Existing comment:
"Tell him to clothe the Negroes..."
Clothing for slaves was sometimes made on the plantation, sometimes ordered from abroad. It was generally heavy weight fabric, often a wool-linen blend fabric called linsey-woolsey, heavy weight wool or oznabrig, a lighter, linen-like fabric. New garments, including shoes, were usually given out once a year. Slaves who worked in the house were dressed in garments more appropriate to meeting the public than slaves who worked the fields.
Ordered by Benjamin Tasker, Sr.: ...
Slave diet was generally plain; the basic ratino usually contained corn, cornmeal, fat pork, molasses, and occasionally coffee. Small "personal" gardens cultivated by slaves provided greens, sweet potatoes and other vegetables. Local game and fish rounded out diet somewhat.
Often, slaves were able to earn small sums of money selling items such as poultry, eggs or vegetables raised in their quarter, as quarantines from visitors or from doing odd jobs. as a consequence, they could, from time to time, acquire personal items. In 1787, Anne Ogle's account from John Ridout includes "7.5 cords oak... paid three Negroes for carrying & carrying into the yard." The 1815 account of the sale of Henrietta Ogle's goods included 1 small iron pot with cover sold to Negro Nanny for 37-1/2 cents. Nanny and her two children were sold in the same estate sale. |