Most of them lived in the Chesapeake area where they made up fifty to sixty percent of the population. In 1790 the first census was taken which showed that eight percent of the black populace was free. This may not seem like a lot to us but, this gave parents hope that their child will one day be a free slave or that slavery may not exist by the time their child is grown.
The majority of the African slaves worked on tobacco plantations and large farms. Working in a tobacco plantation was one of the hardest things to do. It was an eleven month crop, which had four different stages to it and required constant care. There were some advantages to working on a farm or plantation verses working in a household or an urban setting. Generally slaves in plantations lived in complete family units, their work dictated by the rising and setting of the sun. They generally were allowed Sundays off.
The disadvantage was that slaves were more likely to be sold or transferred than those in a domestic setting. They were also subjected to brutal and severe punishments because they were regarded as less valuable than household or urban slaves.
Urban and household slaves generally did not live in complete family units. Most domestic environments used female labor; therefore there were few men. The jobs for the men in an urban setting tended to be coachmen, waiting men, gardeners and tradesmen, (these were men who worked in the shop and is hired out). The disadvantage of being an urban worker is that there was no privacy. They lived in loft areas over the kitchens, laundries, and stables. They worked seven days a week with a lighter work load on Sundays. Their work days were set by the task instead of by the sun like the plantation workers. The advantage of being an urban worker was that you were fed more food, you dressed better, and you were able to hear about political events that might affect your race and warned people about it.
