Feeding Enslaved People of Gunston Hall

Slavery in colonial Virginia depended on laws developed in the seventeenth century, which dictated that every planter fulfill his duty to the workers he owned by offering them basic provisions.  This allotment of food was meager. Thus, after enslaved people spent long hours tilling in fields or serving the manor, they would have to expend even more effort to secure the needed calories to keep themselves alive and productive.