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What was life like for enslaved labor on plantations?

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Answer:

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In the early 19th century, most enslaved men and women worked on large agricultural plantations as house servants or field hands. Life for enslaved men and women was brutal; they were subject to repression, harsh punishments, and strict racial policing.

Step-by-step explanation:

Large plantations had field hands and house servants. House servants performed tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and driving, while the field hands labored for up to 20 hours a day clearing land, planting seed, and harvesting crops. Although enslaved men and women sometimes were able to exercise a degree of autonomy in their work—such as on rice plantations in South Carolina—field hands typically worked in a gang-labor system, under which large groups of enslaved laborers toiled under the supervision of an overseer.

The division of labor on most plantations was gender-based, with women typically in charge of duties such as sewing, cooking, quilting, cleaning the house, supervising the children, and serving as midwives—though many enslaved women worked in the fields as well.

Brutality and resistance

Life for most enslaved men and women was brutal and harsh. They were frequently separated from their family members because most slaveowners had no compunction about splitting up families in order to improve their own financial situation.

User Sintaxi
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Answer:

Life on the fields meant working sunup to sundown six days a week and having food sometimes not suitable for an animal to eat. Plantation slaves lived in small shacks with a dirt floor and little or no furniture. Life on large plantations with a cruel overseer was oftentimes the worst.

Step-by-step explanation:

User JRomero
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