Chapter 13 SS

Task System

A system of slave labor under which a slave had to complete a specific assignment/individual tasks

gang-labor system

A system of work discipline used on southern cotton plantations in the mid-nineteenth century in which white overseers or black drivers supervised gangs of enslaved laborers to achieve greater productivity.

Georgia and South Carolina

states where task system of labor took place

passive resistance

thorough maintaining their own religious beliefs and practices. Worked slower to protest hours in the fields. Ran away for a couple of days to avoid an angry slaveholder.

Slaveholders view of slavery

viewed slaves as property, not as people

Length of task system

worked 8-10 a day

gang labor system length of labor

year round labor, six days a week

Solomon Northup

A free black man who was captured and sold to slavery in Louisiana for 12 years.

Nat Turner's Rebellion

Rebellion in which Nat Turner led a group of slaves through Virginia in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow and kill planter families in 1831.

active resistance

Slave uprisings. Relatively rare, based on the number of slaves. White southerns lived in fear of them.

Task System/Gang System

Task system(most common in rice culture)-slaves were assigned a particular task in the morning, and after completing the job, they were free for the rest of the day Gang system(more common)-slaves were divided into groups, compelled to work for as many hours as the overseer considered a reasonable workday

make a profit

reason slave holders bought and sold slaves

third gang

given lighter work

first gang

given the hardest work, fittest slave

Task System weather

hot and humid

overseer

led the gang labor system

second gang

less able slaves

public auction

most common method of sale of slaves

Three gangs

number of gangs that made up the gang system