House Slave Clothing Research Paper

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House slaves usually received clothing allotments that were noticeably better in terms of fabrics and design than that was allotted to field slaves. As Monticello slave Peter Fossett, a house servant, recalled: This was not because slave holders were partial to their house slaves. Rather, slave owners and mistresses were compelled to exude their status in everything that encompassed the big house, including the house slave’s appearance. Type of clothing The casualness or dressiness of a house servant’s attire depended on several factors that included the plantation owner’s financial status, location of the plantation, and the frequency of visitors. Most plantations were so isolated and did not regularly host visitors that on a daily basis. When the slave owner did not entertain house guests, the house servants on these plantations usually were plainly dressed in which female slaves wore plain calico dresses and male slaves wore basic suits that were similarly fashioned to those that white men wore around the plantation. On a plantation that bristled with frequent visitors, house servants were required to dress elegantly on a daily basis. Some of these slaves regarded their clothing as a badge of class that separated them from the field slaves. At Mount Vernon the busy plantation owned by George Washington, house servants dressed …show more content…

Thomas Jefferson’s personal servant, Jupiter, was always dressed to the nines in a similar fashion to his owner. His wardrobe consisted of: Although a rarity, some wealthy slave owners purchased store bought shoes for their house servants. Julia Larken, a former house servant in Georgia, detailed an occasion in which she and another slave were instructed to go the plantation store or nearby general store to obtain one pair of

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