Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume IV, Georgia Narratives, Part 4

by United States. Work Projects Administration

"Sometimes a slave was treated so bad by his owners he was glad if they put him up to be sold. If he was a bad man, they handcuffed him, put him on a stand, like for preachings and auctioned him off to the highest bidder.

"When runaway slave was brought back they was punished. Once in Alabama I saw a woman stripped naked, laid over a stump in a field with her head hangin' down on one side, her feet on the other, and tied to the stump. Then they whipped her hard, and you could hear her hollering far off, 'Oh, Lawd a'musay! Lawd a-musay!'."

Another punishment Edward said, was called the "Gameron Stick", (sometimes called the Gamlin stick, or Spanish Buck). The slave's arms were bound around the bent knees and fastened to a stick run beneath them. This was called the "Spanish Buck" punishment. They stripped the slave, who was unable to stand up, and rolled him on one side and whipped him till the blood came. They called the whip the "cowhide". Slaves were whipped for small things, such as forgetting orders or spilling food.

OVERSEERS

The most important person in the disciplining of negro slaves was the overseer. However, he occupied an unfortunate position socially. He was not regarded as the equal of the owner's family, and was not allowed to mix socially with the slaves. His was a hard lot, and consequently this position was generally filled by men of inferior grade. However, he was supposed to have an education so that he could handle the finances of the plantation accurately, and to be possessed of a good moral character in order to enforce the regulations. On most Georgia plantations overseers were given a house near the slave quarters. In some instances he lived in the house with the plantation owner. The average pay for overseers was from three to five hundred dollars a year.

Next in authority to the overseer was the driver, who directed the work in the fields. Every morning the driver blew the horn or rang the plantation bell to summon slaves to their work. Next to him was some trusted slave, who carried the keys to the smokehouse and commissary, and helped to give out rations once a week.

Many of the overseers were naturally cruel and inclined to treat the slaves harshly. Often strict rules and regulations had to be made to hold them in check. Overseers were generally made to sign these regulations on receiving their appointments.

In 1840 the Southern Cultivator and Monthly Journal published the following rules of the plantation: