How old were slaves when they were sold?

The risk of sale in the international slave trade peaked between the ages of fifteen and twenty five, but the vulnerability of being sold began as early as age eight and certainly by the age of ten, when enslaved children could work competently on the fields.

What did child slaves do?

Slave children, under their parents and masters, lived in fear of punishment and isolation. Though circumstances widely varied, they often worked in fields with adults, tended animals, cleaned and served in their owners' houses, and took care of younger children while their parents were working.

What age did slaves start working?

Between the ages of seven and twelve, boys and girls were put to work in intensive field work. Older or physically handicapped slaves were put to work in cloth houses, spinning cotton, weaving cloth, and making clothes.

How did slaves have babies?

Slaveholders actively encouraged their enslaved 'property' to reproduce by cajoling, threatening, and coercing them into intimate relationships. Enslavers then either sold or exploited the children born of these sexual relationships for labor, earning themselves a profit.

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.

Misconceptions Ep. 5 - Africans Sold Their Own Into Slavery

How were female slaves punished?

Perhaps worse than almost anything else was the constant threat of rape, a subject mentioned again and again in the primary sources. Slave women who rejected the planter's advances were often raped, flogged or both. Punishment of this nature would be up to the whim of the master.

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.

How did slaves deal with their periods?

Medicinal herbs were also used by the slave community to regulate menstrual cycles and assist in births. Their gender-specific knowledge and cultural practices resisted dominant cultural norms. Women's actions also provided empowerment and control over their bodies.

What were female slaves called?

The more general word for a female slave was serva. An ancilla in an upperclass household might serve as a sort of lady's maid.

What did female slaves do?

Enslaved women were counted on not only to do their house and fieldwork, but also to bear, nourish, and rear the children whom slaveholders sought to continually replenish their labor force. As house slaves, women were domestic servants: cooking, sewing, acting as maids, and rearing the planter's children.

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.

How much did slaves get paid?

They labored between 3 to 18 days. The carpenters earned $2.00 per day for their enslaver while the laborers earned $1.00 per day for their enslaver.

What happened to old slaves?

Although some planters manumitted elderly slaves who could no longer work, most elderly slaves remained on plantations with their families, and their masters were expected to provide for them until they died.

What did slaves do for fun?

Music, storytelling, and religion provided an emotional outlet and carried on traditions—some from Africa and others forged in years of enslavement. Some people spent their free time visiting other farms or plantations where their spouses or family members lived.

What did the slaves eat?

Food supplies

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.

What did slaves eat on a daily basis?

The standard rations enslaved people received were cornmeal and salted fish, which they harvested themselves. These monotonous rations provided protein and carbohydrates but lacked essential nutrients and were not always sufficient for the demands of daily work.

What are the 3 types of slaves?

Historically, there are many different types of slavery including chattel, bonded, forced labour and sexual slavery. The key characteristics of slavery are ones generally agreed such as the loss of freedom of movement and legal rights.

How did slaves reproduce?

Pregnancy was encouraged. Many slave masters mated with their own slaves to make more slave children. It produced mulatto children. White men who owned slaves would often rape black women.

What is white slavery called?

In the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries, “white slavery” was the term used for sexual slavery. It was not a phrase indicative of race, but simply referred to the practice of organized coercion of unwilling persons into prostitution.

How did slaves take baths?

Slaves would bath in bathing facilities in the house where they worked or use designated facilities at public baths. The most public baths, thermae, were gifts to the people by rich citizens or emperors and they were run by a conductor.

Why does the Bible say menstruation is unclean?

In Leviticus 15 (P), menstruation is one source of ritual impurity among many, no more severe than male ejaculation, while in Leviticus 18 and 20 (H), it is the subject of a sexual prohibition, arguably reflecting the idea that menstrual blood threatens the purity of the male body.

What did the first pad look like?

The first of the disposable pads were generally in the form of a cotton wool or similar fibrous rectangle covered with an absorbent liner. The liner ends were extended front and back so as to fit through loops in a special girdle or belt worn beneath undergarments.

What was the cruel treatment of slaves?

The punishments took many forms, including whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, and being sold away from the plantation. Slaves were even sometimes murdered. Some masters were more "benevolent" than others, and punished less often or severely.

How much did slaves cost in 1700s?

For the period 1722–1775 the average price of slaves in South Carolina was $160 as compared to $152 in the Caribbean. Over the period 1785–1806, South Carolina prices averaged $216 as compared to $227 in the Caribbean.

How were slaves captured in Africa?

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. The captives were marched to the coast, often enduring long journeys of weeks or even months, shackled to one another.