Advice Among Masters, edited by James O. Breeden

Background: Before the Civil War, enslavers used southern publications to share advice about how to manage the enslaved people and the farms on which they were forced to live and work. Within the pages of journals dedicated to discussion of agricultural issues and plantation economies, enslavers also communicated on topics ranging from housing and health care to punishment. These excerpts come from the Southern Cultivator, published in Georgia. The authors describe a variety of remedies used to treat enslaved people, including ingredients that induced vomiting (emetics), such as ipecacuanha, derived from a tropical root, and tartar, a poisonous salt.  Some prescribed whippings but others offered more general advice.

My doctoring is rather on the quack order. . . . If there is nothing indicative of inflammation about the stomach or bowels, and no need for the lancet, I give when first complaining, an emetic of ipecacuanha and tartar emetic, and often give a second one the next day. I bleed when necessary. Sometimes I give a good dose of leather. I use quinine freely, never less than three or four grains at a dose. Seldom give calomel. As I am always “at home,” I see my negro when first attacked, and nine times out of ten an emetic with quinine to follow, cures the patient.

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Rule 10th. When a slave is taken sick, the sickness of said slave should be reported to the employer immediately. The sick are to be treated with great kindness, and visited at least twice a day by the overseer. Suckling and pregnant women must be indulged as much as circumstances will allow, and never worked as much as others. Sucklers must be allowed time to suckle children. No lifting of plowing must be required of pregnant women.

Rule 11th. The overseer is particularly enjoined to keep the hands as much as possible out of the rains, and from all kinds of exposure.

Source: Source: M. W. Phillips, M.D., “Plantation Economy,” Southern Cultivator 4 (August 1846): 127.  Source: T. E. Blunt, “Rules for the Government of Overseers,” Southern Cultivator 5 (April 1847): 61–62.