Women on the Plantation

By Brenda Miranda

The traditional role of a woman of African descent on a plantation would be “slave,” because from the moment she arrived on the plantation she was transformed from her own being into someone else’s property. These women were forced to leave their families, their children, their homes, and everything and anyone they held dear to them, and start this new horrendous life. From that moment on, these women had no rights, no freedom, no choice-- they had nothing.

They had to learn a whole new way of living: they had to learn a new language, learn a new culture and traditions, as well as learn about the native land they would be cultivating. These women also had learn to become submissive, as some had never been indentured before. Unfortunately, this often times included physical and sexual abuse at the hands of plantation masters. Their working conditions were awful and their workdays were long. It was not uncommon for male and female slaves to be housed together for the soul purpose of procreation of indentured children.

Resources:

1) A Plantation Mistress on the Eve of the Civil War: The Diary of Keziah Goodwyn Hopkins Brevard, 1860-1861 (Women's Diaries and Letters of the South) by Keziah Goodwyn Hopkins Brevard

2) Within the plantation household: Black and White women of the Old South -Elizabeth Fox-Genovese