My time periods start in the 1850's to the 1900. One master may give their slaves rest period once in awhile, while others may work slaves to their limits. There were some slaves who were punished for little things and some were barely punished at all, but they all did get beating because the masters wanted to show them who were the boss. They didn't want the slaves to rebel against them.
Slaves were not considered a fully human because they looked different from the whites. Most of the whites were racist against all the blacks, and they thought they were all better than them. A slave belongs to his or her master. They could be sold away from their families at any time. They could be punished for any reason their masters choose. A look, the pointing of a finger, refusal or neglect to step out of the way when a white person is approaching, were some reasons a master might punish their slaves. Slaves had no rights, no control over where they worked or how many hours they could work. They couldn't legally get marry and couldn't testify in court against a white person.
The laws considered slaves to be humans, thinking, feeling creatures capable of knowing difference between right and wrong. There were certain protections to slaves. Slaves should be given basic food and shelter, if their masters didn't, they could be fined or jailed. Masters could be arrested for brutally beating their slaves. The tragedy of slavery is that their child would lead the same life.
The slaves lived in quarters, which was a group of cabins clustered together. The cabins were bad because there was so much disease on the grounds and during the winter and raining times the snow and water would get in because there were open windows. Some lived in the Big Houses because they were butlers, coachmen, maids, housekeeper or personal servants. How much food they ate depended on the number of people there was and also if the master was wealthy or not.
