What punishments were used for american slaves?
The most common form of punishment for male slaves was whipping. Almost anything the slave did wrong was punished by strokes of the whip. Sometimes these ranged from 25 or even 50 lashes to 12, and the ‘crimes’ could be as serious as running away or answering back! Women were usual punished by being placed in an iron box for a day or two. This was incredibly cruel, the temperature at day reaching well above 120 degrees, then plummeting at night to well below freezing. Later, with the number of slaves running away rising, some were hanged. But don’t forget, these slaves were the property of the owner, and to kill a slave might not always be the best option! Persistant runners had a collar put on. The had large iron hooks pointing outwards that were meant to snag on branches of trees. Branding was not a punishment, but sometimes ears were nailed to trees or noses were cut off, but these were not so common. All of these punishments had to be recorded in large books at the plantation. Ofte
