History

Al Saadi 2

Alazhar Al Saadi

HIST 172

Jane E. Dabel

June 4, 2020

Experience of Slavery in The Nineteenth Century

Different Experiences Between Male and Female Slaves.

Trying to influence people to abolish and heat the idea of slavery, Mokokoma Mokhonoana in his famous quote stated, “Some animals would be offended if they were treated like some people”. In the nineteenth century, however, the slave trade was booming with Africans being taken from their homes to provide cheap manual labor to tasks too "menial" for the whites. The labor to which the people were subjected to as well as the treatment they received and the response they had to slavery however was different depending on the gender of the slave with the treatment of male and female slaves differing. This paper explores the difference in the type of work, the form of rebellion, and for abuse during slavery in the 19th century.

Male slaves were expected to do all kinds of works all year round with no breaks irrespective of health or hostility in weather conditions. At this time, the slave owners were farmers thus needed a lot of muscle to work in the farm growing crops such as rice, cotton, and wheat.[footnoteRef:1] Male slaves worked on farms with the reason of this focus being that they were muscular and farms were the main source of food as well as capital products as the product was later sold and thus to feed the nation, labor was required. Farming was in that era the main economic activity thus it was essential that farms maintain productivity as well as include diversity in their products to cater to an ever-growing market. Furthermore, male slaves also worked as craftsmen in blacksmith shops and stores as apprentice artisans[footnoteRef:2]. Besides working as private workers, male salves worked in the port as stevedores as they were muscular, and this is a basic requirement at the port to load and unload cargo.[footnoteRef:3] The type of work the male slaves experienced was mainly outdoor where female slaves were indoor. [1: Eric Foner,146] [2: Eric Foner,146] [3: Eric Foner,146]

Women, on the other hand, drew a completely different end of the straw mostly working as family cooks[footnoteRef:4]. Moreover, female slaves were further laboring in the dairy to help their owners as permanent maids and do all the tasks as well as deal with the livestock, ensure productivity, and then give the products to their owners[footnoteRef:5]. Also, they worked as private workers for their master doing all the housework, errands, and organizing for the master and following them wherever they went to be called upon whenever necessary.[footnoteRef:6] They were cleaning and taking care of the whole house while the master resting and do nothing. This type of work made slaves feel angry and sad because of this unfair situation, and that motivated them to rebel. [4: Eric Foner,142] [5: Eric Foner,142] [6: Foner,142]

Since the dawn of time, man as a free being will tend to rebel whenever treated unfairly to try and find equality and better treatment. Slaves also became fed up with the unfair treatment they were subjected to and rebelled against their oppressors, both the system and their owners. Male slaves tended to physically fight their owners in a quest for freedom. The men fought the unjust people and sought revenge against the poor treatment even with a huge workload on them[footnoteRef:7]. Moreover, male slaves integrated into the white society and learned their language and culture thus proving that they were not intellectually on a lower standing and as such should be equally treated. There were smarter ways of rebelling that male slaves employed such as assimilation of white society culture by learning their dialect and religion.[footnoteRef:8] Additionally, They created songs that spoke about their suffering and could also be used to pass on the message of rebellion as songs easily invoked emotions and created awareness.[footnoteRef:9] Male slaves were like the outsiders when it comes to rebel, however, female slaves were the insider where their rebellion took place within the white families. [7: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Mineola, NY:(Dov Publications, 1845), 62] [8: Foner, 148] [9: Deborah Gray White, Aren't I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South, W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (February 17, 1999), 167]

Female slaves on the other hand were like the insider people in the rebellion. They started to form relationships with white people and procreate with them. This effectively stopped white people from mistreating them as they became instead incorporated into their families.[footnoteRef:10] The effect of this can be easily observed in the number of interracial couples present today though their motivation is certainly far from the reason went for it in the 19th century. Furthermore, women, because they were working as a housemaid, they attempted poisoning their owners using the food they prepared. It was a difficult course of action as it involved killing their owners covertly and if caught, they risked losing their lives too, so it was not done unless as a final and very necessary option[footnoteRef:11]. Moreover, women gave food to the imprisoned Africans in their owners` absence to keep them healthy and strong. The rebellion was a resort for the slaves seeking revenge and justices against injustices piled upon them by white people[footnoteRef:12]. Rebellion is an expected action by whom they were abused and punished very badly. [10: Foner, 148] [11: White, 79] [12: White, 155]

Whenever slaves were considered to have breached the rules by their masters or had acted beneath the expected standards, the punishment was meted out. For male slaves, they would be ordered by the owners to work through the whole seasons irrespective of the prevailing circumstances. Whether the weather was friendly or hostile, irrespective of whatever time they were called upon, they were expected to be ready to work and some of the tasks were humiliating[footnoteRef:13]. The men tried to resort to escape which was risky as this was a foreign land, limited places to run to and if they got caught, they would be subject to savage treatment and humiliation to set an example to fellow slaves[footnoteRef:14]. The other sort of punishment was in the workplace where they were exposed to the most hazardous work because the life of escapees was not considered worthy. The slave owners considered the Africans as just a source of cheap labor, availed to serve for them, and saw themselves as their superiors.[footnoteRef:15] Not only the male slaves were abused and punished during the 19th century, but female slaves also got enormous abusees and punishments. [13: Douglass, 55] [14: Douglass, 92] [15: Douglass, 65]

Females were also brutally punished whenever they performed below the expected standards. They were treated inhumanely and sometimes beaten to death with or without a reason by their owners[footnoteRef:16]. If they died, their bodies were also disrespected as they were not buried but rather thrown to the wild. In addition, female slaves were inhumanely treated and separated from other family members, whether their children, parents, or siblings[footnoteRef:17]. Generally, all people get sick at times due to varied reasons, and slaves were more exposed to this due to the vast array of risks they were exposed to as a result of poor living and dieting conditions. The masters however were so inconsiderate to the extent that they did not provide any kind of medicine or a cure for them when they get hurt or sick. Whenever female slaves got pregnant, the master did not provide the care that they need as the master saw it as an unnecessary waste of funds, and it was by far cheaper to buy a slave than taking care of the ones they have; fewer expenses incurred that way.[footnoteRef:18] [16: Douglass, 21] [17: Douglass, 43] [18: White, 166]

In conclusion, though we acknowledge that slaves were bought with the purpose of providing labor to the white supremacists, their gender affected how they were treated it divided them into different types of labors and exposed them to different methods of punishment thus resulting to different paths preferred when it came to rebel. Male labor was mostly outdoor while women were mostly required indoors. Male slaves tried fighting physically against their oppressors, singing to create awareness and get recruits among slaves, and blending with the society to prove they were equal to their white counterparts. Women, alternatively, tried to poison their masters, get white spouses, and further helped their Africans by feeding them while their masters were not around. Male and female slaves were punished by their masters for any apparent breach of laws. Male slaves were punished by orders to work irrespective of circumstances while females were detached from their families. Globally, people should learn to accept that they are not made superior by the color of their skin. All are born equal and this is the reason for the current violence across America. All lives matter and everyone should be dignified enough to accept that.

Bibliography

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 1st ed. Vol. 1. W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.

West, T. M., & Douglass, F. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: a graphic classic; based on the autobiography of Frederick Douglass. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1845.

White, D. G.  Aren't I a Woman?: female slaves in the plantation South. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999.