Melford Slave Quarters (01-19)

Historical narrative

The Melford Plantation house in Mitchellville was featured previously. One of Melford's landmarks was its slave quarters. Here the quarters is depicted as it looked in the mid-1800s, with an enslaved man leading his mule off to work in the agricultural fields. Men, women, and children lived there under difficult conditions while working the plantation's tobacco fields, livestock operations, and performing household activities. Though modest in size and construction, the quarters formed the center of family and community life for the people forced to live there.

Watercolor

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