Field Slaves

In the West Indies, the white owner (usually male) would always be at the top of the social hierarchy. Below the white owner, were usually white servants that worked for the owner. The slaves were the lowest on the social hierarchy, but there were some slaves that were better off and above others. For example, slaves that were skilled craftsmen had a higher rank or reputation than those that were field slaves that mainly worked on the farms and did more laborious tasks. Field slaves were considered to be the lowest social rank in the social structure. They were led by slave drivers, who were white men or women, that would make sure the field slaves stayed on task and beat them with whips if they considered it necessary. There were also house slaves/servants that were ordered to work indoors. Their rank was above the field slaves as well. They usually had the easier tasks and had a better life than any of the field slaves. However, if the house slaves made a mistake, the owner would sometimes order them to go outside and work with the field slaves in doing heavy, laborious field work. This was considered a terrible punishment. The slaves were also rated by skin color. Usually the lighter skinned slaves were women or children. The children that were lighter skinned were usually children of a female slave and a white owner, which meant that they would get better conditions. Those children usually worked inside and were trained to become skilled workers. The very dark slaves …show more content…
This was especially the case with planting sugar. This was an extremely laborious task that needed many people to assist, meaning that all slaves, from children to the elderly, would need to help out. However, this was not always the case. Different crops require different amounts of work. While sugar required many people to help with the production, crops such as rice and tobacco did not need as much