Homework Question on Duties Of Slaves and Slave Owners
- In no more than 2 pages, compare a slave owner’s work activities to his slaves’ work activities
- Using some materials from reading: “Southern Planter William Byrd Describes His Views Toward Learning and His Slaves, 1709-1710” NEED COMPARE the following things in the essay, Virginia Slaves’ Winter Tasks, 1786-1787
- Men: dig ditches plow cut rails, posts, and timber cut firewood haul timber and grain kill hogs help fill ice house, make fences and livestock pens ,build roads work in new ground frame barn shell corn ,cut straw thresh wheat and rye strip tobacco, make baskets and horse collars ,beat out hominy tend stable ,tan leather ,do odd jobs.
- Women: help at ice house cut and gather cornstalks, beat out hominy hoe new ground thin trees in swamp, clean out stable heap dung, carry fence rails grub swamp, woods, and meadow husk and shell corn ,burn brush fill gullies plow kill and salt hogs thresh wheat, rye, and clover seed strip tobacco pack fish, strip basket splits, make baskets.
Homework Answer on Duties Of Slaves and Slave Owners
Throughout the early history of Virginia’s slavery, which was widespread and a major feature of life, slaves were used in accomplishing certain tasks as given by the slave owners. The economy of Virginia grew rapidly over a short period because of slave labor. The slaves were owned by planter elite who had social power .Virginia became a colony of small farms and great plantations, its tobacco fields were filled with slave laborers who provide cheap labor in the fields.
The slaves performed various tasks based on the activities and preferences of whites who owned them. The activities were gender based whereby men had their duties which were clearly defined. Similarly, the female slaves also had their duties set out by their masters. The duties were time bound. The chores performed by both men and women rarely had any defined boundaries and differed from one slave owner to another.
For instance, women were tasked with nursing the infants of the whites. In some instances, the women slaves bore children for their slave masters. Men slaves on the other hand could even run errands, including illegal ones, for their masters.Men were tasked with various duties including digging ditches, cutting firewood, hauling timber and grain and killing hogs. They were also tasked with filling icehouses, making fences and livestock pens, building roads, working in new ground frame, burning shell corn, cutting straw and threshing wheat.