A Day-to-Day View of a Slave.

A Brexit-voting friend had recently said to me that he doesn't read my blogs if they have a political slant which, in my opinion, he misses out. Besides what's been going on this week, much has to be said between some shockingly unusual events and my own walk with God.

And to keep Jesus Christ within the central theme remains my priority. Therefore, I take a neutral stance when it comes to the Black Lives Matter protests which are going on in towns around this country at present. Indeed, although I do have a level of sympathy towards them, that does not mean I condone the demolishing of statues and national monuments of bygone men who used slavery or imperialism for laying the foundations for our present British society.

Brought down by BLM protesters, the statue of Ed Colston

Having read several novels about slavery in the Caribbean and the Deep South, I can build a picture of what life was really like for a "servant for life" daily, with the realisation that such a way of living is not so openly realised or taught in current media. Therefore in this blog, I'm writing as a journalist as if stepping back in time.

First, the Negro was seen as sub-human by the white trader and owner, who also sees him as his own personal property. The traders believed that slavery was the will of God, and was part of the fulfilment of the curse Noah made on his son Ham, the alleged father of all Negroes, so they thought, with his insistence that all the sons of Ham were to be servants for life. They based that curse found in Genesis 9:18-27. If only the Caucasian should have read the Bible a little more carefully than they did with a biased mind, they would have seen that it was Ham's firstborn son Canaan who was cursed, and not Ham himself, nor any of his other sons. Some modern scholars believe that it was Canaan who molested his grandfather's nakedness whilst his father Ham looked on, perhaps thinking it was funny.

Two issues here. The first is the fanciful idea that Noah had a white son, a yellow son and a black son, a notion not scientifically endorsed. History shows that the Canaanites were white people who settled in Canaan, which shoreline bordered the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, and will later be inhabited by Israel. Secondly, if Canaan was the son of Ham, the son of Noah, a descendent of Adam, then he and all his descendants must have been just as equally human too. This rebukes any notions that Negroes were sub-human.

With such erroneous belief that this was God's will, the slave ship carried anywhere between 250 to 600 slaves, all packed tightly to each other in rows. One of the issues which seem to be overlooked is that each was chained in place and unable to move. Not only was that the ideal environment for possible leg cramp, but with no latrines, urine and defecation on the ship's deck was a daily issue, causing the air to reek with faeces, urine and sweat. The deaths of many onboard might have been caused by this lack of sanitation. Thus, depending on the captain's discretion, each morning, after being served porridge oats for breakfast, all the slaves were put to work in thorough cleaning of the decks. A common ailment at sea, scurvy, was wrongly thought to be caused by this lack of hygiene.

After arrival at their destination, each slave was auctioned off, ending up at a plantation which grew either tobacco or sugar and in the States, cotton. Most of them were field workers, and with sugar, in particular, their lives were shortened by the sheer hard work involved. 

The rank and status among slaves were based on the job, skin colour and social position. Where the job was concerned, at the bottom were the fieldworkers, those engaged in the ploughing, sowing, and harvesting of the crop. Then there were the skilled craftsmen, usually slave-born. These may include masons, carpenters, tanners, and barn keepers. Usually its the barn keeper who keeps an array of leather whips used for punishment, from the small whip for women and children, to the big whip for the men. Next are the kitchen servants, and above them, the team of house servants, the latter making sure that there was a difference in status between kitchen and house, with the butler being the head servant of the house, along with the body servant, the one who daily bathes and dresses his white master.

When it comes to mating, the white master often has the self-imposed duty to deflower every virgin on his plantation who comes of age before mating her up with a male slave. Most young black females anticipate this and look forward to the honour. White men sleeping with women of colour was quite normal. If a white visitor arrives at a plantation who is of some standing, then he is offered a "bed wench" for a companion and a coal fire lit for the night. By contrast, visitors considered to be "white trash" such as itinerant slave traders, usually slept alone in a cold spare bedroom.

An original planter's home in Alabama, dating from slave days

This interbreeding has resulted in colour status in the slave hierarchy. From the pure Negro at the bottom, there are several distinct colour ranks according to the percentage of white blood inherited from the parents. Next up from being a pure Negro was the Griffe, with just a quarter of white blood, the grandfather being white. Above this was the Mulatto, from a white father and black mother. Then the Quadroon, an offspring between a white father and a Mulatto mother. Next up was the Octoroon, from a white father and a Quadroon mother. Finally the Mustee, usually with an Octoroon mother.

The distinction between a Mustee and a fully white man is so slight, that some of the Mustees managed to escape from the plantation to spend the rest of their lives masquerading as white, even to the point of attending auctions to buy and sell other slaves. But nevertheless, always living in fear of the master's hand landing on his shoulder from behind. If caught, he would have been brought back, fully shackled, to the plantation to face the whip, and then quite likely sold.

The whip was the standard form of punishment. Women and children felt the whip across their backs and buttocks as well as the men. Many masters were quite tolerant and only applied the whip for more serious offences. Others were churlish enough to have his slaves flogged for just forgetting to address him as "Master Sir." Yet in most, if not all cases, it's the muscular barn keeper who actually does the flogging, under his master's supervision and keeping count. Sometimes the punishment is delayed until the owner invites a group of friends, fellow planters, and then has the slave whipped to entertain his guests, with each relishing the screams of the victim.

The most serious of all offences were for a slave to sleep with a white woman. Sometimes the lady of the house seduces her servant whilst the master is away. If caught, either together in bed or by the birth of the offspring, the Negro father was always executed. This could be in several ways: Whipped to death, hanged, burned alive in fire or even boiled alive. Usually, the white female dies too by poisoning, but she could also be shot or sent away into exile. And here is an odd issue. If a dark-skinned man slept with a female Mustee or an Octoroon, that is fine, providing her master approves. Such a resulting offspring can command a very high price. But even the absence of the tiniest drop of Negro blood in the female would condemn her lover's fate with a death sentence.

Negro fighting was another pastime favoured by white owners. In the country or small-town inn, two rival owners bring their fighters to the arena and bets are laid during a round of drinks, with each bet averaging $200, give or take. That is approximately $5,180 in today's money. Often, these fights were gory and the loser often dies, leaving the owner $200 out of pocket and the loss of a slave that might have fetched $1,000 at auction. That is around $22,000 in today's money (or £17,865.)

In the city, fighters can have the opportunity to hone their skills in boxing, sometimes taught by English sailors or settlers. These slaves enjoy such pugilistic activity and revel in the glory a victory can generate among the betting crowd of spectators. Fighting can take place in the back yard of a brothel or other public venues. Here, bets up to a thousand dollars apiece are placed in the house owner's lap, a total sum which can add up to multiple thousands of dollars. Since boxing is well known, city fights were usually less gory and the loser has a better chance of survival.

Perhaps not always for the better. Sometimes a slave from a nearby plantation was due for a whipping. Instead, the master brings him to the arena with a promise that if he wins, all other punishment will be forfeited. But if he loses...

Hence, the slave is literally fighting for his life.

During the fight, a blow to the scrotum completely immobilises the fighter, causing him to cringe and wail as he lies on the ground. With the winner declared and bets paid out, the owner of the loser, bereft of a thousand dollars, no longer sees any value in his human property. He leads the slave to the bank of the river, still cringing and terrified, and forcing him to stand up as straight as possible. Then the owner takes out his gun and shoots, watching his dying slave fall into the river and float away in the current. And not a judge in the whole land would convict the owner.

Then there is the plague, which comes every year, taking the lives of both slave and free. The medics of the day were so primitive in their diagnostic thinking, they had no idea where the plague came from, let alone its nature. Then one year they had an idea. If enough noise would be generated, this could have a positive effect on the plague. So church bells rang, cannons fired, all sorts of melodrama were created in the city to create the loudest noise but to no effect. Those pesky mosquito bites remained ongoing, passing the malaria bug into the human bloodstream unhindered. How was it that everyone who stayed indoors and slept inside a mosquito net always survived, yet nobody noticed?

Historic New Orleans where 19th Century slavery thrived.

This was a brief window into the life and culture of slavery on which many in Britain became rich, and contributed towards English society. These traders whose statues now stand and are threatened by the BLM protestors to be destroyed. 

Yet all these slave owners and traders actually believed that slavery was God's will. And thus, many had a clear conscience, finding no reason why they shouldn't enter a sweet afterlife after their deaths, except that they preferred to call their slaves "Servants for Life" - as if the word "slave" was somewhat bothersome, a smear on the conscience.

I, as a Christian, believe that such a way of life some 200 years ago was very wrong, evil. But they did not think so. Instead, they actually believed that they were in God's will. Even the owner's own son and heir were taught to pray. And the boy prays by his bedside for that particular servant should receive his whipping promptly, while that other servant in bed recovers quickly from his illness. If mankind is still around after the next 200 years, what would they think of us? Maybe they would think that our willing endorsement of abortion is bad, and therefore judge our present-day culture as evil. Or their beliefs that our capitalistic system was also the spawning ground for theft and fraud, with many becoming rich by dishonest profiteering and gain. And that would include present-day slavery, the ill-treatment of refugees.

I do believe that some who lived in the early 19th century are now in Heaven with the Lord. And that includes former slave owners. But they didn't get there because through slavery they were in the will of God. They are there through faith in Jesus Christ alone, his death by crucifixion, his burial and his Resurrection from the dead. And God grants eternal life to all who truly believe, from whichever era he lived, and whether he was a slave or free.