Could slaves have children?

While some women attempted not to become mothers, and a minority were unable to reproduce, most women negotiated childbirth and raising children within the confines of the slave regime, and they took a lot of care in raising their daughters to survive enslavement as females.

How were female slaves punished?

Whipping, a common form of slave punishment, demanded the removal of clothing. For the female slave, this generally meant disrobing down to the waist. Although her state of half dress allowed the woman some modesty, it also exposed her naked breasts to all eyes.

How were female slaves treated?

But as slaves and as women, they and their daughters and granddaughters bore the brunt of oppression. Studies have shown that women were more likely to be subjected to excessive physical abuse than men. They were more vulnerable, less likely to respond with force.

What did female slaves wear?

Basic garment of female slaves consisted of a one-piece frock or slip of coarse "Negro Cloth." Cotton dresses, sunbonnets, and undergarments were made from handwoven cloth for summer and winter. Annual clothing distributions included brogan shoes, palmetto hats, turbans, and handkerchiefs.

How did slaves prevent pregnancy?

In interviews with the Federal Writers' Project, formerly enslaved African Americans described that in secret, enslaved women used the root of the cotton plant to prevent pregnancy. When 19th-century white physicians and enslavers became aware of this practice, it was seen as a threat.

Women's Experience Under Slavery: Crash Course Black American History #11

How did slaves get pregnant?

It included coerced sexual relations between male slaves and women or girls, forced pregnancies of female slaves, and favoring women or young girls who could produce a relatively large number of children.

What did female slaves do?

African and African American female slaves occupied a broad range of positions. The southern colonies were majorly agrarian societies and enslaved women provided labor in the fields, planting and doing chores, but mostly in the domestic sphere, nursing, taking care of children, cooking, laundering, etc.

How often did slaves eat?

Weekly food rations -- usually corn meal, lard, some meat, molasses, peas, greens, and flour -- were distributed every Saturday. Vegetable patches or gardens, if permitted by the owner, supplied fresh produce to add to the rations. Morning meals were prepared and consumed at daybreak in the slaves' cabins.

How often were slaves given clothes?

While some enslavers provided their enslaved populations with clothes on an as-needed basis, the most common practice was to provide clothing twice a year, coinciding with the seasonal duties of their laborers.

What did slaves wear to bed?

For bed-clothing, they give them only a blanket once in four or five years; and they are obliged to wear this till it falls in pieces. If the slaves require other clothes, they must buy them out of their own little savings.

What did slaves eat during slavery?

The plantation owners provided their enslaved Africans with weekly rations of salt herrings or mackerel, sweet potatoes, and maize, and sometimes salted West Indian turtle. The enslaved Africans supplemented their diet with other kinds of wild food.

How did slavery start?

Evidence of slavery predates written records; the practice has existed in many cultures and can be traced back 11,000 years ago due to the conditions created by the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution. Economic surpluses and high population densities were conditions that made mass slavery viable.

How were slaves captured in Africa?

The capture and sale of enslaved Africans

These dealers had a sophisticated network of trading alliances collecting groups of people together for sale. Most of the Africans who were enslaved were captured in battles or were kidnapped, though some were sold into slavery for debt or as punishment.

How were child slaves punished?

Slave children received harsh punishments, not dissimilar from those meted out to adults. They might be whipped or even required to swallow worms they failed to pick off of cotton or tobacco plants. During adolescence, a majority of slave youth were sold or hired away.

How often were slaves whipped?

It average some male slave being whipped every 7.3 days and some female slave being whipped every 12.2 days. So once a week there would be a whipping of some male slave and about once every two weeks there would be a whipping of some female slave as well as the whipping of the male slave.

What were the painful punishments for slaves?

Although whipping was said to be punishment for undesirable actions, there was often little distinction between punishment and torture. For example, maiming, disfiguring faces, and using iron muzzles and heavy chains with hooks to increase an individual's pain were common methods.

What is the origin of sagging pants for slaves?

According to Jim Stillman[v], “Some white masters would rape their African male slaves; subsequently, the victims were forced to wear their pants sagging so that their masters could identify them for future attacks.

How many meals did slaves get a day?

Typically, slaves received three meals by day with no more than four or five types of staple food: cornmeal or manioc flour, and meat (dried or fresh).

What did enslaved children wear?

Slave children were often given minimal amounts of clothing. On some farms, they went entirely naked. Mattie Curtis, who was enslaved in North Carolina, remembered in an interview years later: "I went as naked as Yo' han' till I was fourteen years old.

How long did slaves usually live?

As a result of this high infant and childhood death rate, the average life expectancy of a slave at birth was just 21 or 22 years, compared to 40 to 43 years for antebellum whites. Compared to whites, relatively few slaves lived into old age.

Did slaves drink alcohol?

Alcohol as a Weapon of Degradation and Exploitation

Intoxication of slaves was promoted during harvest and holidays through the provision of large quantities of cheap, concentrated alcohol. Drunkenness was assured via the sponsorship of drinking contests among the slaves.

What happened to slaves who refused to eat?

Some enslaved men and women refused to eat, hoping to starve themselves to death. This might involve holding food in their mouths and then spitting it out when the crew weren't looking although this could lead to floggings and force-feedings as punishment. Leaping overboard to drown was another means of escape.

What did slaves do when they got married?

Slaves often married without the benefit of clergy, and as historian John Blassingame states, "the marriage ceremony in most cases consisted of the slaves simply getting the master's permission and moving into a cabin together." Benjamin and Sarah Manson's marriage, however, had been graced with a formal ceremony.

Who was the richest plantation owner?

Stephen Duncan (1787–1867), originally from Pennsylvania, he became the wealthiest Southern cotton planter before the American Civil War with 14 plantations where he enslaved 2200 people.

What was Buck breaking in slavery?

Buck Breaking refers to the act of sexually abusing Black slaves publicly and in front of other slaves, in order to assert dominance and punishments.