Slave Gardens in the Antebellum South: The Resolve of a Tormented People

The American author Alice Walker recalled her mother's garden, "My mother adorned with flowers whatever shabby house we were forced to live in . . . . Before she left home for the fields, she watered her flowers, chopped up the grass, and laid out new beds…whatever she planted grew as if by magic, and her fame as a grower of flowers spread over three counties"

(24).

Gardening was an integral part of life for many slaves in the antebellum South and the many purposes to which the activity and produce it cultivated benefited slaves and owners alike. In spite of the many restrictions and oppression imposed by slavery, gardening, nevertheless, was a widespread pursuit for the enslaved throughout the South (Covey and Eisnach 73). Slaves adapted to their bonded circumstance out of necessity but in ways that embraced their African cultural heritage, and their gardens not only added value to their lives and improved their diet but also reflected African customs and mores that illustrated their beliefs, often through symbolism that had deep meaning to them, even if obscure to an owner. The traditions and very essence of their souls which gardening encapsulated for antebellum slaves has been handed down through generations of African Americans, as exemplified by the Alice Walker quote above.

Supplementing the meager rations handed out by owners was the first and foremost function of a slave garden and one that has been written about and researched by many scholars through archaeological evidence, oral tradition, and other sources. But there is also evidence that for slaves permitted to do so, gardening served more complex purposes that salved their souls and gave them a sense of independence and creativity lacking in field and housework. Slaves took back their "own" time to plant garden plots of use, beauty, and spiritual refuge.

Slave gardens, or "patches," were typically located near slave cabins, or even occasionally, near the most remote brambled boundaries of the plantation where clearing had never been done. The men and women who tended them had to do it at the beginning or end of fifteen- to sixteen-hour work days or on Sundays. Their "patches" were often bordered with vines, branches, rocks, or other plants not cultivated.

This article delves into the many uses and functions that gardens served for the enslaved, including more detail on food supplementation, market income/independence, and medicinal uses. In addition, we address the spiritual and community needs gardening provided and the nurturing effects of flower and ornamental gardens will be explored, areas that have drawn less attention by scholars over the years.

Food Supplementation

It is well established that a primary function of slave gardens was the production of food to supplement imbalanced and inadequate provisions supplied by owners (Covey and Eisnach 74). DeBow's Review, an antebellum agriculture magazine widely circulated in the South, became a biblical reference for many plantation owners on the best methods for maximizing profits from slaves. Named after one of its early editors, James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow, the Review, among other things, recommended types and amounts of food to be rationed to plantation slaves. The underlying tenet of these recommendations was that productive slaves should be better fed than less productive ones. Based on the notion that field work was of more value to the profit structure of a plantation than housework or errand running, it followed that male slaves fared better under the DeBow rationing system than females or children (Covey and Eisnach 13). DeBow's recommended rations were primarily cornmeal, milk, and low grades of meat with no mention of vegetables.

Most plantation owners either followed DeBow's recommendations or used something very similar in provisioning their slaves. There was some regional variation in rations depending on location and crop differences. For example, in South Carolina and Louisiana, where rice was a common and abundant crop, owners often substituted it for cornmeal in their rations (Covey and Eisnach 4). Pork that was either smoked or salted was another regional variant (105). In states where sugar was grown, molasses was more commonly...