What games did slaves play?
Marbles were overwhelming attractions for them, while girls played with dolls, participated in ring games, and jumped rope. Without money to purchase toys, young slaves fashioned their own toys from whatever was available, and they used their imagination freely.
What are some things that slaves did?
Many slaves living in cities worked as domestics, but others worked as blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, bakers, or other tradespeople. Often, slaves were hired out by their masters, for a day or up to several years.
What were things slaves were allowed to do?
They could not buy or sell things without a permit. They could not own livestock. They were subject to a curfew every night. Marriage among slaves had no legal standing and always required the approval of the master.
What was everyday life like for slaves?
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.
What did slaves do during winter?
In his 1845 Narrative, Douglass wrote that slaves celebrated the winter holidays by engaging in activities such as “playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whiskey” (p.
At what age did slaves start working?
Boys and girls under ten assisted in the care of the very young enslaved children or worked in and around the main house. From the age of ten, they were assigned to tasks—in the fields, in the Nailery and Textile Workshop, or in the house.
What rights did slaves have?
Slaves had few legal rights: in court their testimony was inadmissible in any litigation involving whites; they could make no contract, nor could they own property; even if attacked, they could not strike a white person.
What did American slaves eat?
Weekly food rations — usually corn meal, lard, some meat, molasses, peas, greens, and flour — were distributed every Saturday. Vegetable patches or gardens, if permitted by the owner, supplied fresh produce to add to the rations. Morning meals were prepared and consumed at daybreak in the slaves’ cabins.