"My treatment [as a slave] was various," wrote a man who had spent fifty-five years as a slave. "Sometimes rough— sometimes good." Many slaves would have agreed with him that some masters were kinder than others. Still, even the gentlest of masters often made use of beatings and other physical punishments to keep the slaves in line; even where physical punishment was rare, the threat of it was always present. Punishment— its use as well as its threat—was a defining characteristic of slavery.

The types of punishment given to slaves varied considerably. Sometimes slaves were penalized by loss of privileges: House slaves were sent to the fields, private gardens were torn up, or holidays were taken away. Confinement was another option, and many slaves were jailed during their leisure hours. Securing a slave "in a lonely, quiet place...