Life on a cotton plantation: Life on a cotton plantation Jeff Clark U.S. history 1 1st BLOCK


Slide2: I will take you though what it was like like to be on a cotton plantation and what slaves had to go through before they even made it to a cotton plantation.


Slide3: Africans were taken from their home and put onto slave ships where many of them would die. This was due to the horrible conditions that they were put in, they were given little or no food and water. Smallpox and dysentery were also common on slave ships. Merchants would pack ships as full as physically possible. Many slaves were crippled for life because of the way that they were chained up on the ship.Even with a 50% death rate figured in the merchants would still make tremendous profits.


Slide4: Picking cotton by hand was extremely labor intensive. This was due to the fact that every cotton ball had to be picked off of the plant by hand.After they were picked off of the plant each cotton ball had to have the cotton picked out of the shell by hand,witch also took a lot of work and time.


Slide5: The cotton gin was invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney. The cotton gin was built to remove the seeds from cotton balls quickly and and increase the profits for plantation owners. People have mixed opinions on weather the cotton gin had a negative or positive impact on slaves.some say that the slaves had less work because they didn’t have to pick each cotton ball out of the shell by hand. But other people say that since it took less time to process the cotton,then they could grow more cotton that the slaves would have to pick.


Slide6: Cotton balls are dumped into the hopper. A crank on the side turns the cylinder with wire teeth. The teeth pull the cotton past a grate Slots in the grate let the cotton, but not the seeds to go through. A second cylinder that has brushes on it, pulls the cotton off of the toothed cylinder and out of the cotton gin.


Slide7: The slave code-was designed by southerners and was meant to keep slaves from running away from their owners and or keep them from rebelling.Below is a list of some of the things that the slave code went over. Slaves were not allowed outside after dark. Slaves could not gather in groups of three or more. Slaves were not allowed to leave their owners property without a written pass. Slaves could not own weapons. Slaves were not allowed learn to read and write http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm009.html


Slide8: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cwar:1:./temp/~ammem_KoDl:: Slaves on plantations could be sold at any time for any reason. It did not matter if they were married or if they had kids on the plantation they were sold from.This picture shows a place that says auction and Negro sales, as if it were like buying a lawnmower or a car.


Slide9: Most slaves were treated fairly when they were on the plantation.This was due to the fact that the owners of the slaves had to pay a lot for the slaves and wanted to keep them healthy and strong for working. But if their was a slave that tried to run away or was rebelling the slave owner could amputate a foot or torture them, to what ever extent they thought necessary.


Slide10: I conclusion slaves had a very hard life on plantations and were made to do very hard physical labor. Slaves were also treated unfairly, they were treated like an expensive piece of farm equipment.Slaves were considered lucky if they made it to a plantation.this was because the journey from Africa was so long and the conditions were so harsh.