All+about+overseers

In 1860 it was calculated that about 88% of slave-owners owned 20 slaves or less. However, large landowners would usually own over 100 slaves and relied heavily on overseers to run their plantations. These overseers were under considerable pressure from the plantation owners to maximize profits. They did this by bullying the slaves into increasing productivity. The punishments used against slaves were immoral. Not surprisingly the death rate was high. Studies have shown that over a 4 year period, up to 30% of the slave population in America died.

Slaves were in the fields from sunrise to sunset and at harvest time they did an eighteen hour day. Women worked the same hours as the men and pregnant women were expected to continue until their child was born. Only a month's rest was allowed for recovery from child-bearing. The women then carried the child on their backs while they worked in the fields. Around the age of five, [|slave children] would also be expected to work on the plantation.