Attire for weddings, funerals, and festive occasions was the best affordable, whether handmade, secondhand, borrowed, or inexpensive ready-to-wear. Freed African Americans dressed similarly depending on location and means. Recommendations for study include: dress behavior patterns of men and children, of African American women since , and contributions to the clothing industry.
Off-Campus Purdue Users: To access this dissertation, please log in to our proxy server. Advanced Search. Privacy Copyright. Skip to main content. Degree Ph. Subject Area Black history. By the nineteenth century, the rise of cotton production and industrialization led to the domestic production and importation of cheap, cotton, ready-made clothes. These garments were purchased en masse and without much consideration of size, fit, or comfort.
While some slave holders provided their slaves clothes on an as-needed basis, the most common practice was to provide clothing twice a year, coinciding with the seasonal duties of their laborers.
A winter allotment included a coat, shoes, and, less frequently, a blanket. Some owners provided their slaves with the fabric, needles, and thread to construct the garments they required. The historian Lucia Stanton has shown that Thomas Jefferson preferred this method. When owners provided just the raw materials for slaves to construct their own clothing, enslaved seamstresses, local tailors, and even the mistress of the plantation herself were often called upon to pattern and cut the fabric for garments, and to supervise the stitching.
The work was completed by hand until the invention of the sewing machine, which was not widely used until the s. Employing a skilled seamstress or tailor ensured that the fabric would be used efficiently, eliminating as much waste of the textile as possible. Any scraps of fabric that were available were used to make repairs when necessary and offered a rare chance for slaves to adorn their otherwise uniform allotments. Some slaves saved money to purchase small pieces of brightly colored or patterned textiles.
When time allowed and materials were available, slaves were sometimes able to add color to their monochrome allotments by using foodstuffs or, most commonly, indigo, to dye textiles. The fabrics and colors worn by domestic and liveried, or uniformed, slaves were of a higher quality than that of field slaves. Their clothing reflected both the position of the slaves themselves and that of the families they served.
The uniform was completed with a fine linen shirt, woven stockings, a cravat, and shoes. Some owners further marked their liveried servants by forcing them to wear silver cloth collars. By the nineteenth century, liveries largely fell out of fashion, although households that continued the tradition required their domestic male slaves to adopt fashions similar to that of the owner of the house.
Female domestic slaves attending to the plantation mistress and her children wore gowns of calico or fine linen completed by a silk or fine linen apron. Field slaves typically received the cheapest and most uniform allotment of clothing.
For their yearly allotment, they received osnaburg shirts, cotton breeches and trousers, hose or woolen socks, locally made shoes, and a cotton or, in the winter, wool coat. Thomas Jefferson, for example, provided one yard of linen for children living on Mulberry Row at Monticello. One yard of linen is just enough to make a small shift or gown for an average-sized child. Slaves living in other parts of the estate may have received slightly different allotments depending on their duties.
Much like white children, enslaved children, both male and female, wore simple gowns throughout much of childhood. Boys wore their breeches until they became fully grown men and wore long pants, which came into vogue in the nineteenth century. Girls wore shifts until they graduated to the more mature attire of petticoats, jackets, and gowns, usually between the ages of ten and thirteen.
Their transition to fully adult clothing, which came earlier than for boys, often coincided with the onset of their menstrual cycles and ability to bear children. Slave owners did not always provide an allotment of clothing for small children, and it was not common for them to receive an allotment of shoes. This is so common a Sight that even the Ladies do not appear to be shocked at it. In the eighteenth century, enslaved adults generally received a pair of leather, straight-lasted i.
Liveried servants received leather shoes with buckles, while children typically received no shoes at all. Thomas Jefferson, for example, did not begin issuing shoes to enslaved children until they were ten years old. Wooden-soled brogans quickly developed a reputation for being so uncomfortable and ill-fitting that former slaves, interviewed in the s, recollected casting them off, preferring to go barefoot.
Charles Crawley, a former slave in Petersburg, remembered that hats were also part of his allotment. Enslaved women working in the home were expected to cover their heads with the same type of lightweight, white cap worn by other members of the household.
In addition to wearing hats, many enslaved women continued the West African tradition of donning head wraps—often brightly colored textiles that were wrapped repeatedly and completely around the head, covering the hair, and secured with techniques involving knots or tuckings. Men, children, and babies also wore head wraps. A few favored slaves received hand-me-down clothing as gifts from their masters.
Thomas Jefferson utilized this practice at least once. Slaves often borrowed or even stole clothing when the need arose to supplement their wardrobe. Because the number of clothes issued to each individual was minimal, it would not have been uncommon for enslaved people to wear the same clothing day after day.
Washington did, however, place orders for items specified for "summer" wear and needed for "fall," indicating that some clothing was supplemented for changing seasons. In , Washington ordered "A kind of Rolls Proper for summer Petticoats and Trousers," illustrating that in the summer women received a linen petticoat, while men received a pair of trousers or breeches.
Enslaved people at Mount Vernon generally wore clothing made from cloth produced on the plantation that was sewn together by enslaved or hired tailors. In , Washington noted that his plantation produced enough woolens to satisfy his needs. Likewise, Samuel Vaughan noted in his journal that "The General has mouths to feed Washington also ordered ready-made clothing and materials imported from Europe.
Osnaburg, a coarse linen unbleached fabric made in Germany and Great Britain, was the standard fabric that he ordered in large quantities to be made up by the enslaved people for shirts and shifts. Plaid hose, ready-made unpatterned wool stockings, were frequently ordered in bulk. Enslaved people who were assigned to work in the house received more clothing of better quality materials than the field hands at Mount Vernon. Enslaved men who worked in the household or in proximity to the family, including waiters or attendants, wore suits called "liveries" that were modeled after a gentleman's three-piece suit.
Liveries were usually made out of fine wool in the colors of the owner's coat of arms and edged with elaborately woven livery lace. Martha Washington's maids wore gowns of finer cloth such as calico and aprons of lawn, a delicate linen.
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