19th Century Leisure Activities

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Slaves in 19th century United States did recreational activities when they were not busy doing their daily chores, as an escape from the struggles of slave life. Slaves decided to sing, dance, tell stories and gather as a group to relax after a long day of work. These leisure activities allowed slaves to have a break from their lives and also gave them a little bit of freedom. While their liberty was nowhere near what we would expect today, slaves were still able to appreciate their personal time by making their own decisions. Leisure activities gave slaves happiness and a sense of community, and an escape from their daily lives. The long grueling days of work made slaves eager to unwind after the workday was over. Often slaves worked from sunrise to sunset, which left many exhausted from …show more content…

Most weekdays slaves only had time to eat dinner and then go straight to sleep after a long day on the job. One slave, Isaam morgan, describes his weekday workload, “Whut we do atter we finished work? Go to bed! Dat was de onl’es’ place we was fittin’ for. Us was so tired us wouldn’t lie down two minutes ‘fo us was ‘sleep. On some moonlight nigts us was ‘lowed to pick de cotton. De us’d get a little res’ de nex’ day” . Ismaan’s accountant shows the small time that the slaves had during the weekdays usually meant that they would not gather as a community, or even individually, to sing, dance, and have fun. On Saturdays though, most masters let the slaves off early in the day and then gave them Sunday off for religious reasons. The weekends in slave cultures was all about the people meeting up and enjoying themselves. James Bolton, a Georgian slave, goes into detail of his typical weekend routine, “Spring polowin' and hoein' times we wukked all day Saddays, but mo'en generally we laid off wuk at twelve o'clock Sadday…We danced

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