Slave Life
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As slavery continued and grew, complicated systems of social status developed on plantations. The lowest ranking slaves, the backbone of the plantation economy, were the field slaves. The field slaves were divided into Ðgangs according to their physical strength and ability, with the strongest and fittest males and females in the first gang. The highest ranking slaves were the domestic servants who worked in the owners house. The difference in status between field and domestic slaves caused a division between the slaves on most plantations.
Field work on the sugar plantations was intense and exhausting, particularly the digging of holes for planting and the cutting of canes when it was time to reap them. The incentive used to encourage hard work, was lashes of the cart whip, which were freely administered by the drivers, who were Ðprivileged slaves under the overseers supervision. During crop time, work in the factories was equally intense and the hours were long. The cruel pace at which slaves were driven effectively shortened their lives, and this continued to be the case despite legislation, which claimed to restrict how severely enslaved Africans were treated.
Plantations throughout the Caribbean were organised in much the same way, though there were differences amongst the islands. In Puerto Rico for example, the Spanish established slave codes that gave enslaved Africans more rights than in many other colonies. These codes allowed some enslaved Africans to own property, grow food on small plots of land, and live together with families. This Ðstability enabled slave families to grow without planters having to import more African labour.
Cuba by contrast, was one of the richest slave colonies, and wealthy plantation owners could afford to import large numbers of African slaves. As more Africans were brought to the island, the Spanish army was kept there to defend the Cuban Creoles and whites against the possibility of a slave revolt. During the mid 1800s the many mulattos and mestizos in Cuba enjoyed better lives and were generally wealthier than the field slaves.
In Barbados women did most of the field labour, while men did more skilled work. Enslaved Africans suffered some of the harshest conditions in Barbados during the sugar boom where, unlike Puerto Rico, slave families were not allowed to live together.