What games did slaves play?

Slave children played with dolls, balls and jump ropes, and also engaged in hopscotch and ring games. But since there was no possibility of purchasing toys from stores, children or their parents made their own. Discarded yarn was used to form balls. Corn husks or sticks and rags were used to create dolls.

What did slaves do for fun?

During their limited leisure hours, particularly on Sundays and holidays, slaves engaged in singing and dancing. Though slaves used a variety of musical instruments, they also engaged in the practice of "patting juba" or the clapping of hands in a highly complex and rhythmic fashion.

What did enslaved children do for fun?

Boys and girls often played together, but some games were more gender specific than others. Boys engaged in activities associated with male sports and strength. Marbles were overwhelming attractions for them, while girls played with dolls, participated in ring games, and jumped rope.

What tasks did field slaves perform?

Over 61% of the field slaves were women who hoed and ploughed, harvested, and built fences around the Estate. Slaves who were physically disabled in some way were often given less physically demanding jobs such as making clothing or shoes, or picking the seeds of wild onions out of the oat seeds.

Were slaves allowed to play?

This meant that Africans were allowed to play music, sing songs, and commune. In places like Congo Square in New Orleans, slaves made use of this allowance to play the drums.

Photos Of Slavery From The Past That Will Horrify You

What can slaves not do?

There were numerous restrictions to enforce social control: slaves could not be away from their owner's premises without permission; they could not assemble unless a white person was present; they could not own firearms; they could not be taught to read or write, or transmit or possess “inflammatory” literature.

What did slaves eat?

Faunal remains in excavations have confirmed that livestock such as pigs and cows were the principal components of slaves' meat diets. Other sites show remnants of wild species such as opossum, raccoon, snapping turtle, deer, squirrel, duck, and rabbit.

How many hours did slaves work a day?

On a typical plantation, slaves worked ten or more hours a day, "from day clean to first dark," six days a week, with only the Sabbath off. At planting or harvesting time, planters required slaves to stay in the fields 15 or 16 hours a day.

Did slaves work in rain?

Slavery and the Making of America . The Slave Experience: Living | PBS. Although slaves on the Eustatia Plantation often had to work through showers, on many days in the account book, the overseer notes that slaves did not work because of rain.

What did slaves do in the winter?

In his 1845 Narrative, Douglass wrote that slaves celebrated the winter holidays by engaging in activities such as "playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whiskey" (p. 75).

At what age did slaves start working?

Yes, enslaved children were forced to labor on this plantation. Boys and girls under ten assisted in the care of the very young enslaved children or worked in and around the main house. From the age of ten, they were assigned to tasks—in the fields, in the Nailery and Textile Workshop, or in the house.

What do slaves do in their free time?

Music, storytelling, and religion provided an emotional outlet and carried on traditions—some from Africa and others forged in years of enslavement. Some people spent their free time visiting other farms or plantations where their spouses or family members lived.

What did baby slaves do?

Slave children, under their parents and masters, lived in fear of punishment and isolation. Though circumstances widely varied, they often worked in fields with adults, tended animals, cleaned and served in their owners' houses, and took care of younger children while their parents were working.

Did slaves ever get a day off?

Slaves were generally allowed a day off on Sunday, and on infrequent holidays such as Christmas or the Fourth of July. During their few hours of free time, most slaves performed their own personal work.

How long did slaves usually live?

The average lifespan of enslaved Africans who worked on colonial sugar and rice plantations was seven years.

Did slaves work 7 days a week?

Slaves worked from dawn to well after dark from Monday through Saturday. Sundays were the only day they had to rest during the week. The only holidays that were usually free of work were Christmas and the Fourth of July.

How many hours did slaves sleep?

Sixteen to eighteen hours of work was the norm on most West Indian plantations, and during the season of sugarcane harvest, most slaves only got four hours of sleep. The punishment for disobeying an order was far worse than just accepting what was asked.

What were field slaves called?

Field hands were slaves who labored on plantations. They were commonly used to plant, tend, and harvest cotton, sugar, rice, and tobacco.

How many pounds of cotton did slaves pick a day?

In general, planters expected a good “hand,” or slave, to work ten acres of land and pick two hundred pounds of cotton a day. An overseer or master measured each individual slave's daily yield. Great pressure existed to meet the expected daily amount, and some masters whipped slaves who picked less than expected.

What skills did slaves have?

These skills, when added to other talents for cooking, quilting, weaving, medicine, music, song, dance, and storytelling, instilled in slaves the sense that, as a group, they were not only competent but gifted. Slaves used their talents to deflect some of the daily assaults of bondage.

What happened to slaves that were too old to work?

Although some planters manumitted elderly slaves who could no longer work, most elderly slaves remained on plantations with their families, and their masters were expected to provide for them until they died.

How often did slaves run away?

Thousands of slaves fled bondage each year in the decades before the Civil War. The most frequent calculation is that around one thousand per year actually escaped. Some runaways sought a brief respite from slavery or simply wanted to reach family and friends.

What does Potato Hole mean in slavery?

"The term comes from slavery days, when slaves had to dig holes in the earthen floors of their cabins," Jones says. "It was the only place they had to keep food cool — and, in some cases, to hide it and store it." Jones says Potato Hole is where he keeps his "cool, funky stuff."

What punishments did slaves have?

The punishments took many forms, including whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, and being sold away from the plantation. Slaves were even sometimes murdered. Some masters were more "benevolent" than others, and punished less often or severely.

What part of the pig did slaves eat?

Slaves were forced to eat the animal parts their masters threw away. They cleaned and cooked pig intestines and called them "chitterlings." They took the butts of oxen and christened them "ox tails." Same thing for pigs' tails, pigs' feet, chicken necks, smoked neck bones, hog jowls and gizzards.