Life+of+Slaves+in+Antebellum+America

==Slaves were considered property, and they were property because they were black. ==

==="Enslaved African Americans could never forget their status as property, no matter how well their owners treated them. It is not right to say all slave and masters hated each other. When people worked togethers they sometimes formed some kind of relationship. This relationship was often like brother and sister, but it never got to an equal state. Only 1/4 of whites owned slaves, and of that 88% owned 50 or less. The ones that did own a lot of slave treated their slaves the same," from Jon Abbott. === [|Slave Interview]

** LIVING CONDITIONS **
=== Slaves were members of the lowest and poorest ranks in society. Slaves could not take part in wage-earning-labor or trade. Others were also denied the right to own property. As a result of a slave owner providing everything for a slave, slaves became highly dependent on their masters, so they remained in their horrid living conditions because they knew no different. === [|A document from a slave]

NUTRITION
=== Most slaves suffered from severe levels of nutrition due to their poorly balanced diet. Additionally, many faced starvation as a result of a lack of food and the sanitary conditions of food. However, when food was available, it primarily consisted of corn meal, lard, some meat, molasses, peas, and flour, which was commonly distributed every Saturday. The slave diet was high in fat and starch, so it lead to many illnesses such as scurvy and rickets. Scurvy lead to swollen and bleeding gums, along with livid spots on the body, where rickets entailed a softening of the bones. Also, because slaves received such small amounts of food, many resorted to stealing in order to survive. ===

CLOTHING
===Slaves commonly received clothing from their masters once a year. The clothing was distributed on the concept of one size fits all. However, some slaves did not receive clothing until they were above ten years old, and the elderly, who could not work, received little to no clothing. Slaves who worked inside a master's house found themselves the most fortunate and received hand-me-downs from the master's family. Slaves rarely had good clothes to wear and no where to wash them. ===

=== In the book __Chains__ by Laurie Anderson you can see that the nutrition,living condition, and clothing is like the same. Isbel may be treated a little nicer, but she still get treated like a slave in antebellum time. ===

"Conditions of antebellum slavery ." //Judgment Day//. PBS, Web. 5 Jan 2010. .