After the horrors of the Middle Passage, enslaved Africans were sold at auction to plantation owners. Their lives were defined by sugar - the crop that powered the whole system.

The Plantation System

A typical Caribbean plantation had 200-300 enslaved workers, a few overseers, and one or two white owners.
Enslaved people were classed as property - they could be bought, sold or inherited like furniture.
Children of enslaved mothers were born enslaved.

Work

Sugar cane was brutal work. Cutting it required swinging a machete in tropical heat for 16-18 hour shifts at harvest. After cutting, the cane had to be crushed and the juice boiled to make sugar - exhausting and dangerous work near red-hot kettles. Many enslaved people lost fingers or hands in the rollers.

The hierarchy of work:

Field slaves - the hardest work, with the shortest lives.
House slaves - cooks, maids, butlers. Less back-breaking but less freedom.
Skilled slaves - blacksmiths, carpenters - the highest status.

Punishment and family life

Overseers had absolute power. Common punishments were whipping, branding and mutilation. Killing an enslaved person was rarely punished. Families were often broken up by sale.

Despite all this, enslaved people built communities, kept African religious traditions alive in disguise (such as Voodoo in Haiti), learned to read in secret, and resisted in countless small ways. Life expectancy on a sugar plantation was just seven years from arrival - so most plantations needed a constant supply of new slaves.

Year 8 Power & Protest

Life on the Plantations