Preview

Artisan Slaves

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1629 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Artisan Slaves
Artisan Slaves
Taylor Longmore
October 11, 2014
Period 4
Mr. Gallagher

In the 1700’s when slavery was a big business. Most slaves were treated horribly, beaten, raped, and whatever else the master could think of. There were few slaves who were more than just common field slaves they were called artisan slaves. Artisan slaves were slaves who were paid for their services. Having skills such as being a blacksmith, carpenter, cooper, shoemaker, tanner, spinner, weaver etc. These specific slaves were a benefit to have to the owner costing them not as much in service but having them run the more difficult challenges. Being an artisan slave benefitted the slaves themselves, giving them a higher status and being worth more than others. Being a skilled slave could also be harder depending on the owner, some skilled slaves had a hard time being in the house dealing with the drama they had to take all of the anger the owner dished out.
Artisan Slaves could be men or women. The men had a lot more labor and weren’t paid as much as a free craftsman because after all they were still slaves. The woman had many jobs as well as the men they could cook, quilt, weave, and be familiar in medicine. Women were often repressed and not only being women were slaves being a skilled craftsmen was one of the only ways to be treated a little bit better than a field slave, many women were artisans in cooking, cooking meals from their home land and soon blending them with the European foods making a new culture.
The women artisan slaves were the slaves that could live in the house depending on the master, they would sow for them, hem their clothes, fit dresses and such, cook for them and take care of them if they were sick. Some would watch the children and especially those in medicine would help with the young ones.
These slaves were special and not as plentiful as the field workers. The owners had cared for them better and they were worth more because they were some what

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “troublesome property”. Stampp also describes how slave owners made the slaves stand in fear as the…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A white woman, the plantation mistress, was often responsible for management of the estates, and was expected to provide for her husband’s slaves in four important areas: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Although the plantation mistress was to appear just for decoration, in reality she was the living symbol of her civilization, for holding her household together. Since many families could not afford an overseer, the mistress performed tasks such as growing herbs, planting gardens, blending medicines, dipping candles, spinning thread, weaving cloth, kitting and sewing, supervision of…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    | Sources of slaves were: prisoners of war, criminals, and people who were heavily in debt. Men were placed as heads of families and decisions makers of the community. Women were not complete shut out, they also had important roles advising kings and also stewarding estates.…

    • 3704 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The African, female slaves, were basically brought to the colonies as an investment to the plantation owner. They were able to work like the men in the fields, and most significantly could reproduce more native-born slaves, which meant more property for the slave owner. They were only fit to marry with other slaves secretively, because marriage between slaves was not accepted by the colonies. Female slaves that didn't farm the land next to their male counterparts were in the homes with the upper class women. They cared for the children of the household, cleaned, cooked and helped in any way necessary. Working indoors was not surely better than working outside. In the fields, groups working together were not always watched by their masters, but being in the house meant continuous supervision and higher risk of sexual abuse. Constant physical labor like doing the laundry, carrying water and routine chores such as clearing chamber pots and making beds was expected day to day. They were also on call of their masters and master's wives 24 hours a day. The slave women that worked in the fields during the day, also had to prepare dinner for their families after the long day of work. Normally they would not even get a day off during the week, so they would have to fake illness, or labor to…

    • 603 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Some enslaved Africans worked as cooks, laundresses, manservants, blacksmiths, coopers, or in other skilled jobs. These men and women were generally considered "better off" than field slaves, but they were still enslaved. What's more, they lived and worked every day under the constant watchful eyes of their masters, and had little time for themselves.…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    economic: indentured servants were becoming very inconvienent at the time. afterall, they only worked for a certain amount of time and then you had to free/reward them.…

    • 2405 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most workers remained as farmers and artisans. They devoted their lives to their work and were skilled at their jobs. Artisans usually worked closely with agrarians to make different products. Farmers worked the fields, growing crops and raising livestock. Their work would occasionally become easier from new tools made by artisans. Women during this time were housewives. They were doing everything at home. They took care of the children, the house, and the food for the family. Sometimes, life demanded that they work the fields with their husbands. Most women did not have jobs outside the home but a small number did work outside in factory jobs.…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women were not as highly respected as men in the colonies. They were denied higher education and their ultimate task was to bear and raise children for their husbands. Women were almost treated as items. The only respectable option for women at that time was marriage. They were thought of as weak compared to men. Women also worked on the farms. Without them, the farm could not survive. They made cloth, garments, candles, soap, and bread stuffs. In the South plantation, women were successful as merchants or storekeepers when their husbands were gone. Some women became printers, publishers, druggists, and doctors. Even so, most women in the colonies did not live to their fullest potential.…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slaves where considered property of another person (Slaves, n.d.). This means that the person does not chose to work for someone else. During Colonial America slaves were people that were either war prisoners or West Africans or Native Americans captured. They were used as labor for wealthy farmers so they did not have to hire people and would keep more of their money. In the New World they could not earn their freedom and where bound to slavery for life as well as their children and many generations…

    • 1700 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Slaves were free and able to own and/or rent their own property but wasn’t able to transform as individual contributors and owners to produce and establish a solid foundation for their families. Slaves didn’t have an efficient transformation that included the proper education education, resources, and available opportunities that would have solidified them becoming profitable.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Before all the progress, most women were housewives and did mostly chores, cooking took most of their time. Other women worked as servant or enslaved and often did the same work as men, working in the fields. Widows, since most of them had no property, used to help married women with the chores in their homes. In the 1820s, the beginning of the industrialization, women were hired by factories because they were payed lower wages compared to that of men. Women were hired for tasks such as sewing where by the sewing machine had not yet been introduced therefore it was done by hand.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before women were to marry young with a man that can support her and their family to come, be stay at home moms, and one of the most important ones was to have skills. What this meant was that women were looked at more desirable or better if they knew how to paint, draw, sew, sing, play the piano, play cards, embroider, etc. In my opinion women were seen more as slave…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Slaves were the best option of workers for plantation owners, economically and geographically. They were cheap to use, easy to come by, and in some cases, the only option. This issue can be related to the use of illegal immigrants in modern day America. They are often used to do jobs that are deemed unsuitable for the average person, much like the slaves were, and they are given a much smaller pay than what would be given to the average…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black women assumed multiple roles while enslaved: field hands, servants, mothers, etc. Slavery was a very demanding position to be in, requiring full participation in work. For a woman who had many roles, life was constant labor, sometimes literally. Because slaves were considered property with no personal liberty, reproduction was necessary for slave women and increased the property of the slave master. The reproductive ability of a slave woman was just as important as her ability to work and was a vital part of the slave economy: she supplied more workers.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Was Slavery Right Or Wrong

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Slaves were largely treated as property, to be freely bought and sold. They worked on plantations in many jobs like work in the field and collect the plants, Clean the slave owner’s house, cook for the white people, and many of different. Some slave owners allowed their slaves to marry; others imposed marriages on them. The owner was free to split up a couple or family at any time simply by selling some of his/her slaves. Slave children were sent into the fields at about 12 years of age where they worked from sun up to sundown. Almost all the jobs if not done right would cause for punishment for no reason sometimes. Field work was the hardest and most punishable work. They usually gave the hard work which is the field work of the darkest slaves while the lighter skinned slaves had better jobs and overall life. In many situations, women had to do the same men, carrying extremely heavy loads and using large iron tools. Masters had no concern for the slaves’ survival, that pregnant women were still expected to continue to work their job until their child is born. In plantations there is a cook house where the slaves make their owners food. The slaves ate a little bit of food that was good and not cooked sometimes and people will steal to get extra food. If the owners finish eating the slaves can eat what they left and even though it is nasty, they were grateful for the food they got for…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays