Working in the fields

 

Cotton was the most important crop grown in the southern states and made many farmers extremely wealthy. In 1793 the USA produced 10,000 bales of cotton; by 1800 production had risen to 100,000 bales. A great deal of this cotton was purchased by the Lancashire cotton mills in England. The slaves had to work very long hours under the hot sun to bring in the cotton crop.

 

Children as young as six years old were forced to work in the fields. They would be woken at daybreak, sometimes as early as 4 a.m., by bells or horns. Thirty minutes later they were trudging to the cotton fields. Anyone who was late would be whipped. Then they would work all day with perhaps only one fifteen-minute break. Summer temperatures could be over a hundred degrees. Anyone who didn't seem to work hard enough would be beaten by the overseers. As well as whips, these men were also armed with guns and knives. They were usually on horseback and were often accompanied by vicious dogs.

 

The end of the working day came when it was too dark to continue. Then the slaves would struggle back to their living-quarters. There they would have to light a fire and prepare a meal. This was their way of life every day except Sundays. Only then could they have a little rest, and many found comfort in worshipping God. All the time they had the fear of more punishment or perhaps worse, being sold away from their families and friends.

 

The slaves lived in small cabins about 5 metres by 5½ metres built out of bricks or wood.

 

Nigel Smith: Black peoples of the Americas; Oxford University Press, 1992/2000, page 21