Aspects of Slavery and Freedom Seeking in North Carolina
Earth-Life-General Facts on Slave Life
Despite the local, state, and regional differences in slavery, some generalizations help to understand the dynamics of slavery. But, keep in mind that every situation is different, and every locality has its own unique story. Therefore, historians typically focus on size, crop, services, and/or industry focus of plantations, and geographical location to provide overviews for contextualizing and generalizing the slave experience and characterizing plantation life.
For instance, on a small plantation, enslaved people had to deal with great uncertainty. Weather and financial miscalculations on the part of the slaveholder could result in the sale of the enslaved person or greater pressure to engage in harsher labor conditions. Therefore, the experience of being sold had a higher probability on smaller plantations.
On small plantations, enslaved people were also less likely to have slave cabins, which meant they were near the slaveholding family most of the time. Therefore, it was imperative that enslaved people in these situations find space to vent, rest, and relax without being on alert, wearing the mask of contentment, and watching one's lips to avoid offending the slaveholding family. In addition, to build and find community among blacks, enslaved persons often visited neighboring plantations, where they came together to work, dance, or engage in worship. Thus, despite living on a small slaveholding plantation, enslaved people were often a part of larger communities divided only by space.
Despite being close to whites for the majority of the time, there were major disadvantages and advantages for enslaved persons in this circumstance. One advantage was that it allowed enslaved people to collect information from whites and share it with the larger community or neighboring plantation slaves. Another advantage was the closeness one could have with the slaveholding family, which, in turn, could result in a long abiding relationship or life events leading to emancipation.
A disadvantage to being a slave on a small plantation was that the small plantation did not offer much division of labor or opportunities to learn any skills, such as carpentry or coopering, which may improve or lighten some of their burdens some satisfaction or provide greater mobility. Mobility was essential to enslaved people on smallholdings because it offered an opportunity to getaway.
Another disadvantage to small plantations was the proximity to whites. More common on small plantations was the fact that enslaved people often grew what they ate. They, too, sometimes worked, slept near, and dined alongside the slaveholding family. As a result, slaves on smaller plantations were at a disadvantage. It did not allow enslaved people to vent out their frustrations and work out some of their problems without the knowledge of the slaveholding family.
However, larger plantations, often those with more than 25 slaves, would have divisions of labor, and the enslaved were skilled in field and domestic tasks. However, like the slaveholders on smallholdings, they too looked forward to inter-plantation fellowship, for instance, collaboration for causal works [such as when a larger plantation needed it with a larger harvest, or other events such as corn shucking or weddings].
Unlike the enslavement on small plantations, those on larger plantations would have slave quarters where a larger expression of slave culture could be expressed and maintained. This is because the enslaved people had their own quarters, and the quarter community being away from whites could relax their daily tensions and release some frustrations by expressing disdain for slavery and/or slaveholding family while being themselves.
More extensive plantations, by and large, were more market-driven (these plantations sought greater profits) than small plantations. Thus, in addition to what enslaved people grew themselves, much of the enslaved people consumed was bought from local growers.
With a market orientation, more emphasis was placed on profit. A slaveholder with a market orientation could result in greater or abrupt changes to a plantation if they found themselves in financial difficulty, particularly as the institution of slavery became more centered on the lending and credit system. When slaveholders failed to repay debt, enslaved people were often sold or auctioned off by a local sheriff to the highest bidder.
The size of the plantation indeed sets the world of the enslaved and the scope of their slave experience; however, slavery is not confined to plantations. Many enslaved persons did not work on plantations. Sometimes when looking to understand slavery, one would have to account for geography. For instance, enslaved persons worked in large towns as well.
Not all enslaved people lived in the ruralness of North Carolina. Several enslaved people lived in urban areas, such as Edenton, New Bern, Wilmington, and Fayetteville, and places like Raleigh and Charlotte in the early to mid-antebellum period. In the western part of the state, places such as Asheville in Buncombe County and Henderson, right outside of Asheville, became urban hubs in the summer month, which generally increased the slave population for a short time.
In urban spaces, the enslaved moved a little differently than those confined to a plantation. This is partly because of the different demands of slaves, location differences, and the presence, density, and variety of blackness. However, urban slaves did have more latitude in terms of their activity, as they gathered together in houses, hung out in popular common areas, and stayed out after dark (these freedoms whites sought to limit but often failed to do so). "Local law enforcement authorities were instructed to be particularly vigilant on Sunday (a day of gathering). Special cages were constructed in Wilmington and New Bern for the temporary incarceration of disruptive or headstrong bondsmen.
Urban slaves worked in shops, operated days, constructed houses and public buildings. Additionally, since the main urban areas in North Carolina were on the coast, blacks were also "stevedores, pilots, cooks, and sailors on ships." At the same time "Women worked mainly as cooks, laundresses, and housekeepers."
The Slave Narrative of Jane Arrington:
links:
Trail of History: Historic Latta Plantation
Hope Plantation of Windsor NC - YouTube
See an example, Somerset Place Here: