Slave punishment in Texas
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A slave is a person who is directly controlled by another and does forced labor without remuneration. Slavery in Texas began in 1821 due to raising the need of cheap labor in the sugarcane and cotton plantations. The aim of this paper is to explore punishments that slaves underwent in Texas during the slavery period. Slavery in Texas was both for natives and non-natives. The first non-native slave was Estevanico who was captured as a child by his master Andre’s Durante’s (Bugbee 34). The use of slaves in Texas expanded in 1836 after the Texas Revolution when the European settlers crossed River Mississippi bringing slaves with them (Bugbee 145).
This paper is divided into three sections; the first section explores the nature of slavery in Texas by discussing harsh slavery conditions. The second part explores the kind of punishments slaves under went and the final section explores how these punishments led to the demand for abolishment of slavery.
The living conditions of slaves shows that they were denied their human rights and their welfare was ignored. This is because their masters used them as personal chattels .They were perceived as possessions with equal worth as the animals. This made slaves to be subjected to non-human acts such as being hired, bought and doing hard labor. Additionally, their living conditions were poor. Most lived in cabins and slept in wooden beds with one leg or on the floor with hardly any bedding. Slaves did not have a social life. They worked most of the time both day and night and on weekends with no time to rest. If one of them died, there was no time to mourn or bury them decently. Instead they were buried during the day at working hours in between plunks of wood as the slaves watched while continuing with labor. The nature of slaves working conditions is the basis of helping one to identify the kind of punishments slaves underwent. For example, David Black used land to purchase a slave from M.S Algiers whereas P. Williams wrote a promissory note to Henrietta Aunis agreeing to pay $700 for hire of three Negroes, two men and women slaves for 12 months (Campbell 127). In 1821 Stephen F. Austin led a group of slaves into his newly acquired impresarios and harshly punished them by doing forced labor (bugbee 234). Various individuals who underwent slavery in Texas have written narratives that reveal the kind of harsh conditions they endured. “Dead niggers were buried on the same day they died in between big planks of wood with no mourning by fellow niggers. We worked even in bad weather condition such as picking cotton when the frost was on the balls” Mary Reynolds (1838) a slave narrated. “We lived in cabins made of logs and chipped with mud plaster. Others lived in underground holes known as Dungeons defined as ‘a hell on earth’. We slept on beds with only one leg leaning against the wall for support Hagar Lewis (1855)”.
Slaves in Texas faced various forms of punishment as a result of resistance, disobedience, laziness and trying to run-away. The slave’s holders feared slave revolution and therefore any form of resistance and disobedience was ruthlessly punished. Whipping and other forms of physical abuse was common in the plantation to increase the slave’s speed of work. Sometimes the soldiers whipped some the slaves for no reason. Slaves who tried to run-away were bound with chains on the ground and beaten as their family watched. Others who were perceived to be a threat maybe in strength and literacy were put in holes known as dungeons. All slaves were tied together with chains joined in their legs. This was for administration purposes to keep all slaves contained in one place. Lazy slaves were stripped naked and their family forced to whip them fifty times to embarrass them. Lazy slaves were also made to work for many days without food and water. Slaves who resisted their master’s order were kept in a smoke houses making it hard for them to breathe eventually dying. Such slaves were also burnt to death. Slaves who were inciting fellow slaves to resist slavery were hang or imprisoned. For pregnant slaves who disobeyed orders, were whipped on the back as they laid their belly on a hole dug on the ground to avoid hurting the unborn child. Women were seen to be inferior thus were sexually abused to points of death. Slaves who used their native language were assumed to be planning a riot thus were punished by whipping. Slave punishment cannot be historically approved, it was inhumane and deprived the slaves their sense of worth and humanity. Various narratives have been compiled by some victims of slavery in Texas. They narrate the kinds of punishment they witnessed or endured. Frannie Robinson(1602). ”We were forced to do hard labor for three days both day and night without food if one of us tried to escape. Women were raped in our presence by the soldiers in the plantations” James Calvin Alexander (1850)” born a slave under master J.C Wills. “One time two slaves were dragged by oxen to death for stealing from our master. Sometimes we starved to death and worked on the hot sun with little or no water for a large number of us. I witnessed my masters slaves kill my mother and rape my sister as they captured us Hagar Lewis (1855)”. “Our master’s soldiers whipped us in the plantations to work faster. I tried to escape one time but I was caught and beaten to death point but Master Frank had mercy on me for I was just a child Frank Adams (1865)”. Stealing by slaves was punished through death. Escape plans by a slave was punishable through hanging in the presence of fellow slaves to scare them and teach them a lesson (Campbell 267).
The above forms of punishment inflicted on slaves led to the rising need and campaign for slavery abolishment. The basis of these movements was that Slaves did not choose either to be under such worse conditions of living or to be ruthlessly punished. Slaves have human rights too since they belong to the human race. In Texas, slavery punishment made the Mexican leaders to document a clause in the federal constitution abolishing slavery in 1824. However in 1836, following the end of Texas Revolution, slavery increased due to increase in European settlers who established plantation increasing the need for forced labor. The Guerrero Declaration abolished slavery through out all Mexican cities including Texas. Increase in slavery in Texas led to the Mexican Leaders to document a clause into the Federal Constitution abolishing slavery in June 1824. This clause prohibited slavery in Texas by discouraging settlers from bringing slaves into Texas and advocating for the release of slave children above 14years (Bugbee 127). In 1863, Abraham Lincoln Emancipation proclamation had theoretically abolished slavery in the United States. In Texas Major, General Gordon Granger declared the institution of slavery dead in the Texas state following the 13th Amendment of the Texas constitution (1865) (Campbell 123).
In conclusion, slavery was a nightmare to the Americans. From punishments of hard labor, torture, abuse to murder slaves endured suffering and oppression. These punishments were geared towards depriving of the slaves their rights and education for fear of rebellion and literacy. The increasing numbers of slaves and abolition of slavery movements and campaigns made slave holders to inflict more punishment to contain slaves. Slave punishments were brutal and cold-blooded therefore the need for abolition of Slavery in Texas. Slaveholders believed that preventing slaves to become literate and free would hinder their aspirations to escape or rebel (Campbell 132).
Endnotes
1. Randolph Campbell, An empire for slavery: The peculiar institution in Texas, 1821-1865. LSU Press, 1991.
2. Randolph in An empire of slavery, 132
3. Lester Bugbee, “Slavery in Early Texas. I.” Political Science Quarterly 13, Volume III, no. 3 (1898): 389-412.
4. Bugbee, quoted in the slavery in Texas, 395.
5. George Rawick., Ed. The American Slave: a Composite Autobiography: Georgia narratives. Vol. 12. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1972.
6. Rawick, quoted through The American slave, 11.
7. Ibid., 24
8. Ibid., 68
9. Ibid., 101
10. Ibid., 225
11. Ibid ., 268
12. Ibid., 299
13. Ibid., 234
14. Booker Washington, Up from slavery: an autobiography. Wildside Press LLC, 2007, 102.
Bibliography
Washington, Booker T. Up from slavery: an autobiography. Wildside Press LLC, 2007.
Bugbee, Lester G. “Slavery in Early Texas. I.” Political Science Quarterly 13, Volume III, no. 3 (1898): 389-412.
Campbell, Randolph B, An empire for slavery: The peculiar institution in Texas, 1821-1865. LSU Press, 1991.
Rawick, George P., Ed. The American Slave: a Composite Autobiography: Georgia narratives. Vol. 12. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1972.
Washington, Booker T. Up from slavery: an autobiography. Wildside Press LLC, 2007.
