An Address

Excerpt from An Address: Delivered Before the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia, in the Session Room of the Second Presbyterian Church, on Cherry Street, in the First Month, 1834 Aware of the importance of facts in making an indelible impression upon the mind, I must beg leave to call your attention to the following state ment, received a day or two since, and which I omitted to bring into no tice earlier in my address. It is from an individual on whom reliance can be placed, and who has lately left the station of superintendent of a gang of slaves, owned by a person in the State of Georgia. He stated, that he started those under his charge at about 4 o'clock in the morning during the winter season, and at day break during the summer. That they were worked constantly all day, except at about 11 o'clock, when they had a noon of half an hour to receive their piece, or allowance for the whole day, which consisted of half a pound of bacon, or three-quarters of a pound of beef, and one quart of ground Indian meal. This allowance was cooked over night, and in case they could not eat it within the prescribed time, the remainder was carried on their heads and partaken of as they could dur ing their labour. That in general they had one suit of miserable negro cloth, hardly fit to be made up, for winter, and one suit of Osnaburg for summer. One pair of shoes for both seasons. That for any indiscretion the slaves received from 20 to 100 lashes with a cowskin, cartwhip, or hickory withe, on their bare backs, according to the will of their master. If the driver refused to inżict the punishment, the overseer might whip the driver, or call upon any one he pleased, even the husband to whip the wife, or the father the child, or vice versa; and this he had seen done frequently. That forcible separation of the nearest connexions is occurring every day, and children sold from their mothers when about two years old. That in case of the murder of a slave, no redress can be obtained, unless the whites take it up - because a negro's oath is nothing at all. That some slaves in Augusta, Charleston, and in some other places, had worked out their freedom. That he never saw a legal marriage among slaves. That on plantations slaves were frequently better fed and treated than those under his charge. But that the weather must be very bad indeed to stop work. That the harder they were Whipped the better. They dared not to say a word against it. That children, when they became four years old, receive as many as 8, 10, or 15 lashes on their bare backs, with a cowskin, not quite so hard, because they desire not to injure seriously a little negro. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.