Homes like this one in South Carolina were built during the early nineteenth century by plantation-owners to show off their wealth and importance.

This nineteenth-century drawing shows a slave owner supervising the beating of a slave by other slaves. Brutal punishments were meant to ensure complete obedience.

This nineteenth-century etching shows slaves working in the fields

This slave house was fairly solid – which is why it is still standing today – but most were not as good as this one. Large numbers of people would live in the single room these houses contained.