 It was hard for them to find

wives and husbands.

• Men, women and children worked  Some had family on nearby

in the tobacco fields. farms, they could visit each
other.
• Women helped with cooking,
doing the laundry, gardening, and  On Sundays and Christmas, most
child-rearing. slaves were allowed time to
attend to personal needs, doing
their own household or tending
• It was expensive to buy a slave.
their gardens.
• Farmers had to balance the cost of
an extra worker against their  Sometimes they were allowed to
sell things to earn a small
profit. amount of money.
• Slaves worked from sunrise to
sunset. • Men helped with hanging, drying
and packing tobacco, built and
On small On larger repaired work on the farm.
farms, slaves plantations,
slept in the they usually • Some masters split up families.
kitchen, an lived in small
outbuilding or cabins in a
Slaves spent their limited time visiting friends or family nearby, telling stories and making music.
in small cabins. slave quarter.
Some of these activities combined African traditions with traditions of the Virginia colonists.
 Women’s role men’s role
LIFE: Closely related to the
They raised tobacco Estudios Socioculturales de los
and also corn.
seasonal cycle of growing tobacco. Pueblos de Habla Inglesa II
Winter Plant seeds.
MAIN JOB: Run the farm
household, raise the children, and Spring Transplant to the fields.
teach them to do simple work tasks. Summer Worm, weed and tend.
Fall Harvest, dry and pack.
Spring & Summer Summer & Fall
 They owned fewer than five slaves.
They tended a They harvested,
kitchen garden to dried and stored
 They sold tobacco and got exchange
grow vegetables fruits and
notes to purchase other goods.
and herbs and vegetables for
make home health winter meals. They built fences
remedies. and furniture, hunted (eat and
FALL: As a family, they butchered protection), fished and taught their
hogs and cows for food and used children the skills to run a farm.
their fat to make candles.
paying taxes, voting
They grew and participating as
jurors.
Social roles
Social roles on
on an
an 18th
18th
flex to make Century Virginia
Century Virginia Farm
Farm
thread and
keep the peace, fight
make clothes Indians, put down
and sheets. slave rebellion and Danixa
Danixa Velasquez
Velasquez
gather.
Prof.
Prof. Yemel
Yemel Oyarzo
Oyarzo