overseer

Examples of overseer in the following topics:

• White Society in the South

  • Serving as slave "patrollers" and "overseers" offered white southerners positions of power and honor.
  • Slave "patrollers" and "overseers" also won prestige in their communities.

• Slavery in the Antebellum Period

  • Punishment was meted out in response to perceived disobedience or infractions, but also as a means for a master or overseer to assert dominance.
  • In small operations, slaves worked side by side with their owners; on large plantations, they were directed by white paid overseers.

• Slave Labor

  • On small farms, slaves worked side by side with their owners, whereas, on large plantations they were directed by white paid overseers.

• "Poor Whites"

  • Elite planters with numerous slaves were essentially managers, and often supervised an overseer rather than the slaves themselves.

• African-American Culture

  • Although the treatment of slaves varied depending on plantation norms, overseers, and masters, more often than not it was characterized by brutality.

• Treatment of Slaves in the United States

  • Treatment of slaves tended to be harsher on larger plantations, which were often managed by overseers and owned by absentee slaveholders.

• Plain Folk of the Old South

  • Planters with numerous slaves had work that was essentially managerial, and often they supervised an overseer rather than the slaves themselves.

• Factories, Working Women, and Wage Labor

  • Corporal punishment of both children and adults was common in factories; where abuse was most extreme, children sometimes died as a result of injuries suffered at the hands of an overseer.