The Daily Lives of Slaves

Forms of Resistance

• Violence• Feigning Illness• Breaking Tools• Injuring Livestock• Poisoning Master’s Food• Burning Barns• Running Away• Religion & Child Naming

South Carolina• 1730s = North

and South Carolina splits

• 1730s = 2/3 of South Carolina are slaves

• 1740s = Indigo introduced

• Cone-shaped thatched roof huts

• Shotgun shacks

Slavery in the Chesapeake• Gang labor on

Virginia tobacco plantations

• 3 types of slaves: skilled workers, house workers, and field hands

• Diet of cornmeal, salt pork, fish, and vegetables

Slavery in the North

• New York & New Jersey = slave population of 15% -30%

• Shipyards, small farms, and domestic slave labor

• Philadelphia, Boston, New York have free black communities

• Slave codes in the north

Resistance through Clothing

• “Dressing your station”

• Bright greens, blues, reds, purples

• Slaves used scraps of quilt fabric

Religion

• Islam, Christianity, and a combination of Christianity & West African beliefs

• Baptist, Episcopalian, and Methodists

Slave Codes• 1632 = Bermuda created first British colonial

slave codes• 1682 = Virginia has first North American slave

codes• 1712 = South Carolina has harshest slave

codes• Slaves labeled as “chattel”• Slaves not allowed to trade, read, own

weapons, meet in groups, leave plantations without a pass, or defend themselves

The Stono Rebellion• 1739 = South Carolina

rebellion• Largest slave rebellion

in colonial era• Angolan soldiers• Slaves marched south

to Florida• Over 100 slaves

involved

Emergence of African-American Culture

• Difficult to form families

• African naming practices

• “Jumping the Broom”

• Drum circle, spirituals, call and response

17th century drum from Jamaica