This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South PDF
Preview This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South
THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY This page intentionally left blank THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY Slave Life and Culture in the Old South Leslie Howard Owens OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford New York Copyright © 1976 by Oxford University Press, Inc. First published by Oxford University Press, New York, 1976 First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1977 printing, last digit: 20 19 18 17 16 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Owens, Leslie Howard. This species of property. Includes bibliographical references and index. i. Slavery in the United States—Condition of slaves. 2. Slavery in the United States—Southern States. 3. Southern States—Social conditions. I. Title. £443.09 1977 3oi.44'93'o973 77-2741 ISBN 0-19-502245-9 pbk. Printed in the United States of America For my Mother, Father and Family This page intentionally left blank Preface The black experience in slavery is one of the most poignant in American and world history. And anyone who sets out to investi- gate that experience quickly sees that there is a great deal to learn about the human behavior of slavery's participants and also about himself or herself. The task, though certainly never dull, is often frustrating and perplexing. The available evidence, even in its most varied forms, is at best fragmentary and often difficult to utilize. Slaves have left us with few written records, though the re- sults of their labors and cultural creations are very helpful in understanding their side of bondage's story. The question any non-participant in slavery would like to an- swer is, how did it feel to be a slave? In truth, we can never know this even when we try to see bondage from the slave's viewpoint. My hope has been to try to get inside the slave's experience as much as possible, to convey a rnood as well as offer an analysis of slave life. I hope that for most of my readers mood and analysis are inseparable as they began to be for me after a time. For the slave one mood, arising from the sense of his existence as property, seemed to dominate all others, and I have tried to capture this both in the title of my study and the pages that follow. The ex- Preface slave Solomon Northup expressed it like this: "He [a slaveholder] looked upon a colored man, not as a human being, responsible to his Creator for the small talent entrusted to him, but as a 'chattel personal/ as mere live property, no better, except in value, then his mule or dog." There were exceptions to this observation, but for the slave his status as property was a dominating consideration. I would like to offer what for some have become the traditional thanks for assistance or advice given in the preparation of one's study. Traditional recognition is not my intent here, and the peo- ple that I mention will understand this. Professor Hal Bridges listened to my early thoughts in his office with that narrow window. Occasionally the sun shone there. The "Dean" helped too even when he didn't know it, and Ron N. and Mark W. at least didn't discourage me. Gary H. was a help too. I am grateful to all of them. My engaging wife, Irma, knows how many thanks I owe her. In the final stages of publication two people at Oxford were most gracious: Stephanie Golden and Susan Rabiner. I fully appreciate their assistance. In a larger sense, too, I owe a great deal of thanks to those black historians and researchers whose earlier efforts continue to reveal their importance as the years pass. Ann Arbor, Michigan L. H. O. Contents Introduction—". . . The Necessity of Bondage" 3 1. Drawing the Color Line 7 2. Into the Fields—Life, Disease, and Labor in the Old South 19 3. Blackstrap Molasses and Cornbread—Diet and Its Impact on Behavior 50 4. The Logic of Resistance 70 5. The Household Slave 106 6. The Black Slave Driver 121 7. The Shadow of the Slave Quarters 136 8. The Rhythm of Culture 164 9. A Family Folk 182 10. This Property Is Condemned 214 Manuscript Sources 227 Notes 237 Index 285
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