Slave Plantations
Learning Objectives:
1.To be able to explain what a slave plantation is.
2.To be able to select key information from sources and use
them to describe life as a slave on a plantation.
Starter:
•In the thought bubble, write what you think EACH
person would be thinking at that moment. Write on
the arrow what you think is happening. Write in the
speech bubble what you think that person would be
saying.
Person 1
Overseer: white
man in charge
Person 2
Slave being punished for
running away
Person 3
Person 4
A fellow slave
responsible
for slave
punishment
Slave mother
forced to watch
punishment
Person 5
Slave girl forced to
watch punishment
Plantations
• What are plantations?
– Large farming areas (mostly in the South)/
tobacco, cotton, rice/ sold/ purpose of
slavery= supply cheap labour for the
plantation owners
– There were also other types of labour
required on plantations and farms
Conditions on the plantations
• Slaves lived in crude (basic) quarters
• Their diet was poor
• The majority of plantations were in the
South
– Slaves were particularly susceptible (likely
to catch) to disease
• Diseases were often left untreated and
slaves were often forced to work when
they were sick
Source I (picture)
Punishment for rebellions: Nailing a slave to the ground
and burning them from head to toe.
As a punishment
slaves forced to
wear neck collars
Crimes for a lesser nature: Castration, or chopping half
the foot off with an axe. Source A
One ship’s captain, who had a batch of slaves suffering from dysentery, told the
doctor to block the anus of each slave with rope. Source B
Children under the age of six, a few elderly people
and some people with physical disabilities were
exempt from labour. Source D Plantation owner report to a
government inquiry on treatment of slaves, 1806
The slaves’ hard work, their poor diet and terrible
living conditions led to a very low life expectancy of
26. (Life expectancy in Wales 2011 is 77.6 years for
males and 81.8 years for females.) Source C
“A favourite one was to tie a rope round a man's body, and
suspend him from the ground. A fire was kindled over him, from
which was suspended a piece of fat pork. As this cooked, the
scalding drops of fat continually fell on the bare flesh."
Source E Olaudah Equiano who was a slave, writing in his book. This book
helped people in Britain to become aware of the horrors of slavery. 1805.
Source J
(picture)
Slave being
whipped by
another
slave
A field slave worked from sunrise to sunset, but during harvest, they worked
an eighteen-hour day. A field worker was out in the field when the first sign of
light shone until it was too dark to see. Source F
Plantation owners often made the
other slaves watch the punishment to
prevent them from slacking at work or
Any slave found guilty of committing or plotting serious offences, such as violence
trying to run away. Source H
against the plantation owner could be put to death. Beatings and whippings were a
common punishment, as well as the use of neck collars. Source G
Think, pair, share
You have two minutes of silent work to number the sources YOU
have just read from:
1)most horrific thing about being a slave
10) least horrific thing about being a slave
You are numbering them in order of what you think is the most
terrible thing about being a slave to what you think is the least
terrible thing about being a slave.
You now have one minute to discuss with your partner your choices
and compare your ideas and reasons. You can change your order if
you agree with your partner or try and convince your partner your
order is correct. Remember you need to think of reasons for your
order!
Task
Horror-meter
Draw a whip in your book .
Plot your horrific points from your source sheet onto your whip.
1) Most horrific thing about
being a slave!
2) Second most horrific
10) Least horrific
fact you have found
out about being a
slave.
Make sure you plot all 10 points. Plotting your points will help you complete the
next task!!
Writing task/ Homework
• Using your horror-meter whip as a plan answer the key question.
• How horrible was life as a slave?
Success criteria
Key terms
• Use at least five key terms
Castration
•You must include at least five points from your horror-meter.
Dysentery
•You need to add: paragraphs when changing subject. Use indents to indicate a
new paragraph.
Slave
Exempt
Olaudah Equiano
•Use capital letters for the start of new sentences and for peoples names e.g.
Olaudah
Plantation
Sentence starters
Life expectancy
•Life as a slave on the plantations in America was…………..
Punishment
•I think the most horrible thing about being a slave was…………………….because……………
Run away
•Another terrible thing about being a slave was………………..this was awful because…..
Horrible
•Plantation owners made slaves lives horrific by…………………………..
Horrific
•In conclusion I think life as a slave would have been……………………because………………..
Anagrams
Anagrams
Castration
To remove the testicles of a male animal or human.
Dysentery
• Inflammation of the intestine, with pain,
diarrhoea and often a fever above
38.3'C (101'F). Dysentery can be fatal
because it can cause severe
dehydration.