The picture tells a lot about the lives of slaves in the plantations and in Britain. Slaves were never supplied with basic needs, such as clothing and beddings since they could spend their nights in the cold. Their children could also sleep without blankets since the ones supplied were insufficient. After spending their day in the farms working, they could be given additional responsibilities meaning that some lacked time to sleep.
Household chores, such as washing, mending, and cooking, were considered secondary duties. Slaves were supposed to accomplish them once they were through with their main duties in the day. Slaves were squeezed in one small room, irrespective of whether they were married, male, or female. This was unethical because family values were never respected. Under normal situations, men were supposed to be housed in their shelter while women would also be housed separately. Married individual would be given rooms to spend their time discussing family values, but colonialists never considered this important.
Masters would frequently harass slaves without valid reason just because of differences in skin color. Plantations were self-sufficient meaning that they had everything that would be needed to make life comfortable for the master. At no point would a slave claim to have finished his or her work. Slaves would be subjected to physical assault in case they failed to accomplish their tasks appropriately. Masters employed overseers who were extremely cruel and inhuman.
The whites misinterpreted the bible by arguing that human beings would never be equal. They even claimed that people were never equal during the old times when kings owned huge tracts of land and animals while slaves provided compulsory labor. From the bible, it was illegal or unethical for a slave to refuse to take orders from the master. Such an actor would invite a heavy penalty, which included death. Based on this, white settlers in the southern states advocated for slavery, arguing that it was justifiable biblically. From the picture, it is true that slaves gave themselves hope through music and religion.
They authored songs that acted as a source of optimism and strength for many blacks. The picture reveals further that slaves had strong families ties since they could dine together, celebrate, and even share some words before surrendering to bed. On the contrary, masters lived a desperate life, full of anguish and sorry because of disunity. Slaves reinterpreted the bible whereby they realized that they were not supposed to be servants. The justification given by the white settlers in the south was misplaced. Southern states showed their desire to secede because slavery was their major source of labor in the plantations. They could not imagine operating without free slave.