The slave trade started in the 16th century and continued till the 18th century, or even later in other parts of the world. It consisted of a triangle taking slaves from Africa to the West Indies and then their goods, back to England. While in the West Indies the slaves were forced to work on Sugar Plantations. In the essay below I will describe the daily life of a Plantation worker.
The owners of the Plantations used many ways to control their slaves. One of these would be that, they choose one member of each tribe and feed them well. They also give them less responsibilities. In turn these men or woman would look after there Tribe and make sure that they didn’t do wrong. Slaves were also not allowed to practice religions as this caused arguments. However the in most occasions the slaves did have a chance to earn little or some income. The wealthier slaves could do this by becoming blacksmith, or tanners. However the lower class slaves earned this by rearing livestock, and on many occasions the Plantation would hold a Sunday market, where all the slaves could sell their wares.
At 5:30 am the slaves would be sent to the fields with their breakfast. This would be a very weak breakfast, often including dirty rice and other common substances. A register would be called and if a slave was absent he would be beaten. Many different forms of punishment were used and they all had different reasons why they would be used. One of these included nailing someone to the ground and burning sticks over them. This was mainly used as a scare tactic, so slaves would stay in their place. Another form of punishment is when a man is forced to wear a neck ring which is a metal ring that is attached to your neck that disallowed workers from sitting down. Also heavy weights could be tied on it to make work more tiring.
Their breakfast at 8:00, consisted of Boiled Yam, Eddoes and Okra which were all seasoned with Salt and Pepper. These were used as the staple food diet, as they are easy to make and cheap to buy. They used seasoning, as the flavour would often be very bland. All latecomers to the canteen would be whipped. However many slaves grew their own plants and livestock which, they subsequently ate in replace for the common Plantation food.
Work on the sugar Plantation now started, this is where the majority of the Slaves worked. It continued till 12:00 and was a very tiring time. The sugar cane can range from a height of 4 feet to 12 feet or more. This meant that harvesting them was a very long tiring process. Knives were used to cut the stems of the cane and then were at the end of the day, carried to a sugar mill. Here a different set of workers would squeeze the sugar cane to get the precious juice that is used to create sugar. This was a very important job so the smallest mistakes would be punished severely.
From 12:00 to 2:00 pm the slaves were allowed to leave their work and have dinner. These often consisted of meaty dishes, as they contain lots of protein which is needed to use muscle.
This would be the time in the day at which the slaves would be allowed to rest. The different classes of slaves would all have different treatments and separate boundaries. For instance, if a pregnant women were to become drunk, she would have a metal mask placed on her face which meant that she could only breath, but not eat or drink. This happened because the slave owners, insisted on their slaves having children so that they could have more workers.
From 2:00 to 6:00 the slaves had to continue with their work. This meant continuing with their work from the morning. This was often the time when problems would occur. Many weak slaves would faint in the evenings from extreme heat, and overworking. If this was to happen they would be whipped. If it was a continuos event they would be put onto the treadmill. This was a large treadmill with a bar above it. The slaves had to hold onto the bar while walking on this treadmill. If they got too tired on the treadmill, they would fall off. This would mean that they are left hanging and if they let go they would be whipped again.
At 6:00 the slaves were allowed to return to their huts. These were on an area of the Plantation called Slave’s row, this is where the livestock would be kept also. After eating bread and butter, or some other light dinner at their hut, they would either be sent to bed, or in the summer forced to work in the boiling house. This was an extremely hot room where the sugar was boiled to extreme heats. On many occasions slaves received extreme burns that were fatal.
The work that the slaves had too do varied according to their class and the season, but it was all physical labour and very tiring and long. The most common job was cutting the sugarcane from the ground. A white overseer would walk up and down a row of sugarcane and if any labourers started slacking they would be whipped.
