i am writing a paper and i need some reasons that slaves would have been beaten
2007-10-20 08:44:43 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
can you give me some jobs they had to do besides picking cotton?
2007-10-20 08:58:56 · update #1
Sadly there are many reasons why they were beaten.
1. speaking in native tongue
2. becoming ill and unable to work
3. fleeing or running away
4. looking at or speaking with a white person
5. answering a question with a preceived wrong answer
Those are just a few. Take any reason you can think of and more then likely a slave somewhere suffered for it. Looking in the wrong direction or looking at something (like a black man looking at a white girl) could get them killed.
2007-10-20 09:00:51 · answer #1 · answered by The Bird ( *)> 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The law provided slaves with virtually no protection from their masters. On large plantations this power was delegated to overseers. These men were under considerable pressure from the plantation owners to maximize profits. They did this by bullying the slaves into increasing productivity. The punishments used against slaves judged to be under-performing included the use of the whip. Sometimes slave-owners resorted to mutilating and branding their slaves.
Some punishments were associated with certain areas. According to William Wells Brown, slaveowners in Virginia smoked slaves. This involved whipping slaves and putting them in a tobacco smoke-house." Moses Roper claimed that in South Carolina they used to "drive nails into a hogshead so as to leave the point of the nail just protruding in the inside of the cask. Into this he used to put his slaves for punishment, and roll them down a very long and steep hill."
Lewis Clarke, a house slave in Kentucky, described in his autobiography the different methods used by his mistress: "instruments of torture were ordinarily the raw hide, or a bunch of hickory-sprouts seasoned in the fire and tied together. But if these were not at hand, nothing came amiss. She could relish a beating with a chair, the broom, tongs, shovel, shears, knife-handle, the heavy heel of her slipper, and an oak club, a foot and a half in length and an inch and a half square. With this delicate weapon she would beat us upon the hands and upon the feet until they were blistered. "
States with large numbers of slaves introduced their own slave codes. The main idea behind these codes was to keep the slaves under the tight control of their owners. The death-penalty was introduced for a whole range of offences. Slaves could be executed for murder, rape, burglary, arson and assault upon a white person. Plantation owners believed that this severe discipline would make the slaves too scared to rebel.
2007-10-20 08:56:50 · answer #2 · answered by Frosty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They lacked motivation to work harder and faster!
Remember, slaves were an expensive investment much the same as a good horse, mule, or oxen. Most owners would not beat a slave just for kicks. They wouldn't want to break their spirit. Money was only made from slaves who worked and the more they worked, the more money made!
Just as a slap on the butt is motivational to a child, if necessary, force would have been used as motivation.
Jobs - Plantations were self-sufficient and most all chores would have been handled there. Some slaves were trained at skilled task.
"slaves were highly trained and skilled house servants who worked as laundresses, seamstresses, cooks and footmen, gardeners, hostlers, and carriage drivers. Some slaves had very specific skills and worked in occupations such as carpenter, blacksmith, brick mason, cabinetmaker, tailor and shoemaker, boatmen and fishermen."
.
2007-10-20 08:48:31 · answer #3 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Slave owners did not need a reason to beat their slaves. Slaves were beaten to keep control. The beatings were about power and who yielded it.
2007-10-20 08:53:36 · answer #4 · answered by firewomen 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Variety of reasons.
Not working fast enough
Not working hard enough
Talking
Talking back to the overseer or owner
Looking at the owners too long
Dropping someting
Breaking something
Sleeping in
Basically for anything the overseer or owner did not like.
2007-10-20 08:56:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
a master whipped his slave because the slave wasnt working hard enough, or if the master thought the slave was doing something wrong
i dont think it was motivation to work harder or faster, i think was used for fear (as in the master hoping to scare the slave so they wont do it again)
2007-10-20 08:54:49 · answer #6 · answered by soxchick 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
For not working hard enough, for not doing exactly what they were told. I'm sure for any reason, even if their owner was in a bad mood.
2007-10-20 08:55:07 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
they breathed wrong?
2007-10-20 08:52:47 · answer #8 · answered by will 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋