Enslaved couple working in their garden, from a series by artist Nathanial K. Gibbs imagining enslaved life at Monticello. Courtesy of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
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Self Reliance
Enslaved people were expected to supplement their food rations with food grown in their own small gardens near their quarters. They likely grew pumpkins, potatoes, melons, onions, cabbages, and cucumbers. They could only tend their crops after their own work day was over, which often lasted from sun up to sun down.
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Honeydew and watermelon chromolithograph after painting by H. Briscoe, c. 1870. Public domain image.