A field slave was an enslaved person assigned to agricultural labor. Tasks included clearing land, planting, tending, and harvesting crops under coercion.[1]
Field labor
At Mount Vernon, most enslaved workers were assigned to outlying farms. Overseers directed the work, and summer days could run from sunrise to sunset. The resulting crops generated wealth for the people who claimed to own the workers.
Life beyond the fields
Kate, who labored in the fields at Mount Vernon, also served as a midwife in the enslaved community. The work designation in a plantation record captured only a fraction of a person’s life.
Priscilla
Priscilla was a mother of six and worked at Dogue Run Farm, one of Mount Vernon’s outlying farms. An overseer lived near the quarters and supervised labor on the farm.
Comparison with domestic labor
The distinction describes a work assignment. Enslaved domestic workers maintained households, while enslaved field workers produced crops. Plantation account books were very good at recording who did the work and remarkably incurious about who got paid.
Political metaphor
Malcolm X contrasted the “field Negro” figure with the “house Negro” in his 1963 speech “Message to the Grass Roots.” He used the former as a figure of resistance to existing power.