Slave health on American plantations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. Consider associating this request with a WikiProject. (April 2011)
This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2012)

Contents

Diseases among slaves[edit]

While working on plantations in the Southern United States, many slaves faced serious health problems. Improper nutrition, unsanitary living conditions, and excessive labor made them more susceptible to diseases than their masters; the death rates among the slaves were significantly higher due to diseases. Human excretions in the water supply caused cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid, tuberculosis, influenza, and hepatitis, as well as other things such as STD's.[dubious – discuss]

Slave diet[edit]

The calories in the diet of a slave were sufficient to maintain the slave’s body weight and normal health. The daily energy intake of an adult slave was between 2500 to 3000 calories.[citation needed] So it was enough for the whole day’s work.[citation needed][dubious – discuss] However, in terms of nutrition, it was not adequate. More than four-fifths of their calories came from corn and pork.[citation needed] It has also been reported that their diet also included bread, vegetables, fruits, and other meats.[citation needed] Less calories came from proteins as compared to fats and sugars. However, their diet was low in iron and important vitamins.[citation needed] Some of the slaves also had low levels of calcium due to lactose intolerance,[citation needed] which is more common among those with African ancestry;[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] other intestinal diseases were also problems for them.[citation needed] Due to vitamin A deficiency, some of them had weakened nocturnal eyesight.[citation needed]. Diseases such as anemia (due to inadequate iron) and rickets (inadequate vitamin D)[dubious – discuss] were caused by malnutrition among the slaves.[citation needed] Thus, due to dietary quality, not quantity, the slaves developed health problems.

Slave clothing[edit]

Slaves were given two outfits of clothing a year,[citation needed][dubious – discuss] for winter and for summer. The masters only gave them pairs of "gator shoes" or "brogans" for footwear, and sometimes children and adults who were not working had to walk around barefoot. However, these clothes and shoes were insufficient for field work; they did not last very long for field slaves. Clothing and shoe supplies from masters, in other words, made matters worse for slaves.[citation needed]

Medical attention given to slaves[edit]

Slave masters often tried to cure their ill slaves before they sent the slaves to a doctor. If the home treatment did not help to improve the slave’s condition, they would then send them to the physician or asked the doctor to come to the plantation. Given the cost of slaves and their importance to plantation economies, planters organized slave hospitals to treat their serious health problems.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Itan, Y.; Jones, B. L.; Ingram, C. J.; Swallow, D. M.; Thomas, M. G. (2010). "A worldwide correlation of lactase persistence phenotype and genotypes". BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 36. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-36. PMC 2834688. PMID 20144208.  edit
  2. ^ Bayless, T. M. and Rosensweig, N. S. 1966. A Racial Difference in Incidence of Lactase Deficiency: A Survey of Milk Intolerance and Lactase Deficiency in Healthy Adult Males. Journal of the American Medical Association 197(12): 968–972.
  3. ^ Welsh, J. D., Rohrer, V., Knudsen, K. B. and Paustian, F. F. 1967. Isolated Lactase Deficiency: Correlation of Laboratory Studies and Clinical Data. Archives of Internal Medlit 120(3): 261–269.
  4. ^ Huang, S. S. and Bayless, T. M. 1968. Milk and Lactose Intolerance in Healthy Orientals. Science 160(3823): 83–84.
  5. ^ Cook, G. C. and Kajubi, S. K. 1966. Tribal Incidence of Lactase Deficiency in Uganda. Lancet 287(7440): 725–730.
  6. ^ Jersky, J. and Kinsley, R. H. 1967. Lactase Deficiency in the South African Bantu. South African Medical Journal 41(Dec): 1194–1196.
  7. ^ Bolin T. D., Crane G. G. and Davis A. E. 1968. Lactose intolerance in various ethnic groups in South-East Asia. Australasian Annals of Medicine 17(4): 300–306.
  8. ^ Flatz, G. 1969. Lactose Intolerance in Thailand. Nature 221(5182): 758–759.
  9. ^ Elliott, R. B., Maxwell, G. M. and Vawser, N. 1967. Lactose maldigestion in Australian Aboriginal children. Medical Journal of Australia 1(2): 46–49.
  10. ^ Flatz, G. and Rotthauwe, H. W. 1971. Evidence against nutritional adaption of tolerance to lactose. Human Genetics 13(2): 118–125.
  • Postell, William D (1970). The Health of Slaves on Southern Plantations. Gloucester: Louisiana State University Press. 
  • Dunaway, Wilma A (2003). The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
  • "The Carmichaels and the Health Care of Slaves". Claude Moore Health Sciences Library. University of Virginia. 2005. 

See also[edit]
States
Federal district
See also
Slave health on American plantations · Treatment of slaves in the United States
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slave_health_on_American_plantations&oldid=552011007"