 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Slave masters extracted labor from virtually the entire slave community, young, old, healthy, and physically impaired. Children as young as three or four were put to work, usually in special "trash gangs" weeding fields, carrying drinking water, picking up trash, and helping in the kitchen. Young children also fed chickens and livestock, gathered wood chips for fuel, and drove cows to pasture. Between the ages of seven and twelve, boys and girls were put to work in intensive field work. Older or physically handicapped slaves were put to work in cloth houses, spinning cotton, weaving cloth, and making clothes. | |||
|
Scenes
on a Cotton Plantation: Sowing, engraving from Harper's Weekly,
February 2, 1867
Click image to enlarge. Copyright 2002 The Chicago Historical Society |
Image 4of 25
 |
|||
|
|
||||
