Emmaline remembered that the plantation she lived on as a child had a large number of enslaved people that lived in cabins located behind the main house. The cabins were built close together in two rows. Below are examples of slave cabins in North Georgia. These cabins were the common living conditions found on large slave-owning farms and plantations during the mid-to-late 1800s.
From Emmaline’s Federal Writer’s Project Interview
Henry County, near McDonough, Georgia, is Emmaline’s birthplace. Judging from her earliest childhood memories and what she learned from her mother, her birth must have occurred four or five years before freedom. Her parents, Louis and Caroline Harper had eleven children. Emmaline was the second youngest. The large Harper plantation was located near McDonough, bordering the McDonough Highway. The Harper home was a large 2-story house and faced the road. A large number of enslaved people occupied two rows of cabins built close together behind what used to be called “The Big House.”
Shown below are tight knit rows of slave cabins in Moscogee County, Georgia photographed in 1933
The cabins did not have a bathroom. There would likely have been a central outhouse for people to use the bathroom. They also used chamber pots. A chamber pot is a bowl-shaped container with a handle and a lid. It was used as a portable toilet, especially in the bedroom at night.
What would be different about it?
Emmaline lived in a small cabin with her mother and two sisters. The cabin was a wooden structure that would have been the size of a small room. Her cabin had a wooden table and benches. It also had a fireplace to cook food and provide warmth in the winter.
How does it differ from the furniture in your house?
The slave cabins were made of rough-hewn logs. The cracks between the logs were daubed with mud to insulate the cabins. Emmaline recalled that this made the cabin very warm and commented that it was warmer in that cabin than in many houses in 1937. The furniture consisted of corded beds, wooded tables, and benches.
Chamber Pot (portable toilet)
In the 1800s, no one had running water or electricity. The water for cooking and drinking was gathered from nearby creeks and streams. Buckets and baskets were a necessity to carry water and food from outside back to the house.
Slave Cabin, Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. Johnston, Frances Benjamin, photographer. Slave Cabin, Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2017886692/>.