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Slavery and the Making of AmericaPicture of a plantation house near Social Circle, Georgia
Time and Place Slave Memories Resources The Slave Experience

The Slave Experience: Living
Intro Historical Overview Character Spotlight A Year in the Life Personal Narratives Original Docs
A Year in the Life: Pages from a plantation account book Living Conditions
April June July September October November December January

Flip through some pages of this account book kept by George Clark, overseer at the Eustatia cotton plantation in Mississippi, to learn how Clark affected and perceived changes in the slaves' living conditions from season to season.

In the mid-nineteenth century, journals were published to enable more efficient plantation management. These books included formatted calendars, lists, and charts, which planters or overseers could use to record information specific to their farms and estates. As journals and other documents show us, life on plantations could vary widely for slaves.

Click on the highlighted areas of each page to see the same circumstances from different perspectives and to get more detailed information about slave life in the Cotton Kingdom. 		click to enter
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SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York.
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