We know very little about the
daily lives of African-Americans in the Bald Hill area. We can only make
some presumptions based upon a few oral traditions and what we know about
slavery in Roane and Anderson Counties, and generally throughout the South.
When
one asks the question: What was slavery like? one needs to ask:
What did the master want it to be like? Since slaves were legally
considered chattel, or movable property, they were guaranteed no say over any
aspect of their lives; thus, the quality of their lives was completely
dependent upon the master. Another factor over the quality of one’s life was
whether one worked, slept, and ate in the master’s house, a house servant or
a favorite child for instance; or whether one practiced a skilled trade, such
as blacksmithing; or whether one simply worked in the fields. If a slave was
favored by the master, simply put, he or she ate better, was better clothed,
and generally fared better in all areas.
These
levels of status seem to have carried into the slave community as well.
The parents of a young female slave often preferred that their daughter marry
a house servant as opposed to “just a common field hand. “ (The
majority of slave owners preferred to call their slaves ”servants” or
“hands”).
Most
residents of this area professed a Christian faith and probably attempted to
follow the Biblical injunction that masters should be good to their slaves,
and that slaves should be obedient to their masters. An obedient slave is a
good slave. What constituted being “good” to a slave was largely a
matter of opinion.
Generally,
being good to a slave meant that a slave should be well-fed, provided with
some sort of decent shelter and clothing, and not be abused with excessive
punishment. A Roane County slave’s diet might have been gruel or slop
served in a trough and eaten with oyster shells for utensils, as was
reportedly the case at a plantation east of Kingston on the old Stage Road; or
a kind master may have provided his slaves with the same fare that he and his
own family enjoyed, as it appears was the case in
David Gallaher’s home. Shelter often consisted of a small clapboard
cabin or hut, or possibly a log cabin chinked with mud between the logs.
A nice cabin would have had a floor, stone fireplace and chimney, and perhaps
several rooms. Most slaves wore homespun cotton or linsey-woolsey
clothing. Receiving a new suit and a pair of shoes per year was not
uncommon. Many slaves wore the hand-me-downs from their “white
family;” others dressed in rags or what they could scavenge or make. Some
children wore only a split shirttail which hung to the knees. This was a
one piece shirt with a hole cut for the head and stitched together on the
sides, leaving holes for the arms. Others wore trousers, shirts, or
dresses similar to their young white masters and mistresses.
The
most common form of punishment for anyone, black or white, in the early days
of Roane and Anderson Counties was to receive a public whipping from the local
constable. Most offenses for a slave called for 39 lashes, or
“stripes.” Slave owners generally preferred either to administer the
whippings themselves, or to have their overseers do it. A slave
owner who was abusive to his slaves was looked down upon by his neighbors,
sometimes ostracized, occasionally run out of town on a fence rail.
This, at least in part, kept many slave owners in check.
The
attempt was often made to keep families of slaves together, or at least near
each other; however, this frequently did not happen. When a slave owner
died, his estate, which included his slaves, was divided between living
relatives. Usually male slaves went to sons, and female slaves went to
daughters. Some slaves were presented as wedding presents, such as
in the case of David and Mattie; occasionally a slave that was to be sold was
allowed to pick his own master. Financial pressures sometimes made slave
owners feel they were “forced” to sell one or more of their slaves, often
causing the break-up of a family. Mrs. Jeanette Gallaher said that her
Grandma Kimbrough (presumably owned by the Kimbroughs) was only allowed to
keep one of her children.
Religion
played an important role in the lives of many slaves. Most were allowed to
attend their owner’s churches, but were required to sit in the back or in a
balcony. Some slaves were not allowed to attend religious services, and
so they resorted to secret gatherings in homes or the woods.
Children
in slavery usually were not required to do heavy work such as working in the
fields until about age 12. Although most probably were expected to
perform light chores, their childhood’s were often relatively carefree,
their time being spent playing with corn shuck dolls, clay marbles, or perhaps
fishing or hunting or playing Rawhead Bloody Bones! Frequently, the master’s
children and the slave children played together, often developing close bonds
that lasted throughout their lives.
Slaves
traveled within the county with relative ease in the daytime. Passes
were viewed by many as an impediment to business. At night, however,
Negroes were required to show either a pass signed by their owner, or papers
giving evidence of emancipation.
There
were a few free Negroes living in the Bald Hill area before the Civil War.
Free Negroes in Tennessee were regarded as a threat by the majority of the
white population. There were a number of reasons for this, whether real
or imagined. Whites were afraid that free Negroes would encourage and
assist runaway slaves. Free Negroes were often suspected as being
involved in the trafficking of stolen goods, and were especially
suspected of spreading abolitionist literature and organizing slave revolts.
In
order to reduce and control the free Negro population, various laws were
enacted which required a slave, after being emancipated, to leave
the state. Other laws stipulated that the freed slave must be colonized
in Africa. Especially during times of insurrections or slave revolts,
restrictions were increased on all blacks, slave or free. Nat Turner’s
rebellion in Virginia in 1831, in which 55 white people were killed, led
to heightened fears all over the South. In Tennessee, free blacks were
no longer allowed to vote; nor were free Negroes from other states permitted
to enter Tennessee; any slave freed from that time on was required to leave
the state; and there were many other restrictions as well. After
rumors began to spread in 1856 of a plot for a slave revolt in the iron
district of northern Middle Tennessee , a general panic occurred. This
led to stricter laws governing the movement and behaviors of all
African-Americans in Tennessee. Negroes were forbidden to carry guns, knives,
or other weapons (which they had formerly been allowed to do for hunting
purposes); passes were required when a slave was off the owner’s property;
free Negroes without visible means of support, and no good cause for
such a condition, could be hired out for six months or more, and upon a
second conviction he could be sentenced for life, essentially returned to
slavery.
These
laws often went unenforced, and occasionally a determined Negro would
circumvent the law in the courts. In the early 1840s Susan, a slave, was
freed by Nancy McEwen and was to be colonized. She petitioned the court on the
grounds that her family was still in bondage, it would be expensive to
move to Africa, and it would take years to raise the money. The court
ruled that this would, in effect, deprive Susan of her freedom; she won.
There
were no state laws in Tennessee against free Negro education; however, some
communities passed local ordinances against teaching Negroes to read and
write. In the cases of slaves, this was, of course, up to the master.
Many kind masters did teach their slaves to read and write; many did not.
Even
slaves sometimes resented free Negroes. Reverend Jermain Loguen, who
escaped to the North and became an active abolitionist and Underground
Railroad conductor, described an incident he witnessed at a camp meeting.
Slaves were often allowed to grow extra crops on their own time to earn money.
They, as well as free blacks, brought produce to sell at the camp meeting.
When some slaves saw their competition, they told their master’s sons about
it. Apparently somewhat drunk, the master’s sons went to the free
Negro’s improvised store. On some pretense they proceeded to claim to
teach the man to be civil to gentlemen. Two minutes later, the man’s
melons, bottles and liquors were destroyed. The young ruffians told the
man to, “Clear out now, you black rascal...don’t be seen about here
again.”
Mr.
Loguen gave his eloquent commentary on the unenviable state of the free black
in Tennessee by saying, “If I must live in a slave state, let me be a
slave.” Apparently freedom has its own rewards, however, for according
to Lester Lamon in 1858 when Tennessee passed a law giving a freeman the right
to “choose” to become a slave, there were no takers.
