American history: Slavery in the American South_美文

American history: Slavery in the American South

England's southern colonies in North America developed a farm economy that could not survive without slave labor.

Many slaves lived on large farms called plantations. These plantations produced important crops traded by the colony, crops such as cotton and tobacco. Each plantation was like a small village owned by one family. That family lived in a large house, usually facing a river. Many separate buildings were needed on a plantation. For example, a building was needed for cooking. And buildings were needed for workers to produce goods such as furniture that were used on the plantation.

The business of the plantation was farming. So there also were barns for animals and buildings for storing and drying crops. There was a house to smoke meat so it could be kept safely. And there was a place on the river from which goods were sent by ship to England.

The plantation owner controlled the farm and saw that it earned money. He supervised, fed and clothed the people living on the property, including the slaves.

Larger plantations might have two hundred slaves. They worked in the fields on crops that would be sold or eaten by the people who lived on the plantation. They also raised animals for meat and milk.

Field slaves worked very long and hard. They worked each day from the time the sun rose until it set. Many of these slaves lived in extreme poverty in small houses with no heat or furniture. Sometimes, five or ten people lived together in one room.