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Plantation slavery had regional variations dependent on which cash crop was grown, most commonly cotton, hemp, indigo, rice, sugar, or tobacco. [3] Sugar work was exceptionally dangerous—the sugar district of Louisiana was the only region of the United States that saw consistent population declines, despite constant imports of new slaves.
[55] However, some white visitors to the plantations have pushed back against hearing about slavery. [58] McLeod Plantation focuses primarily on slavery, with Knowles writing, "McLeod focuses on bondage, talking bluntly about 'slave labor camps' and shunning the big white house for the fields."
According to the 1840 United States census, one out of every four families in Virginia owned slaves. There were over 100 plantation-owners who owned over 100 slaves. [2] The number of slaves in the 15 States was just shy of 4 million in a total population of 12.4 million and the percentage was 32% of the population.
While enslaved, people on plantations found ways to supplement their meager food rations by cultivating slave gardens. [5] These slave gardens were usually near the slave cabins or remote areas of the plantation, and provided slaves with three benefits: nourishment, financial independence, and medicinal uses. These slave gardens allowed ...
Enslavers gave field slaves weekly rations of food, including meat, corn, and flour. If enslavers permitted, enslaved people could have a garden to grow themselves fresh vegetables. [ 1 ] Otherwise, they could only make a meal from their rations and anything else they could find.
Nonetheless, slavery was legal in every colony prior to the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), and was most prominent in the Southern Colonies (as well as, the southern Mississippi River and Florida colonies of France, Spain, and Britain), which by then developed large slave-based plantation systems. Slavery in Europe's North American ...
Some portray slaves as having plenty to eat, while others portray "the fare of the plantation [as] coarse and scanty". [2] For the most part, slaves' diet consisted of a form of fatty pork and corn or rice. [2] Cornbread was commonly eaten by slaves. [3] Produce from a vegetable patch or garden could also be added to the rations. [4]
Slave gardens were an integral part of plantation life. The gardens were made near slave quarters and fenced in with saplings, branches, and vines, and root cellars were located underneath the slave homes. Based on the observations of travelers, the gardens were small in comparison to the other gardens on the plantation. [24] Slaves grew their ...