Question

What were the lives of slaves like (including men, women and children) in the south? Consider the different types of labor systems (gang labor, task labor), and the ways in which slaves created communities and cultures that allowed them to survive in an oppressive society.

Answer 1

•   The lives of slaves was very tough and harsh in south. Slave men did worked as blacksmith,carpenter,In boiler,mills,mines and also in fieldwork. And slave women worked as household slave workers and supporting field work. Children of slaves were also used as child labour and treated very cruel and harsh manner.
•   There was a difference between gang labor & task labor on the basis of crop & holding size. Tasks of slaves were not same in the different parts of the South.
In South Louisiana, due to heavy plantation in cotton belt and sugar fields their was need of the gang labor.
The overseer were director or manager to the gang labor.
On the other side task labor was working in South Carolina and Georgia on rich plantation field. They were assigned for the tasks for daily basis. These slaves had many tasks due to different regions.
Some worked in the fields(poor) as field workers. But urban slaves were cook and house hold laborers. many of them lived in their own homes.
•   The slaved people manage to develop culture and community in oppressive environment due to their desire and hope for their freedom. They were forced to a dependent culture because they were governed and ruled by white people.
They managed to survive with their dance, music ,worship style and medicinal knowledge of herbs.
Hence, African slave play an important rile in making African American culture.