sleepy and overcome with the long day's toil. Then a fire must be kindled in the cabin, the corn .
ground in the small hand-mill, and supper, and dinner for the next day in the field prepared .
(Northrup 12). The slaves got very little sleep because, "an hour before day light the horn is .
blown," and it was "an offense invariably followed by flogging, to be found at the quarters after .
daybreak" (Northrup 14). "Then the fears and labors of another day begin; and until its close .
there is no such thing as rest- (Northrup 14). After an extremely difficult day of labor, the .
cruelty continued when the slaves returned to housing that could be described as "inadequate" at .
best. Jacob Stroyer, one of fifteen children, was born on a plantation in South Carolina in 1849. .
He relates the conditions that his family lived in: Most of the cabins in the time of slavery were .
built so as to contain two families; some had partitions, while others had none. When there were .
no partitions each family would fit up its own part as it could; sometimes they got old boards .
and nailed them up, stuffing the cracks with rags; when they could not get boards they hung up .
old clothes (Stroyer 14). Families were forced to live under less than ideal conditions, and .
sleeping was a challenge: When the family increased the children all slept together, both boys .
and girls, until one got married; then a part of another cabin was assigned to that one, but the .
rest would have to remain with their mother and father, as in childhood, unless they could get .
with some of their relatives or friends who had small families, or unless they were sold (Stroyer .
14). The hot summer months made it impossible to sleep indoors so, "when it was too warm for .
them to sleep comfortably, they all slept under trees until it grew too cold" (Stroyer 16). Francis .
Henderson was another slave who, after escaping from a slave plantation outside of .
Washington, D.
