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• 1 2021-10-28T02:42:17+00:00 Earth-Life-General Facts on Slave Life 22 plain 2022-01-03T19:23:58+00:00 The life of the enslaved varied by circumstances. Experiences for the enslaved varied by location, labor, gender, ability, and so on. One of the most significant differences was the size of the plantation. North Carolina being a state of small slaveholding would mean that the enslaved people of North Carolina would have experienced similar but in many cases different from the large plantations with hundreds of slaves depicted in media. "In 1860, the vast majority of slaveholders (70.8%) owned fewer than 10 slaves," Jefferey Crow noted. 
  
  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:
  
  
• 1 2021-10-28T02:52:22+00:00 Earth-Survival-Division Tactics, Unity, and Quarter Discipline 13 plain 2021-12-08T20:46:32+00:00

  Life as an enslaved person began and ended as a war. And, as that was the case, another goal of the parents was to ensure that the young slave's allegiance was to the family and the slave community. This was needed, as slaveholders equally sought to make young slaves an ally of the slaveholding class and divide the slave community to gain more control over the slave community. 

  As a result, it was a fight to maintain unity and the education of the young. Maintaining allegiance was not merely for the survival of the individual but also the survival of the unity within the community. Therefore, their education was imperative to maintain cohesion. 

  To break up that unity and gain more control over the enslaved, slaveholders mainly relied on stoking envy and creating reasons to be jealous within the slave community by favoring and gifting slaves in certain positions with more advantages. For instance, some skilled slaves or domestic slaves were able to provide more for their family regarding food and clothing and protect their family from punishment or sale than other families. This sometimes created problems. 

  "Watch out when you are gitten all you want. Fattening hogs aint in luck." proverb 

  Although some privileges did create differences and jealousy, the privileges had limiting results. One of the reasons behind this was that when the occasion called for all hands to work a specific task, such as during a large harvest, all slave hands were needed, and the occupational divisions were minimized. For example, Moses Grandy worked in maritime occupations, but after his slaveholder squandered some of his wealth and had to sell eighteen slaves. As a result, Moses was forced to work in the cornfields with others. 

  "Tomorrow may be the carriage drivere's day for ploughing." 

  The problem with the slaveholder's tactic of dividing by privileging was that nearly every enslaved person had a family and/or friends that worked in different occupations. Therefore, looking down on family or friends was not something the slave community accepted; however, undoubtedly, this strategy of dividing privilege was effective and did sometimes work at causing division and infighting. 

  But, most often, it backfired because many used their position and items of privilege to benefit others. One historian noted, "An impressive array of evidence indicates that by combined influences of African Americans kinship ties, social lives, and corporal punishment work to create a remarkably united black front. The communication network among slaves, which so frightened and dismayed the slavers, could not have come into existence or survive without the cooperation of privileged bondsmen."

  Another tactic slaveholders used to divide the slave community, which was much more effective and could cause permanent or temporary disruption to slave unity, was when slaveholders forced bondsmen "to taunt, lash, and kill one another." The nature of these acts upended quarter culture; moreover, these acts sometimes caused physical and psychological pain that was hard to overcome. 

  Other tactic slaveholders used to divide the slave community was to encourage enslaved people to embrace the philosophy of individualism. This tactic and method was usually inspired during a threat to the slave community, which called for the entire slave community to be responsible and punished for individual or small group acts. However, this method was also quite effective [when used] in encouraging the enslaved to perceive themselves as individuals and oust the wrongdoer(s) to be spared from the potential of shared punishment.

  But the promotion of individualism among the enslaved was also limiting. For the enslaved, individualism did not come with many benefits, as slaves could not pursue their own unhampered self-interest. Those who did pursue individualism were often those who often lost the battle of the great paradox in seeking dignity as a slave. Some believed that enslaved persons had no rights among themselves that another slave was bound to respect. As a result, they often become an opportunist. "To the slave community, this individual was a corrupting force." 

  However, enslaved people also helped to prevent individualism through quarter discipline [love], quarter sanctions [punishments], collective orientation [the "us" perspective], and family. For instance, discipline was reinforced by community activities and duties. It was the duty of enslaved people to take care of 'homeless, hungry, weak or needy' slaves. It was common for slaves to help one another in labor duties to ensure each person filled their quotas. One did not have to be a part of a specific slave community to receive assistance. Runaway slaves often received support from other slaves and free blacks. These activities reminded enslaved people of their shared experiences and grievance. 

  By ensuring that most enslaved people maintained quarter discipline, many enslaved persons did not fall for individualism; those who did were always outnumbered because the numbers favored those who embraced community over the individual. Thus, there were ways a community could punish individuals that did adopt the slaveholders' values through ostracism and group antagonism. 

  Slave division was harmful to the slave community because the conflict between a few individuals came "at the expense of others and did much to stir disharmony in the black community." There are examples of enslaved people helping, protecting, and siding with slaveholders

  "Traitors are an unavoidable consequence of every situation of oppression."

  A group of Pasquotank County residents recounts how "a number of Negro Slaves" and "Citizens of this State" conspired to transport runaways by boat to "the Northern States." The plan was thwarted when Toney, a slave owned by Samuel White, betrayed the plot. The petitioners asked that Toney be manumitted as a reward for this "highly meritorious service." The list of petitioners is incomplete due to the blotting of ink on the edge of the document. Other examples can be found HERE and HERE
  
  traitors and those who violated community policy was punished. Traitors, often had to be move to another location beyond the reach of the local slave community. Violators of sanctions or disharmonizers were usually punished the scorn but sometimes with physical punishment.

  [Note: When it could not be decided on how to deal with a situation affecting the community-enslaved people also had there own judicial system to help them judge in matters that required examination, evidence and testimony.]

  Nevertheless, the written record of betrayal pales compared to the written and unwritten records of enslaved people sticking together. It was often noticed that "American bondsmen maintained such a unified front against slaveholders that the white elite found it difficult to crack the wall of silence that separated them from their' people.'"