Slaves'+Lives

 West Indian plantations formed during the 18th century. A group of very wealthy men owned the slaves and a good part of the land, this was called a plantocracy. This social grouping made up a large part of the Caribbean society.  To make sure the plantations were getting the most work they could, they made sure all the slaves that were capable, would work 18 hour shifts a day. The only exceptions were infants, the seriously ill, and the elderly. Everyone else had an assigned task. Their only day off were Sundays, but they still had to do chores around the land and their homes, or “dwellings”. They also had Sunday markets, where they would sell products to get spending money.  Slaves work was separated by age, sex, and ability. 2 or 3 percent of the slaves actually performed house serving. The others were separated into groups. The stronger slaves got to do the more exhausting work, such as breaking up soil for the farming season. They were known as the “great gang”. The weaker slaves were called the “grass gang”, they mostly weeded the ground. Slaves too old or weak for labor would care for the young children. Since there were much more men than women, men began to do other work, such as tending livestock, and becoming blacksmiths and carpenters.



 Every “slave gang” was supervised by as privileged male slave, called the “driver”. Their job was to either reward or discipline for behavior in the work quality. Slaves that couldn’t keep up with the work had to deal with the sting of the whip. Rude, or slaves that disobeyed orders were sometimes punished with the “iron muzzle”, that prevents them from eating or drinking.  The slave owners thought it was cheaper to import more youthful slaves, then have women give child birth and raise them from infants, since the actual chances of the baby surviving was low due to illness and poor nutrition to the mother. The children also wouldn’t be attending school growing up either. Life expectancy was also low. Around 25 years old.  Many diseases took the lives of the slaves as they were working. New slaves had to adjust to the new environment, a process called “seasoning”. Others brought over diseases from Africa. Half of the slaves had a condition known as “yaws”, a painful skin disease.  Given the harsh conditions they were forced to deal with, it led to some rebellions and runaways. They believed the rebellions were led by slaves with strong African heritage. They tried to enforce Catholic religious practices and colonial languages onto all the slaves, because most of them carried over the beliefs and practiced them when they were there.

Jenn Miller (: