Slaves were treated very badly in the 19th century. They were never really left with the same owner; they got sold on many times. They would be taken away from their family and brought into slavery because they were black. White people were the controllers of the slaves and there were hardly any white slaves. White people would treat the slaves very badly especially on the slave ship. Some of the masters were nice and would let them eat and have holidays, others would lock the slaves up and never let them have any freedom.
If you were a slave and you had a child, he/she would immediately become a slave. Slaves were not aloud to talk whilst they worked as their masters thought that they would be able to plan an escape.
Slaves were also not aloud to read or write, as they would find out that the punishments that they were experiencing were extremely wrong. Another reason for banning slaves to read or write was because it would make the white people inferior. .
Conditions.
The conditions of the slave's home, life, health etc depended on how important you were.
If there was a very big plantation there may been slave houses which made up to look like a little town were they ate, drank, slept etc.
If you were a highly skilled slave you were allowed to go out and earn some money of your own. These people would have beds, a table, benches and a few chairs, mosquito curtains, blankets, pillows, sheet and a box of clothes. Also hired slaves who were good would be made into slave drivers these to would have the same kind of materials. You have to remember that there was only one or two of these people who were in control of the slaves in their group, so not many people had these things. Although in some cases some men thought that a slave would works better if they were to live in better conditions.
Not important slaves would not have these things, they just had things like a bed, which they made from the leaves they gathered whilst they were working on the plantation and then stuffed them into a sack.
