Slave Life on the Old Plantation

Abstract

By the 1830s, a humanitarian movement had begun to sweep the United States and some men were beginning to examine the peculiar institution - slavery - and were calling for its abolition. Numerous books and articles were written at the time describing slavery, and from these accounts we can draw a picture of how the Negro slave lived from day to day. It is our purpose here to re-examine those early documents and present an account of the life of the typical slave. Since the vast majority of Negro slaves were employed on the plantations of the old South, it is to this milieu we turned our attention. We studied the day-to-day existence of the plantation slave to learn how he was provided with the actual necessities of life -- his food, clothing, shelter, and health needs. In addition, we also studied the cultural influences that shaped him -- his education, his relationship to his God, his relationship to his family situation, and his entertainment. It is our hope that we have presented an accurate picture of the life of the Negro slave. Perhaps, with an insight into his background and the influences that shaped him, we can gain a better understanding of the Afro-American.

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