slavery and the plantation Essays -- Slavery Essays

bondage and the woodletDuring the era of slavery in the United States, not altogether blacks were slaves. on that point were a many number of free blacks, consisting of those had been freed or those in fact that were never slave. Nor did all slave work on plantations. There were nearly five hundred thousand that worked in the cities as domestic, experienced artisans and factory hands (Green, 13). But they were exceptions to the general rule. Most blacks in the States were slaves on plantation-sized units in the seven states of the South. And with the invent of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, much slaves were needed to work the ever-growing cotton game (Frazier, 14). The size of the plantations vary with the wealth of the planters. There were minor(ip) farmers with two or three slaves, planters with decennium to thirty slaves and big planters who owned a thousand or more slaves. Scholars generally agree that slaves received better treatment on the small farms and plant ation that did not employ overseers or general managers. Al just about half of the slaves, however, live, worked and died on plantations where the owners assigned much of their authority to overseers. The plantation was a conclave factory, village and police precinct. The most obvious characteristic was the totalitarian administration placed on the slave. One example of this was a communal nursery, which on the watch slave children for slavery and made it possible for their mothers to work in the fields. The adult female who cared for black children was comm notwithstanding designated aunty to distinguish her from the mammy, the nurse of dust coat children. Sometimes one women cared for both white and black children. Boys and girls wandered in about in a state of near-nudity until they reached the age of work. On some plantations they were issued tow-linen shirts, on others they wore guano bags with holes punched in them for the head and arms. Children were never issu ed shoes until they were sent to the fields, usually at the age of six or seven. Young workers were broken in as water boys or in the the trash gang. At the age of cristal or twelve, children were given a regular field routine. A fountain slave recalls, Children had to go to the fiel at six on out place. peradventure they dont do nothin moreover pick up stones or tote water, but thy got to get used to bein there. (Johnson, 40-45)Cooking on the plantation was a collect... ... with children would be less likely to attempt escape. The marriage ceremony was instructed by the wisest and most respected slave on the plantation, and included the ritual of jumping the broomstick. Males and females were pass judgment to remain faithful after the marriage. The marriages lasted a long time, some thirty years or more.The breeding on the plantation was the only life known to a slave. Few slaves ever had the opportunity to leave the plantation so it was the only world they knew. On e can think of a plantation as an isolated island, with occasional contact from the outside world. It was only through making contact with the outside world that slaves became aware that they similarly deserved freedom and gained the knowledge to obtain it.BIBLIOGRAPHYE.Franklin Frazier. Black Bourgeoisie. New York 1957Berkin, Miller, Cherny, and Gormly. fashioning America A History of the United States. Boston 1995.Douglass, Frederick. The Life and measure of Frederick Douglass. Hartford 1881.Johnson, Charles S. Shadow of the Plantation. Chicago 1941.Olmsted, Frederick Law. The Cotton Kingdom. New York 1948.Green, Bernard V. Bondage of a People. Miami 1991.