Chapter 4 Slavery Information
1. The French brought slaves to Louisiana early in the eighteenth century. Louisiana at that time included Mississippi. The
slaves were brought directly from West Africa or by way of the Caribbean. During the American Revolution, more slaves
arrived from South Carolina.
2. According to Mississippi law, slaves were property with no rights and many restrictions. Black families could be broken
up at any time, they needed written permission to leave the plantation, they were not supposed to learn to read and write,
they could not testify in court, and they had to have a white observer present to hold a meeting.
3. Owners provided slaves extra clothing as an incentive for good work.
4. Slaves usually ate pork and corn, fruits, vegetables, game, and fish. Their diet was insufficient to provide them with
nutrients needed for a healthy body.
5. The quality of housing varied. New plantations housed slaves in simple log cabins without windows or floors and with
furniture consisting of bunks and chairs. Established plantations usually had cottages with brick chimneys, windows, and
wooden floors. Some cabins were brick. The cabins often were bunkhouses where men, women, and children slept
together with no privacy.
6. Slaves did all kinds of work. They cleared land, broke soil and prepared it for planting, cut weeds, thinned and hoed
cotton plants, and picked cotton. Slaves also cooked, cleaned house, tended livestock, made clothes, and cared for small
children. Skilled slaves worked as blacksmiths, carpenters, and brick masons.
7. Slaves struggled to create a secure and stable community. Marriages had no legal basis, but strong bonds of affection
linked husbands with wives and parents with children. Young and old looked out for each other.
8. Slaves regarded Christianity as a path to freedom in this life and in the next. They preferred religious meetings led by
black preachers where they were able to express emotions usually hidden from whites.
9. Slaves resisted their owners in a variety of ways. They poisoned owners and their families at the dinner table; ran away;
told lies or withheld information; broke valuable machinery; burned barns, cotton, and cotton gins; and slowed the work
pace.
The Slave Community in Antebellum Mississippi
Types of work: clearing land, breaking soil, preparing the land for planting, hoeing weeds, thinning cotton plants,
picking cotton, cooking, cleaning, tending livestock, making clothes, caring for small children, working as blacksmiths,
carpenters, brick masons, spinning thread, weaving cloth.
Types of punishment: whippings or beatings.
Types of incentives: extra clothing, pocket knives, time off, a party, money.
Types of food: pork, corn, fruits, vegetables, game, fish.
Types of medical care: usually provided by the slave owner or a doctor if serious.
Types of housing: simple log cabins without windows or floors with bunks and chairs or cottages with brick chimneys,
windows, and wooden floors, or bunkhouses where men, women, and children slept together without privacy.
Types of restrictions: slaves were property, had no rights, families could be broken up, parents could be separated
from children, no legal basis for marriage.
Types of religious practices: Christianity practiced, attended their owner's church or religious meetings led by black
preachers.
Types of slave resistance: poisoned owners and families; rebelled; lied to their masters; damaged farming machinery;
burned barns or cotton gins or bales of cotton; worked slowly.