Labor Behind The Veil Analysis

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The “Labor Behind the Veil” tour of the Old Governor’s mansion focused primarily on slavery and race issues but it also placed an emphasis on gender dynamics. Throughout the tour the guide discussed the various chores the slaves were expected to handle and the conditions in which they lived. The four to fifteen slaves the mansion typically had at a time began working and were owned by the governor but only if they had proven themselves loyal, or highly skilled at cooking or cleaning. The slaves were expected to do tedious and sometimes painful chores, for example, they were asked to wash all the linens with lye soap which was very acidic, and could be harmful to the skin over time, with boiling hot water and a washboard. They were also expected to iron clothes and linens with an iron that quickly got the nickname, “SAD iron” because it was so hot that it would burn the person that was using it. During the tour, the curator placed an emphasis on the fact that the slaves were rarely seen due to the secret passageways that had been strategically placed throughout the home. Because of this it made all the important duties that the slaves handled seem negligible and minor, although the slaves were working tirelessly. Slaves were …show more content…
Money was not spent on the kitchen, that was kept separate from the rest of the home because it burnt down easily, or the secret passageways that the slaves used, possibly because he wanted to signify his wealth and his power. The curator also mentioned that the although the front door was a public door, not everyone could use it. All white men could use it, some white women could use it, but freed African Americans and slaves could never use it. This too was a sociological problem, the society believed that because of your gender or skin color it made some people unworthy to use the front door of the