Plantation Life

• Slaves experienced long days of hard work.  They worked about fifteen to sixteen hours a day.
• Landowners liked the idea of the importation of slaves because they needed laborers to help them maintain their plantations.
• Landowners also needed laborers to help plant and pick cotton and other farming crops.
• Slaves working for their masters on a plantation weren't allowed to read or write.
• Slaves were given jobs according to their physical capabilities.
• Slaves weren't given time to rest.  They worked in all climates.
• Children who were between the ages of six and ten would work as water carriers while children between the ages of ten and twelve were formed into groups for weeding.
• If a slave disobeyed their landowner, they would receive harsh treatments such as branding, chaining, mutilation, and murders.  These forms of treatment were prohibited by law.
• Slaves would also be punished by drowning, whipping, beatings, and hangings.
• Women were sometimes punished by being raped by the landowner, his sons, or any other white male.
• Slaves would eat three to four pounds of salt pork or bacon. They would prepare their meals themselves. Lack of good, sufficient nutrition resulted in diseases related to nutrient deficiency.
• Slaves in a plantation did not live inside the homes of their owners.  Instead they lived in slave cabins, which were made of logs with clapboard sidings.  The floors were just dirt.  Slaves contracted diseases from these living environments as well because of the leakiness and draftiness that came along with it.  It was also cold and wet.

Works Cited:
http://cghs.dadeschools.net/slavery/antebellum_slavery/plantation_slave_life/health.htm
http://www.ehow.com/about_4569437_southern-plantation-life.html
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