Slave Life at Mount Vernon

18th century Plantation was like a small town at its peak the population of Mount Vernon was approximately 340 individuals who lived and worked on the estate's five Farms the mansion house Farm was the seat of the plantation and its dependencies or outbuildings were home to most of the plantation skilled Artisans Washington's agricultural production took place on the Four outlying Farms River Farm muddy hole Farm dog run farm and Farm George Washington was a meticulous businessman and manager who was intimately familiar with the workings of his farms and other Industries reporting directly to Washington was the farm manager whose Chief obligation was to ensure the smooth operation of the plantation and to direct the overseers of the Four outlying Farms the white and enslaved overseers supervise the activities of the enslaved Workforce Washington slaves worked six days a week Monday through Saturday from sunrise to sunet the length of the workday changed with the seasons in the summer when the sun comes up at 5:00 in the morning and doesn't set until almost 9:00 at night the slaves would work as many as 15 hours a day winter hours were much shorter existing records tell us that the slaves were given 2 hours off during the work day for breakfast and dinner in addition to Sunday's off the slaves had some holidays during the year Washington gave most of his slaves four days off at Christmas one day for Easter and another for Pentecost some of the Mount Vernon slaves such as blacksmiths and Cooks lived where they worked until 1792 the majority of the mansion house slaves resided in a two-story wooden dwelling called the house for families it probably housed about 60 slaves during his presidency Washington tore down the house for families and replaced it with a Barrack style quarters in the wings on either side of the greenhouse this was the primary living area for most of the mansion house Farm slaves others lived in small wooden Huts which were either single or duplex in design these Huts were similar to slave housing found at The outlying Farms there is some evidence that the quarters at The outlying Farms were often impermanent in nature and could as Washington once directed be picked up and moved to another location slaves were given a rationed amount of food adult working slaves received a daily ration of slightly more than one quart of cornmeal and 5 to 8 ounces of salted fish occasionally they would also get buttermilk and extra rations of fresh or salted meat such as pork beef or mutton slaves were allowed to use land near their quarters for garden plots many also kept chickens and ducks for food and to sell at Market slaves were issued two sets of clothing annually one for winter and one for summer each slave was issued one blanket per year when a woman delivered a child she was provided with a blanket for the new baby we need Medical Care was also provided and George Washington's accounts reflect payment for medical treatment for the slaves although Virginia did not recognize slave marriages Washington did and marriage was the norm for the Mount Vernon slaves marriage provided stability and encourage births the status of a child followed the maternal line if a child's mother was a slave so was the child a child born to a free woman was also considered in the eyes of the law to be free perhaps most importantly marriage provided slaves with a sense of continuity family and Community however depending on their jobs husbands and wives did not necessarily live on the same Farm often resulting in separation of families children usually lived with their mother spending off time with friends and relatives was very common slave children too young to join the workforce appear to have done small jobs for their own families as soon as the child was of an age to join the workforce generally between the ages of 11 and 14 children became part of a transitional group called working boys and girls who assisted on the farms an exacting Taskmaster George Washington expected the Mount Vernon slaves to work hard and produce much he was often disappointed he tried both reward and Punishment to induce compliance however there was no real incentive for slaves to work harder slaves used a variety of means both passive and aggressive to rebel against slavery passive Rebellion such as breaking of tools being sick on a regular basis and completing assigned tasks at leisure was common Washington noted and was often frustrated by these occurrences although George Washington had stopped selling Slaves by the late 1770s he used other forms of punishment one could be demoted to a lesser job perhaps on another Farm away from your family privileges such as going to the market could be taken away and in extreme cases corporal punishment was used

Channel: George Washington's Mount Vernon

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Id: 0dXLCSXESyw

Length: 5min 8sec (308 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 28 2015