Life on the plantation was grueling and many days; I wasn't sure if I would make it to the sunset.Many times I had wished not to. The first few weeks many of the slaves died. We had to clear acres of swamp land without the use of machines. The trees were cut down and we had to use our bare hands to dig the roots of the trees up. A John Deere backho would have been much appreciated then. Alligators took off Guri's right arm and he died a few days later from infection. We didn't have hospitals or readily available healthcare like you have now. Disease, heat strokes, injuries and attacks from alligators killed our numbers off fast but the demand for slaves continued to grow. For every one our initial group lost; two would replace …show more content…
I can't say we had much in common other than being slaves and working on the rice fields. We didn't get time to talk and learn each other. You guys have those dating sites now and compatability quizzes. Whatever happened to being friends and letting nature take it course? I reckon I've gone off course again. We lived in a house no bigger than your bedroom and we all had to make do with what we had. I only had one pair of shoes. We each had three sets of clothing was given to us by Master Richter's wife Margaret. She was a woman with a warm heart. She used to sneak us a litte extra food on the holidays and after the births of my children. No daycares back then so I had to strap my children on my back and take them put to gather the crops. I'm not bitter for the hardships we had to face. Back in the day; rice was just as profitable as gold. The success of South Carolina's rice was due to the forced labor and ridicioulus demands put upon us slaves. We worked tirelessly and in deadly conditions to make profits. We were so valuable because they needed and ultmately depended on us for thier success. They needed our knowledge, skills, and strength to make the Rice Plantations come to life and continue to be profitable. We were able to adapt to the moist Carolina climate and landscape because it mirrored some of the areas in