The enslaved experience at Christmas

The Christmas season experience for enslaved women, men, and children was somewhat paradoxical as it could be a time of relative abundance but also a time of heightened emotion and concern. Narratives from those formerly enslaved document people not celebrating at all to others having Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day not working. 
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Many enslavers encouraged or even forced slaves to celebrate Christmas as a way to reinforce the ideals of Christianity. Slave quarters could be found decorated with Christmas trees, garland, and other recognizable holiday décor.

​Some enslavers frowned upon giving gifts to the enslaved, but many did give gifts of material goods, time away to visit family, and sometimes elaborate meals. For the most part, enslavers gave gifts to show their family had wealth. Even during the Civil War, enslavers who struggled financially gave gifts. The most common gifts they provided for enslaved workers were new shoes.

"Plantation Frolic on Christmas Eve" Library of Congress

Articles of clothing such as pants, hats, frocks, handkerchiefs, ribbons, socks, cravats, and hand-me-downs were given. Also, tobacco, beads, toys, candy, blankets, pocket knives, pipes, and sometimes money.​

​Some enslavers gave their enslaved workers a feast. According to different slave accounts, the enslaver provided the food, or they allowed the enslaved to go hunting. Occasionally enslavers provided liquor, and some foods and drinks they gave at Christmas included:

• Roasted oxen, pigs, turkey, sheep and wild game like raccoons, rabbits, and possums
• Whiskey, eggnog, brandy, cider, wine, or beer
• Some even received desserts like peach cobbler or apple dumplings

Enslaved people might have dances that lasted for most of the night and were incorporated with the feasts that enslavers allowed. Watching these festivities was a form of entertainment for the slave-holding families themselves. ​

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John Canoe (Jonkonnu, JonKanoo) Dancers, Jamaica, 1838; Image Reference Belisario01, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org.

In North Carolina, some enslaved people had a holiday traditional celebration called Jonkonnu. The celebration has roots that go back to the Caribbean and West Africa. Wilmington and New Bern were the main places in which the celebrations occurred, but similar versions of Jonkonnu could be found in coastal South Carolina and Georgia dating to the 1700s.

​During this celebration enslaved men and women would dress up in colorful outfits and parade around performing music for their enslavers “demanding” gifts. The enslavers’ families then participated by giving out small gifts.

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Jonkonnu reenactment at Bellamy Museum

Often enslaved individuals had relatives enslaved by other families on neighboring plantations or in nearby towns. In order for slaves to travel to visit family, the enslavers distributed passes. During the holiday season, enslavers issued these passes more often than during other times of the year.
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Why did enslavers give these gifts of goods, time off, and even visits with family members? One major reason was to try and prevent enslaved individuals from revolting or running away. The holiday season meant “hiring out” of slaves for contracted work was nearing. Enslavers negotiated these contracts on or near January 1st each year and a contract could be for many months or even a full year. Individuals and businesses contracted enslaved men, women, and children to engage in often backbreaking and dangerous work. For example, the railroad company "hired out" many men and even offered insurance policies to enslavers in case of injury or death to the workers. It's possible the stress of this impending change was deliberately defrayed by the slight loosening of the usual order within slavery during the holiday season.

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-Bigham, Shauna, and Robert E. May. "The Time o' all Times? Masters, Slaves, and Christmas in the Old South." Journal of the Early Republic 18, no. 2 (Summer, 1998): 263-288. https://search- proquest-com.liblink.uncw.edu/docview/220950705?accountid=14606.
-Blassingame, John W. The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940.
-“Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938.” Library of Congress, online collection. 
-Wiggins, D. “Good Times on the Old Plantation: Popular Recreations of the Black Slave in Antebellum South, 1810-1860.” Journal of Sports History 4. Fall 1997. 260-284.