In short, indentured servants were mainly poor British people without jobs. This process included young men/women binding themselves to masters for a fixed term of servitude in return for passage to America, food, and shelter. Some indentured servants chose to come to the colonies willingly, often trying to escape troubles in England, but not all. Some were convicts shipped to America while others were prisoners from battles. Regardless, the system of indentured servitude proved to be very appealing to those able to employ them.
The task system allowed slaves to work at their chosen pace as long as they fulfilled their duties within the time allocated. This method was proven to be less brutal than the gang system and it is often thought the reason for this is that women were enslaved in the professions that operated under the task system. The work for the enslaved people proved to be the hardest was when the owners of plantations specialised in rice. Preparing the land for cultivation usually meant claiming marshlands or swampy regions. Slaves in the rice fields had to fight off snakes, alligators and vermin; slaves often had to fight off angry rodents.
The economy governed the forced labor required in each region. The North, being a society with slaves, lacked the ability to maintain large-scale cash crops. While some masters used slaves on small and large farms, and some plantations, many northern slaves worked in variety of skilled jobs in addition to domestic, manual, and industrial work. There was division of labor as the women primarily did domestic work. Initially, slaves worked for a limited term, functioning as servants and apprentices that could be hired out.
On the other hand the picture on the right portrays a slave for hire in which were owned to work independently in the streets as carriers or vendors. They had much more control over their lives in comparison to a field slave, and even occasionally gained enough power to buy their own freedom. Although the two differ in skin color they are both shoeless slaves of African decent that fell victim to this inhumane system of servitude. Although those hired as slaves in this situation were clearly better then field slaves, they faced their own special psychological torment living in the world as an outcaste. These two pictures can be used today as perfect examples of the various different groups and ethnicities in which slavery effected during the 19th century.
As White talks about in the beginning the male slave has overshadowed the female slave throughout history, which is exactly true with my past learning's of the slave trade. I personally had the Mammy stereotype in my head, and figured that women slaves had it easier than their male counterparts. I figured they got to stay in the kitchen and solely raise children. While reading this book White bombards you with a systematic series of statements and claims, which she then followed by first or second hand accounts supporting the statements. I feel she did about as good of a job as possible realizing the hardships of finding good sources.
They depended on slave labor for economic stability. Without the slaves many whites believed they were not able or should be doing the backbreaking labor. The plantation owners also needed the support of the slaves in all areas of their lives such as: cooks, housecleaners, nannies and chauffeurs. The possibility of life without the slaves was devastating. Slaves were the support system of their owners.
Louisiana is described as mostly good land that was very fertile. There were some parts though, where the people had to work a lot harder to earn a living. These people also didn’t have as many slaves as the others. I guess this was part of the reason that they had to work so much harder to try and get close to what the higher class had. But in order to get more out of their work, it would be good to have slaves to help.
But some slaves worked in the houses and were nannies, cooks, or did the laundry. If you were a boy like me, you might be a stable boy and you would have to take care of the horses. You would be treated better like the people who worked in the house were. There were other slaves too. They would have to work for the government, or a business, or factory, or run a store.
Some of the strongest African American women were sold as breeders, valuable because they were able to produce in addition to work in the house or on a farm. When women were being purchased they were look at from their head to their toes. Once the women were purchased they were working from the time the sun had risen to nightfall. They did not have time to spend with their family unless it was a Sunday and even that was not all the time. The Masters would use the children as bartering tools when African American women would refuse to engage in certain things that the master wanted her to do.
These two industries had something in common. That is Domestic slaves, who worked in the house of their master and were maids, cooks, butlersm wet nurses, dress makers, gardeners, coachemen, valets and nursemaids. In the Logwood and Mahogany industry, young strong men were needed for the work of woodcutting so women made up the domestics. Women and children also prepared food and cultivated crops. These two industries both have slaves occupations not in common.