Some of the emancipated slaves remember that they used to sleep ".on a miserable bed, [and their] children on the floor" (Lester 62-63). One of the former slaves remembers his experience of living in such a cabin as very uncomfortable. "The cabin constructed. without floor or window. The latter is altogether unnecessary; the crevices between the logs admit sufficient light. In stormy weather the rain [drove] through them." (Lester 63-64). As for the furniture of the cabins, another former slave remembers that he used to sleep on a plank twelve inches wide and ten feet long. As a pillow he used a stick of wood. He had only one blanket and nothing else to make himself warmer (Lester 63). Except cold, rain, and wind, many slaves suffered from a great amount of mosquitoes. Some slaves remember that they kept a smoke from their fireplaces all night to secure themselves from all the insects (Moulton 19). Sleeping on the planks, being cold, wet during the rains, and in the smoke; that was the way slaves lived in their huts. .
These conditions of living made slaves" lives very difficult and caring for children almost impossible. Here is what a slaveholder tells in one of his letter. "The condition of the slaves of the United States. is far in advance of that of any similar number of laborers following similar occupations, in any other land under the sun"(Williams 32). Obviously, from what we have heard from the slaves we can claim that this statement is not very accurate. The slaves did not have very good houses as this person implies. But one thing puzzled me when I read it. What makes the author of this letter be so confident in his words? Where is his proof? It is very hard to believe that practically with nowhere to live, nothing to wear or eat; the condition of the slaves was so good, as the person argues. .
Many slaves say that the food they ate at the plantations was extremely bad and insufficient.