Sarah Ashley: A Mississippi Slave

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The life of Sarah Ashley, a Mississippi slave, when compared to the generality of slave conditions throughout the southern United States, only emphasizes the unbearable and unimaginably harsh conditions in which they were forced to live. Although the conditions that Sara Ashley faced on a daily basis differed from those discussed in the textbook, commonalities between both texts exist. One of the most dramatic similarities between Sarah Ashley’s story and our textbook was the slave experience of working the fields of a plantation. According to Deverell and White (424), “most plantation owners used the gang-labor system”. Sarah Ashley’s story underscores the gang-labor system of work by stating, “slaves pick 300 to 800 pound cotton and have to tote the bag the whole mile to the gin”. This is an example of how the …show more content…

According to McMillan (426), “The punishments were whipping, putting you in stocks and making you wear irons and a chain at work”. As in Sarah Ashley’s story they had a similar punishment. Her and other slaves punishment was if they didn’t do their work they would get whipped until they had blisters on them. After that if they still didn’t do their work they would get whipped even more until their blisters popped open. This is the punishment slaves got when they didn’t do what they were suppose to do. The biggest difference for Sarah Ashley’s story and the textbook was the food. According to McMillan (424) “You had to get your victuals (food) standing at your hoe”. They usually never even got a lunch break to eat. In Sarah Ashley’s story they had to bring their lunches out in the fields with them in buckets. They got a packed lunch that had to last them a week or two. Sarah’s story (1) says “us never got enough to eat, so us keep stealing”. Sarah Ashley didn’t get a lot of food as in the textbook those slaves got food if they were standing at their

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