The cultivation of rice and, therefore, the use of slave labor began in North Carolina as early as 1731. The Cape Fear environment, with its swamps and abundance of black soil, was the growing location of rice in North Carolina as tobacco plantation began with Virginia farmers moving into the Albemarle region [Northeast NC]. Likewise, rice plantation began with planters from South Carolina who were familiar with rice plantation. These people settled in the Cape Fear region and began to use slave labor to grow rice, as it was growing in abundance on the coast of South Carolina. 

To cultivate anything, enslaved people had to clear the land, which meant removing trees, roots, bushes, and brush. It took a lot of time to clear land. Enslaved people also had to build man-made canals and ditches filled with water to control the flooding of the cultivation area. The ditches and canals contained gates, which “opened and closed automatically with the changing tides.”

When the gates were open, water would flow into the field, and the water would flow off the field when draining was desired. Thus, most if not all rice plantations were situated next to a natural water source, usually a saltwater canal. It required intensive knowledge to grow rice in North Carolina, and the enslaved possessed that knowledge. Some of that knowledge and technology of rice plantation on tidal rivers came with them from West Africa. 

The actual cultivation of rice was among the less severe and physically demanding tasks, and yet it was among the most deadly forms of labor an enslaved person could have as an occupation. 

Rice cultivation was a job that involved mud, water, heat, and bugs. Each slave was expected to harvest two to five acres of land. While some may have had an animal to plow the watery paddy fields, most enslaved people growing rice in North Carolina did not have an animal to help them. Instead, they used a hoe to break up the ground and their hands to plant the rice seeds. When the harvest came, they used the sickle to reap, used the flail to thresh the rice, and mortar and pestles for processing the rice for human consumption. “Each slave was expected to produce four to five barrels of rice, which averaged around 500 pounds each.” Most of the rice cultivated would be sold, but some were reserved for plantation consumption. Thus, enslaved people on rice plantations would have a slightly different diet. However, rice would balance out cornmeal—the staple and base of most enslaved diets. 

Rice, though not typically believed, is a staple of the maritime industry. Not only did slaves dig canals using natural water sources, but they too used “watercrafts.” David Cecelski noted, “Poling or paddling canoes, rafts, and punts along rice canals” were essential to rice growing and transportation. 

Those whose jobs were to operate the watercrafts on rice plantations were a part of the cohort of black boatmen. While on the streams, they would pass fishermen and other watermen on flats or other crafts. 

The task system of labor governed how enslaved people labored on rice plantations. Although rice required a lot of hands, the minimum usually being 90 people, it was not as labor-intensive as the task of cultivating tobacco. 

The task system assigned an enslaved person to a specific task to be carried out for the day. This type of system had a built-in incentive framework, and it usually pushed enslaved people to work hard and efficiently and as quickly as possible. If there were no other duties to complete besides the assigned tasks, enslaved people would have the rest of the day for themselves. 

This leisure was used to grow gardens, hunt, fish, or make specialty items, such as clothing or hats. The enslaved people would take the surplus of these goods and produce to the local markets to sell. 

On some plantations, enslaved people would have a number of days off for themselves before and after the harvest. However, during the harvest, all hands were needed. Therefore, the entire plantation would work from dark morning to dark nights. If necessary, they would also work on Sundays to reap the harvest and process the rice. 

In some years, harvesting had to be done rapidly, as not only did severe weather threaten to ruin a crop but also the “aerial enemies of rice planters” the bobolink “rice” bird could wreck a rice crop. 

Although rice cultivation provided leisure time to the enslaved, it was one of the most hazardous occupations. When the rice fields were flooded, the standing water attracted all types of insects and snakes in the heat of the spring and summer. The biggest danger was malaria-carrying mosquitoes. So dangerous were these mosquitoes that slaveholders often migrated to cooler places up North or places such as the North Carolina mountain region to avoid malaria. One South Carolina rice planter noted, “O would as soon stand fifty feet from the best Kentucky riflemen, and be shot at, as to spend a night on my [rice] plantation in summer.” For him and others, rice plantations were to be enjoyed in the winter. 

Enslaved people did not have such luxuries. Instead, they had to battle malaria, a disease that causes fever, chills, vomiting, and fatigue, and in many cases, death occurs after 10 to 15 days. There are different forms of malaria, and some are more dangerous than others. 

Enslaved people and the white overseers, if hired, faced the brunt of the malaria problem and accounted for a good portion of slave sickness and death [in addition to malnutrition and overwork].

Nevertheless, the end of chattel slavery marked the end of rice in North Carolina. see more here