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 * Life of Slaves in Antebellum America**

The lives of slaves were filled with sorrow and hardships. The everyday oppression they faced was unbearable, and you will learn more about these in the following paragraphs. Clothes were given to men twice a year, and everyone received a new pair of shoes about once a year. Women were provided with cloth to make cloths for them and their children. Rations consisted of cornmeal, salt pork or bacon, and molasses. The diet was heavy on starch and fats. They slept in one or two room dirt floor cabins that were scorching in the summer and freezing in the winter. More than one slave family typically lived in a cabin.


 * Family and Work**

There was a very high infant mortality rate. 20 percent of children died before the age of 5, which was much lower than the life expectancy of southern whites. Work was usually six days long, and saturdays were half days. Punishment was inflicted if the assigned job was not completed, and usually meant they would be whipped, or have extra work and less food rations. Good work was rewarded with extra food, a pass to visit family and friends, or the privilege of having a vegetable garden.


 * Life of the Plantation Slave

It must be restated that the life of a slave was usually very difficult, especially that of a plantation slave. A field slave often had to work 15-16 hours a day during harvest time, without many substantial break periods. Both men and women had to work the fields. There were almost no exceptions to this rule. For example, even if a slave women was well along in pregnancy, she would usually be forced to work. The amount of labor the slaves were forced to undergo was often far beyond the normal limits of human capabilities. Working this way was known as "hard driving". There was also no rest season for the slave laborer, given the Southern climate is warm all year long, the conditions were almost always considered good for work. Nobody was exempt from some sort of job, and children were usually put to work around 6 years of age. A common job at this age was to carry water to the fields to sustain the workers. As a slave child got older, they might be put to work in gangs to pull weeds around the fields and the main house of the plantation. Other slaves worked in the kitchen to provide food for the master and his family. There were also slaves who worked at the plantation's manor as servants to the master and his family. They carried out many domestic duties such as cleaning and laundry, or simply doing whatever the master and his family wanted them to. Also, there were many other hardships faced by slaves that were not related to working. Slaves could punished severely for any form of slight disobedience or lack of effort in the fields. They might be whipped, beaten, or branded for any reason you can think of. Beyond this, masters could also murder or mutilate their slaves, if they wished to send a message of their superiority or mastery over their property. In addition to this, white men of any plantation would be free to sexually abuse any female slaves if they wanted to. Slaves were powerless to resist any cruel acts of their master, as the law of the time allowed slave owners power to do almost whatever they wanted to with the men and women he or she controlled. Despite being able to punish their slaves as they pleased, slave owners were also obliged to provide housing, clothing, and food to their subjects. Slaves would usually each be provided some corn meal and some salted pork or bacon for every week. To supplement this diet, slaves might also plant and grow their own vegetable garden or hunt for wild game in the plantation's woods or undeveloped areas. Clothing was also provided for slaves, but the clothing was usually very inadequate. As a result, slaves sometimes tried to make their own clothes. They were also provided housing, which were small, crude log cabins with clapboard sidings and clay filler. Floors would simply be comprised of packed dirt and the cabins were also very leaky and drafty, and could be very uncomfortable. **


 * Life of the Urban Slave**

The life of an urban slave differed greatly from that of a plantation slave, but both ways of life were characterized by a lack of freedom and many instances of mistreatment, although the life of the urban slave could be described as less demanding. Many urban slaves were not actually owned by someone living in the city, but were being "hired out" from some rural owner. Hiring out a slave is like allowing a business to rent your slave for his services. The business would then pay the owner for the granting them more labor. Sometimes, the slaves themselves were allowed to keep some of this money. If they saved enough of it, it is possible that they could buy their freedom. There were a great many of these hired out slaves in city businesses because there was a lack of white labor. Many white workers had set out for the country to grow their own cotton, so slaves were in high demand in order to take their place in jobs like handling cargo, or for work in sawmills and ironworks. Many slaves also worked as loggers and miners. Slave women and children also found work, often with jobs at textile mills. The working conditions at places like these were actually relatively good, because the business owner did not want the slave owners taking their slaves back if those slaves were getting injured, growing ill, or dying. The labor was usually much more non-manual than that of a rural slave, and there was much less strain on the body. Also, an urban slave usually had much better clothes than those of a rural slave. They would not wear simple garb, but might go so far as to wear extravagant chains and suits. In cities, the manner and dress of a slave was a reflection of the slave's master, so masters were much more inclined to dress their slaves well to reflect thier own good taste and manner. The average urban slave also ate much better than the average rural slave. They ate in greater quantity, with with a greater variety of food at a higher quality.. This was usually because urban slaves owned by a city dwelling master would eat directly from their master's kitchen. Although it may appear that the life of an urban slave was much better than that of a plantation slave, they were still restricted by and bound to their owner. For example, it was more difficult to maintain a marriage and a family than a plantation slave. This was so because many marriages between slaves were not under just one owner. The two slaves would often be owned by two different owners, and if one owner were to move away from a temporary city residence, the marriage would be unceremoniously torn apart. This would not happen in this way for a plantation slave, given marriages would usually take place under one owner. It is true, however, that the either the husband or the wife could just as easily be sold away from each other.

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