Gang Labor In Southern Louisiana

Slave society was most active in the Old South with the demand for goods, the demand for slaves also accumulated. The concept of slavery was to obey their masters and most masters owned some form of property such as plantation or farms. Depending on their master’s ownership, the slaves might work along with their master calling it as task labor or largely with other slaves often watched by an overseer refer to as gang labor (Foner 416-417). Southern Louisiana cultivate largely of sugar field, gang laborers are always on their feet monitoring the field before it starts to rotten; abuse from an overseer if they’re not working harder enough. Though both labors are extremely exhausting jobs, but the task workers has more an advantage. Since task
workers are near the infested swamp, a less population of the whites, they have a higher chance of setting their own work time and once they had completed the task they can freely use their time (Foner 417). Also, depending on the location where the slaves are their task can vary around the Old South. For example, in rural places where cultivating on crops, animals are the main resource of income; slaves have to manually do all the picking, planting and caring for those agricultural organisms. While, in most cities involve domestic chores such as cleaning, cooking, and other services (Froner 417). In the urban system, slaves have opportunities to learn some craftsmanship and with the new profound skills they can gain a higher wages for some to keep. Theoretically, there’s a difference between task and gang laboring, but in the end it all goes down to their masters and how sympathetic or harsh the outcome would be.