Slave Life on Plantations

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The Portuguese, in the 1600’s, began exporting a number of the slaves to the New World. Here, the slaves were shipped off to many different colonies’ lands. For example, some slaves were sent to the Spanish colonies to work. Also some were sent to Virginia and Brazilian colonies to work on plantations. States like Alabama and Mississippi which depended on cotton, had large populations of enslaved people. Plantation slaves had small cabins they lived in which had dirt floors and little to no furniture. The cabins were no escape from the cold winter winds. The domestic slaves, however, received better cabins, working conditions, and food than the field slaves. Many large plantations often needed some slaves to work inside the plantation home. These slaves that worked inside sometimes were able to travel with the master’s family. Plantation house slaves cleaned, cooked, served meals, and took care of the master’s children. The slaves that were drivers were often convinced by the master to manage their fellow slaves because they were promised that they would be treated differently and obtain better privileges. Drivers were usually hated by the rest of the slaves, leading to violence among slaves and drivers. It was normal for the slave owners in the south, to break apart the families; keeping some, selling some when they needed to raise money. The separation and sales of the slaves were repeated thousands of times throughout the slaveholding states. Many slave children, after they were broken off from their families, had only the faintest memory of their siblings and parents. Slave owners also didn’t realize some slaves were married. The married slave couples could be Elise 2 split up and sold at anytime. Music and rel... ... middle of paper ... ...ere organizing rebellions to gain their freedom. A common form of rebellion among slaves was running away. In many cases, slaves would only leave the plantation for a short while. Slaves ran away in droves, following the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada and the Northern states. Slaves also fled to the Indians and joined them in their wars against the white settlers. The slaves enjoyed pranking the patrollers, which they called patterrollers or paddyrollers. The Patrollers jobs were to control slaves and stop them from breaking the laws. Slave patrollers had the power to enter a slave’s cabin without permission and search it. In conclusion, there were many different levels of mistreatment done to the slaves. The work on the plantation was hard no matter what they did. The intensity of the abuse from the master was due to where you worked on the plantation.

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