This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South

304 Pages·1976·13.625 MB·English

by  Leslie Howard Owens

THIS SPECIES OF PROPERTY
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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
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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