Women And Slavery - Essay Example

?Women and Slavery The American experience can never be completely understood until the voices of the women involved are heard. This is especially true of the period of slavery, where women were the ones that held the families together in whatever way was possible, keeping the family history alive through storytelling to the future generations The conditions of slavery were never very good; some were even brutal. Slaves were owned by their masters, having no rights of their own. They were subject to brutal punishments often for false or whimsical reasons, depending upon the desire or mood of the master who owned them. Men were beaten and often killed by their masters for unavoidable human error. Deliberate offenses were punished by cruel torture, such as being left in the hot sun while restrained by a stock, after being beaten and horsewhipped on a bare back. “Patrollers” were men assigned to riding on horseback through areas to check for slaves off the plantations; runaways were punished. Both men and women runaways were branded on their cheeks with an R, signifying runaway. Male slaves who attempted to run away were beaten and had their tendons slashed on one leg so they couldn’t walk very well, much less run. Women were often beaten and raped by their masters to satisfy their base natures or to provide some form of entertainment; children were born of these events, were owned, like livestock. The slaves were frequently traded and sold in the open market at designated marketplaces. They were chained together and displayed in a public place. Each potential buyer would examine the slave they were interested in as livestock; the body, attitude, and minimal history of each slave was considered. Slaves social and work history were recorded along with their trade records; for example, it would list the name of the slave, the amount of pervious purchase, any significant social history, such as violence or mental instability, with the current asking price; often these histories were inaccurate. It was rare that families were allowed to remain together; each person being sold piecemeal, although, young children were usually left with their mothers until they were old enough to be useful as servants or laborers. Neighbors and other plantation owners developed a network for trading slaves. They often borrowed each other’s slaves during times of harvest or disaster. Towards the end of the slavery period, slaves, in preparation for transition, would obtain permission to rent themselves out to neighboring plantation owners in order to make money to buy their freedom. The Slave Codes born from the Negro Act of 1740 controlled every detailed aspect of slave life. The children usually wore no clothing until adolescence; then clothing of the poorest quality was distributed once a year by the master, occasionally winter clothing was issued at Christmas. The elderly or physically disabled slaves received nothing extra, neither warm clothing nor shoes. Slaves weren’t allowed to learn to read or write, neither could they assemble together, nor practice folk traditions, customs, or their religion. Plantation slaves often had more of a sense of community, because they usually worked together. They were often managed by a “driver” who was of their own community; making him responsible for the performance of every slave on the plantation. It often led to disputes among them, as he also had to be the one to deliver the required punishments. On the plantations, slaves lived in cabins they built for themselves; it was often just a lean to shack of one room, urban slaves lived in the attics or back rooms of the master’s home. Slaves lined up weekly, usually on Saturdays, at a central location on the plantation, usually near the area where butchering was done to receive their weekly rations of food; their diets were poor, usually very high in meat fat and starch. They received flour, molasses, peas and beans, lard, cornmeal, and a poor cut of scrap meat. (From this is comes the tradition some companies still have today of giving out food certificates, ham, turkeys, or fruit at Thanksgiving and Christmas to employees.) Some were allowed to have their own vegetable gardens to supplement the rations. Morning and evening meals were cooked by their families over an open fire in front of the cabins. The noon meals were provided by the main house, usually by an older, disabled slave who cooked for the families. Urban slaves usually ate in the kitchens after the masters and families had finished their meals. Urban slaves usually ate the same food as the families in the kitchens after the masters and families had finished their meals. Those fortunate enough to live near bodies of water, also fished during their free time, especially on Saturdays after the chores and laundry was done; they weren’t allowed to have weapons for hunting. (The term “hushpuppy” comes from when they would cook the fish and cornmeal dumplings over the open fire; the dogs would smell it cooking, start barking and begging, so the cook would spoon out a dumpling and throw it at the dog saying “hush puppy”.) A first person perspective of this life comes from Louisa Davis’ account of her life as slave. She was born into slavery in the Catawba River section of Winnsboro, South Carolina. Her mother was black; her father was half Indian, and her grandfather was full blood Indian. Master Jim Lemon purchased her whole family; mother, father, and 3 children, Jake, Sophie, and Louisa. They lived on the Little River Plantation and were passed down, at his death, to Master Lemon’s son, John, and his wife, Mary. Louisa’s mother dominated the kitchen of this plantation and Louisa helped with the children. She recalls raising young Master Robert until he was grown, speaking with pride about his becoming a legislator at the State Capitol. That’s how she met her husband, Sam, who came to the plantation one day to see the master; she was in the yard with her young charge, Master Robert. Sam was owned by the neighboring plantation; the Sloan family. The Lemons allowed them to be married in the back courtyard of the home, and the Sloans gave them a wedding reception dinner. It was difficult to see her husband more than twice a week; he was a field hand who usually only had free time on Saturday evenings. They made the most of that time together by fishing; she would cook the fish to take with her on Sunday visits to the Sloan plantation when her master allowed it. Often Sam would sneak out at night to visit her, but was usually chased by “Patrollers”. On his yearly visits to take the cotton to market, Sam always brought back a present of some kind for Louisa. Louisa’s master had plenty and shared provisions, health care, and tended well to the needs of his slaves; this was uncommon of plantation owners though more common in urban areas. At Christmas everyone hung a stocking in the house and always received some kind of gift. There were often parties at the plantation; she loved to dance to the music from the privacy of the kitchen, accrediting this and her Indian ethnicity for the fact that she has lived to be 106. Sam followed his master to the war, winning freedom when he returned. Louisa felt he should have received some kind of pension for the devoted service. She remembers being invaded by Yankees who stole what they didn’t burn. After the war, Louisa’s father obtained his freedom; according to the rules of manumism that freed blacks must leave the states within six months of freedom, he relocated to Florida and was never seen again. Her master’s family was religious, teaching her about catechism; when she and Sam were freed, they converted to become Methodists. At some point she must have had a daughter, because she mentions that her greatest dream, was a “teepee” of her very own for her daughter and grandson to live in; Her grandson was in the military during WWI; upon his return, he wanted to buy her an automobile, however she told him she would rather have her own home. Thus her voice was heard. References American Experience. The Time of the Lincolns: The Southern States. PBS On line. 1999-2000. Web. April 1, 2011. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/slavery/qt_aasouth.html Boston, Nicholas. The Slave Experience: Living Conditions. Educational Broadcasting Company. 2004. Web. April 1, 2011. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/living/history.html Dixon, W.W. Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938. South Carolina Narratives, Volume XIV, Part 1, Louisa Davis. Ex-slave 106 years old. Web. April 1, 2011. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mesn&fileName=141/mesn141.db&recNum=301 Yetman, Norman R. An Introduction to the WPA Slave Narratives: A Collective Portrait. Federal Writer’s Project. 2000. Web. April 1, 2011. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snintro01.html Read More