Leisure Time Activities
Directions: Read the following passage and complete the questions from section 20.9
These simple words capture the constant weariness that slaves endured:
Come day,
Go day,
God send Sunday.
Slaves toiled all week in fields that seemed to stretch “from one end of the earth to the other.” But, on Saturday night and Sunday, their time was their own.
Saturday nights were a time for social events, like corn-husking or pea-shelling parties.These social events combined work and fun. One slave recalled,
I’ve seen many a corn huskin’ at ole Major’s farm when the corn
would be piled as high as the house. Two sets of men would start
huskin’ from opposite sides of the heap. It would keep one man
busy just getting the husks out of the way, and the corn would be
thrown over the husker’s head and filling the air like birds. The
women usually had a quilting at those times, so they were pert
and happy.
A quilting bee was one of the rare times when slave women could gather to work and talk.In those few precious hours, they were free to express themselves with needle and cloth.The quilts they created were not only beautiful, but also very much needed as bedding for their families.
After the sewing, men joined the party for a “quilting feast” and dancing.Slaves made music out of almost anything. “Stretch cowhides over cheese-boxes and you had tambourines,” one former slave recalled. “Saw bones from off a cow, knock them together, and call it a drum. Or use broom-straws, on fiddle-strings, and you had your entire orchestra.”
Sunday was a day for religion and recreation. Slaves spent their Sundays going to church, eating, hunting, fishing, dancing, singing, telling tales, naming babies, playing games, and visiting with friends. In New Orleans, hundreds of slaves gathered on Sunday afternoons in public spaces to dance, sing, and talk. All of these activities helped African Americans forget the sorrows of slavery.
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