USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -For four hundred years, Africans were snatched from their homes and deported into the Americas where they were put to work in mines and plantations. Their sweat and blood served as a bedstone to the tremendous wealth still enjoyed in Europe and the Americas.

Detailed explanation-2: -Besides planting and harvesting, there were numerous other types of labor required on plantations and farms. Enslaved people had to clear new land, dig ditches, cut and haul wood, slaughter livestock, and make repairs to buildings and tools.

Detailed explanation-3: -The vast majority of enslaved Africans employed in plantation agriculture were field hands. Even on plantations, however, they worked in other capacities. Some were domestics and worked as butlers, waiters, maids, seamstresses, and launderers. Others were assigned as carriage drivers, hostlers, and stable boys.

Detailed explanation-4: -The First and Second Gang slaves were divided into two groups, with the first group working 12 hours during the day, and the second group then working 12 hours during the night, after which they repeated the cycle. The canes were taken to the mill (which might be powered by wind, by animals or by people.

Detailed explanation-5: -On larger plantations, masters relied on slave carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, tanners, tailors, butchers, masons, coopers, cabinet makers, metal workers, and silversmiths. Large numbers also worked as boatmen, waiters, cooks, drivers, housemaids, spinners, and weavers.