House slaves
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A House Slave was a person of African American heritage who lived and worked inside the master’s home. They had many duties such as cooking, cleaning, serving meals and taking care of the children.
House slaves usually had better living quarters than field slaves. In most cases, house slaves were also given better food and hand-me-down clothing from the family; however, they did not traditionally receive Sundays off as field slaves often did. Despite its illegal nature, the white mistress of the household would sometimes educate the house slaves. Those who had given countless years of good service were often promised freedom when their master died. However, these promises were rarely kept.
Other daily chores included: washing, ironing, taking up and down carpets, sweeping floors, dusting furniture, hoeing and weeding gardens, and collecting eggs. Weaving, spinning linens and quilting were also chores expected of the house slaves.
Being a cook was an especially bad job to have as a house slave. Their days were very long, starting with an early morning to cook breakfast for the family and not ending until everything was cleaned up after dinner. Cooks also had to restock the firewood for the next day. They were also expected to entertain their Master with music that they were taught. Usually the music was European and the slaves were to perform it as other white people did.
