‘Rice Plantations’
Dusinberre writes, “To manage a rice plantation was a highly skilled, risky undertaking. Like Charles, the son Louis only came to this work after two years of college, the completion of his education in a counting house, and a period of engaging in mercantile ventures.” Rice farming is prominent due to the profits guaranteed from it. The vastness of the plantations requires excellent management skills due to the intensity of labour and capital that is invested in it.
‘Economies of Scale’
Dusinberre explains, “There were marked economies of scale, and this was why the majority of the South’s truly rich antebellum slave masters derived their fortunes from rice-not cotton, tobacco, or sugar…No doubt the labor system was different from that of the North; the ethos differed too, though not so much as one might suppose.” Rice farming offers greater economies of scale relative to other cash crops of the time. Manigault exploits his slavers like a Northern Capitalist to maximize his production of rice. It is more economical for Manigault to farm rice; had he invested the slave labor in other cash crops, his profits would be lower.
“Maximized Profits”
Dusinberre explains, “Manigault’s overseers understood that maximizing profits was their employer’s goal. Thus in October 1852 Washington Skinner justified postponing the threshing-until all the cut rice had been moved from the field-with his argument: “The price of rice next spring will be very high, and he that has the most rice at that time will make the most money.” Overseers make decisions that ensure that the rice would be sold at a price which would offer the most optimal profits. The timing of threshing contributes to the maximization of the rice profits, and such a focus on maximum profits accentuates Manigault's capitalist spirit.
“Black Blacks”
Dusinberre observes, “The Fortune built upon enslaved black backs by this energetic entrepreneur was immense. By the time Heyward died in 1851 (at the age of eighty-five), he had acquired some 2,340 bondsmen and women, financially worth over one million dollars at the prices then prevailing.” The ‘black backs’ are emblematic of the slaves who are exploited by the white slave owners. Although they labor relentlessly on the rice plantations, they do not benefit financially for they are regarded as properties of the white owners.
“Sorrows of Slave Women”
Dusinberre observes, “Though a child mortality rate of 90 percent was ghastly enough, this number does not fully measure the sorrows of the slave women, for it takes no account of stillbirths (like Joaneys’s in the summer of 1845)… Miscarriages were seldom mentioned in the Manigault records, but their frequency-among pregnant women who worked in the fields until shortly before the anticipated birth-is suggested by France Kemble.”
Slave women are subjected to difficult conditions which are detrimental to the survival of their babies. They are objectified by being deemed as birthing instruments that would offer more property to the slave owners. High child mortality surmises that the slave owners do not offer ideal health care that would amplify the children’s survival. Miscarriages would be attributed to overworking and the lack of antenatal care. The slave-owners dehumanize the slave women.
