Slave health on plantations in the United States facts for kids

The health of enslaved people on American plantations was a big concern for both the enslaved people and their owners. Enslaved people often faced health problems because of poverty and harsh living conditions. Owners wanted their enslaved workers to be healthy so they could work and have children. However, those who were too sick or old to work were sometimes left alone by their owners.

Life Expectancy

One way to measure a group's health is by looking at how long people live. Around 1850, a white person in the United States could expect to live about 40 years. For an enslaved person, it was about 36 years.

Diseases and Sicknesses

Enslaved people on plantations in the Southern United States faced many serious health challenges. They often did not get enough proper food. Their living conditions were unclean, and they worked too much. This made them much more likely to get sick than their owners. Sadly, death rates among enslaved people were much higher because of diseases.

Doctors at the time sometimes thought certain diseases only affected Black people. These included sicknesses like:

Some false ideas were also used to explain why enslaved people might try to run away or seem lazy. These ideas were called "drapetomania" (wanting to run away) and "dysaesthesia aethiopica" (laziness). These were not real illnesses. Instead, they were used to justify harsh punishments.

What Enslaved People Ate

There are different ideas about what enslaved people ate. Some say they had plenty, while others describe their food as "coarse and scanty" (rough and not enough). Most often, their diet was fatty pork and corn or rice.

Historians found that enslaved adults usually received about one quart (about 1 liter) of cornmeal and half a pound (about 300 grams) of salt pork each day. Children got smaller amounts. Sometimes, this was changed or added to with sweet potatoes, peas, syrup, rice, fruit, and vegetables. Experts now believe that while enslaved people might have gotten enough food by quantity, the quality was often poor. This poor quality food led to many being "physically impaired or chronically ill."

Plantations usually had more pigs than cows. This meant more pork was available than beef. There were several reasons for this. Some believed enslaved people preferred pork. Pigs were also easier to feed. Beef was harder to keep fresh, so it was mostly eaten in winter when it was cold. Some also feared that fresh meat caused sickness among Black people. Owners also thought pork was the best meat for laborers.

Because there were not many cows, enslaved people often did not get milk. Many enslaved people had trouble digesting milk because it was not a regular part of their diet. Also, in the hot summer, milk was scarce. When it was available, white people got it first. If any was left, it went to enslaved children.

The poor quality of food meant enslaved people often lacked important vitamins and nutrients. This led to many illnesses that people at the time did not realize were caused by diet.

• Not enough Vitamin A could cause poor eyesight.
• Lack of milk led to weak bones and diseases like rickets.
• Not enough iron caused anemia.

Clothing

Enslaved people were usually given only one or two pairs of shoes, often called "gator shoes" or "brogans." Sometimes, children and adults who were not working had to go barefoot. These clothes and shoes were not strong enough for working in the fields. They wore out very quickly for field workers. It is believed that the health of male workers quickly got worse once they started working in the fields.

Medical Care

Some owners did provide some health care for their enslaved people. They saw it as protecting their "investments." Some owners even hired doctors to visit every two weeks to check on the enslaved people and give them medicine. This was a good business for the doctors.

However, owners often tried to treat sick enslaved people themselves before calling a doctor. They wanted to save money. They used their own skills or had their wives help. Some Black people also had their own ways of healing, using special remedies and rituals passed down from African heritage. If home treatments did not work, then they would send the enslaved person to a doctor or ask the doctor to come to the plantation. A sick enslaved person meant less work done. A death meant an even bigger loss for the owner.

Because enslaved people were expensive and important to plantation work, owners sometimes set up hospitals for serious health problems. There were also separate doctors for enslaved people and white people. This was because some people wrongly believed that the bodies of enslaved people were different from white people's bodies. Because of this belief, many enslaved people were used in doctors' experiments. This helped doctors learn more and become famous.

Slave Hospitals

Doctors like A.P. Merrill and Samuel A. Cartwright thought slave hospitals were very important. They believed enslaved people's bodies were biologically different, so they needed their own medical places. Some historical accounts say owners tried hard to protect the health of their enslaved people. For example, they might vaccinate enslaved babies against smallpox. They also spent a lot of money on medical care and gave wine to sick enslaved people.

However, in reality, these hospitals often showed how enslaved people were viewed: as property. They were often just a slave cabin used to separate sick people. This was sometimes done to make sure an enslaved person was not pretending to be sick to run away. One person, Frances Kemble, described a slave infirmary (hospital) where enslaved women lay on the floor on "tattered and filthy blankets."

Dr. J. Marion Sims set up the first hospital in the United States for Black women in his backyard. He developed new surgical methods on enslaved women there. These women could not say no to the surgeries because they were enslaved. In later years, his experiments were criticized as being very wrong and unethical.

Medical Experiments

Medical schools in the South often used the bodies of Black people to teach anatomy and for experiments. This was dangerous and harmful. It led to a deep distrust of white doctors among enslaved people. Using enslaved people's bodies for medical knowledge created a terrible relationship between doctors and patients. The enslaved person's owner was also involved. This often meant the enslaved person had no say and was seen as "medically incompetent." This took away their control over their own bodies.

See also

• Race and health in the United States
• House slave
• Disease in colonial America
• Seasoning (slavery)
• African American health
• Slavery hypertension hypothesis
• Weathering hypothesis
• Disability in American slavery