Most slave children could not look back on the days of their childhood and smile at the fond memories. Their lives in many instances were just as harsh as those of adult enslaved laborers. In reality, it was harsher because they were only children. The family life, living conditions and labor of slave children in the south left a bitter mark on the history of the United States.
What constituted a family life was very different for slave children compared to their owner’s family or a family today. Enslaved children learned this fact very early in their young lives. John Brown, enslaved in Dawkins Station, SC did not know where he was born or who his parents were. He said Master Tom Dawkins told him he was found in a basket at the train station. Master Dawkins told the conductor John belonged to him and took him home because "all little African children were owned by someone" (Rhyne 1999,1). This was the case of many enslaved children not knowing their past.
Many children were born into slavery on the plantations and remained there with their birth mothers. Babies were taken to the field with their mothers. They were tied to trees or the mother’s back in order to be nursed and fed while the mother worked. Men were sold more frequently because of their unique abilities: they were often skilled tradesmen and could work longer hours at their job. This left many slave children fatherless. There was always the real nightmare that a child could be sold away from the plantation and never know his family. Delia Garlic remembered bitterly, “Babies were snatched from their mother’s breast and sold to speculators” (Bial 1997, 11). Some children were sold or given away within the master’s family.
Caleb Craig, a slave in Blackstock, SC said he was given to Marse John’s daughter Missus Marion. He was born on Christmas Eve in 1851. Caleb mentioned that it was rare for most slave children to know where or when they born (Rhyne 1999, 64).
Records of slave births were vague. Most records only mentioned the month, year and mother’s name. In some cases no records were kept by the master and definitely not by the slave themselves. Slaves could only tell history if it could be passed down in the form of a story from generation to generation.
The living conditions of slaves varied among plantations. The treatment of slaves depended on the individual master, mistress and overseers. Some masters realized that slaves were their labor force and therefore took care of them physically so they were able to work. Other masters were cruel with no regard to the physical harm they caused to their slaves. The living conditions and the basic human needs of food, shelter and clothing were inferior, and met on a minimal level when compared to the living conditions of the white owners.
Slaves and their children ate mostly the rations provided by their master. Some were allowed to grow gardens. Mary Jane Kelley said they planted according to the signs from nature. The slaves were able to look at the stars and the moon to know the time to
plant certain vegetables. Beans were planted during the sign of the crawfish. They also planted vegetables such as potatoes and turnips during the dark of the moon. While having a garden was nice, she also spoke of how the master fed her and the other African children from the trough. They ate from a trough in the yard just like the hogs.
Most slave children had very little clothing. The most popular garment worn was usually a shift made from Osnaburg linen, coarsest cloth or other material. During the summer most children wore no shoes. They may have been given one pair of used shoes for the winter (Newman 2000, 16).
Slave cabins usually came in two styles. Most were one-room log huts with cracks and dirt floors. There was very little furniture and the slaves slept on straws and rags (Newman 2000, 16). Another style cabin was built for two families. Some of the families would put up old boards or old clothes as partitions. Boys and girls slept together until they were “married”. After marriage they no longer slept with their siblings but instead with their spouse. The two families used one fireplace for heat and cooking. Rags were used to stuff the cracks to keep the cold winter air out. Jacob Stroyer said during the
summer the cabins were too warm to sleep comfortably. He and the other slaves often slept outside under the trees until the month of October when it became cool again (Stroyer 1885, 45).
Slave children began to labor on the plantations at different ages. Some did not begin until the age of six while others worked a variety of tasks as soon as they could walk. The very young children could do simple jobs such as tote water and pick up stones. They formed “trash gangs” that cleaned up yards and weeded gardens. Children a little older could tend to the livestock by milking cows, feeding chickens and other duties (Greene 1999, 25).
By the age of twelve children were expected to do the same jobs as most adults. They were placed in the fields to pick cotton, cultivate rice and tend to all duties necessary to produce various crops. Some children were trained at a young age to work in the “big house." These children were known as housegals and houseboys. They did chores such as waiting on the missus, caring for the master’s children, cleaning, cooking, and other household duties.
Alexander Robertson was a houseboy on the Stewart Plantation two miles southwest of Winnsboro, SC. His mother was the cook. He ran errands around the house and field. Another one of his jobs was to go with Master Stewart everyday. Because he was too little to drive, his job was to hold the horse when Master Stewart got off (Rhyne 1999, 3).
Slave children were taught to do any job that needed to be done. Some young boys were taught skilled trades such as carpentry and blacksmithing. Jacob Stroyer said he had “an early relish for the occupation of hostler” (Stroyer 1885, 19). One of his jobs was to take care of the horses. He also learned to ride themamd it was during this time that Jacob learned a very important lesson.
While learning to ride he was thrown from the horse many times. Each time he was thrown the overseer would whip him. Jacob went to his parents for help. This is when he learned that as slaves there was nothing they could do to protect him even though they were his parents. This was a lesson that slave children learned early in life. The most they could do was look forward to bad weather days and Sundays
“Slave children belonged to the master, not their mother and father. Young ones could be sold away at any time, and the parents were unable to do anything to save their children from the auction block” (Bial 1997, 11).