.
The work was daily, constant, sometimes difficult, and often tedious, and enslaved servants often slept on pallets on the floors of bedrooms or hallways near where they labored.
Living Conditions of Slaves: Housing
Living conditions were cramped with sometimes as many as ten people sharing a hut. They had little in the way of furniture and their beds usually made of straw or old rags.
There were numerous restrictions to enforce social control: slaves could not be away from their owner's premises without permission; they could not assemble unless a white person was present; they could not own firearms; they could not be taught to read or write, or transmit or possess “inflammatory” literature.
Yes, enslaved children were forced to labor on this plantation. 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.
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.
One might also sit on a stool or chair for the sponge bath, or use the tub as a medicinal foot bath. If used by an enslaved woman, it may have been used outdoors or in the kitchen. In some households she might have been allowed to bathe in her room.
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.
The risk of sale in the international slave trade peaked between the ages of fifteen and twenty five, but the vulnerability of being sold began as early as age eight and certainly by the age of ten, when enslaved children could work competently on the fields.
They brought the kola nut – one of the main parts of Coca-Cola – to what is now the United States. West Africans chewed the nut for its caffeine. Enslaved Africans also brought watermelon, okra, yams, black-eyed peas and some peppers. These foods are commonly eaten in the U.S. today.
Although the peanut originated in either Peru or Brazil, Africans were the first to introduce the legume to the United States in the 1700s. Peanuts were often the only food for the enslaved while on ships heading to America. In the earliest days of this country, peanuts were not held in high esteem.
They often ate the entrails and appendages of farm animals, including pig's feet, cow's tongue, liver and oxtail. This food had little nutritional value but the slaves made these scraps as palatable as possible by adding herbs as well as large amounts of the fat, sugar and salt that were readily available.