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[CHAPTER 8]
[Page 1]
SLAVE LIFE
Much has been written on the feudal life of the old plantation system and the legendary patriarchal master who was “so fond” of his slaves. As the years recede, the master becomes even kinder, the acres broader, the life more exotic and luxurious, and by some unexplained law of growth the dead slaves increase at every retelling of the favorite legend. In a defensive manner one says that “the whites suffered more from its demoralizing influence than the blacks”--forgetting the long hours of labor which entailed physical suffering, the branding iron, and the whippings which left slaves marked for the remainder of their lives. Many of the descendants of the slaveholding aristocracy have sought to glorify in print the conditions under which the slaves lived. But their imaginations shut out the seamy side of slavery. They did not write of the lust to which many masters and overseers subjected their slave women. How the mulatto progeny came into being on many plantations was a mystery to them. There were so many aspects of slave life overlooked or ignored in publications pertaining to the life of the old régime, that the period took on a hallowed significance entirely out of proportion to real facts. Those who accepted these writings at face value visualized the feudal plantation system as the greatest flowering of white civilization in America. Thus was born a tradition of masters of infinite kindness and slaves who were joyous, happy, and carefree. While painting the life of the plantation in regard to both master and slave, many of the descendants of slaveholders now admit that all of the slaves were not
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