Day 2: Making Money from the Plantation (by Asher)
John Tharp was the one who purchased the Good Hope Plantation in 1767, which is where we are staying for the duration of our trip. When he bought this plantation, Tharp realized that he needed some way that he could put this land to use and generate some money for himself. Tharp decided that he would make money from sugar as this was very popular in Jamaica. When Tharp was ready to begin working on the plantation, he decided to buy slaves to do the manual labor for him. He owned around 2,500 slaves that tended the plantation. Tharp was only able to do this since he was born into a wealthy family in England. This allowed him to get a jump start on building a place for him to live and to hire slaves while he was here in Jamaica.
While John might not have been doing anything, all of the slaves were hard at work on the plantation. All of the slaves had a job to do and had to be there to do it. First slaves had to tend the sugar cane. The slaves made sure the crops were getting enough water and harvested the crop at the right time to not waste anything. When it was time to harvest the sugar cane, slaves would take this crop down to the mill for the cane to be squeezed so that a juice came out. Slaves would constantly feed sugar cane into this mill throughout the day. This mill was powered by the water wheel which only turned from the flowing Martha Brae River. Once the juice was squeezed out of the sugar cane, the liquid flowed through the aqueduct and down into the boiling house.
Once at the boiling house, the sugar cane liquid would be put into copper cauldrons and then boiled. When the liquid was boiled, there was an impurity that was ladled off the top of the sugar juice every time it was boiled. This was repeated over and over again until the sugar cane juice was moved to the curing house.
When the sugar juice arrived at the curing house, the liquid was put into conical molds until they hardened. Once the liquid hardened, it would crystallize to the sugar we know of today. All of this extremely difficulty manual labor and inhumane working conditions were all for the benefit of a single man.
Slaves were pushed to their limits working on this plantation. Every day the slaves had to work and go to their assigned jobs. There wasn't much time to rest, and were many serious and painful consequences that would occur if the slaves didn't do what they were told. They were whipped and put a vinegary solution on their open wounds for disobeying commands, getting out of line, or for taking a break for too long. People like you and me were treated so inhumanely that it is hard to think how a human could do this to another human. The only reason for all of this suffering was for having a different skin color. Depending on if you were black or white was what determined if one was going to be treated with respect and to have human rights, or was going to be abused every single day and have to literally work oneself to death. This all goes to show how difficult it was to be born in the time of bondage.
While John might not have been doing anything, all of the slaves were hard at work on the plantation. All of the slaves had a job to do and had to be there to do it. First slaves had to tend the sugar cane. The slaves made sure the crops were getting enough water and harvested the crop at the right time to not waste anything. When it was time to harvest the sugar cane, slaves would take this crop down to the mill for the cane to be squeezed so that a juice came out. Slaves would constantly feed sugar cane into this mill throughout the day. This mill was powered by the water wheel which only turned from the flowing Martha Brae River. Once the juice was squeezed out of the sugar cane, the liquid flowed through the aqueduct and down into the boiling house.
Once at the boiling house, the sugar cane liquid would be put into copper cauldrons and then boiled. When the liquid was boiled, there was an impurity that was ladled off the top of the sugar juice every time it was boiled. This was repeated over and over again until the sugar cane juice was moved to the curing house.
When the sugar juice arrived at the curing house, the liquid was put into conical molds until they hardened. Once the liquid hardened, it would crystallize to the sugar we know of today. All of this extremely difficulty manual labor and inhumane working conditions were all for the benefit of a single man.
Slaves were pushed to their limits working on this plantation. Every day the slaves had to work and go to their assigned jobs. There wasn't much time to rest, and were many serious and painful consequences that would occur if the slaves didn't do what they were told. They were whipped and put a vinegary solution on their open wounds for disobeying commands, getting out of line, or for taking a break for too long. People like you and me were treated so inhumanely that it is hard to think how a human could do this to another human. The only reason for all of this suffering was for having a different skin color. Depending on if you were black or white was what determined if one was going to be treated with respect and to have human rights, or was going to be abused every single day and have to literally work oneself to death. This all goes to show how difficult it was to be born in the time of bondage.
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