Life Under slavery
Life for a slave was abysmal and treacherous. They were forced to work from sunup to sundown with little to no breaks for six days a week. Slaves were either house slaves or field slaves. House slaves usually lived in better conditions than field slaves and rarely interacted with them. They did work around the master’s house and helped raise the children. Field slaves worked under harsher conditions in pastures and fields. Cruel overseers were hired to make the slaves work by any means necessary. Disobedience was faced with horrible beatings that left the slaves with gruesome scars. Many overseers thought that the way to make the most progress was to work slaves to death after 8-10 years then simply buy a new one. Sometimes other slaves called “drivers” were hired to play the role of the overseer which often lead to violence.
Religion became a big part of slave life which worried masters because they were afraid that if slaves saw themselves as spiritual equals that they would demand better treatment or even freedom.
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Most slaves lived in small shacks with dirt floors with little to no furniture. They often had no windows and those that did only had a thin covering that let in the cold. Large families were forced to live together in a single small shack with little breathing room. Clothing that slaves were given was the bare minimum. It was made of coarse material that barely protected them from the cold of winter. Food was often limited to a bucket of corn or rice per week with no meat.
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