The 1800s were a “period of unreliable and often painful medical treatment” (Johnson) while led to slaveowners and slaves to be wary of their assistance unless necessary. To avoid consulting doctors who charged high fees, “medical care was usually provided by fellow slaves or by slaveholders” (“Treatment of slaves in the United States”), and plantation owners “only rarely [contacted] physicians” (“Treatment of slaves in the United States”). On plantations, slaves prepared and used homemade remedies consisting of “plants, herbs, roots, and non herbal substances” (Sullivan 13) to care for other slaves and their master’s family. If slaves were in need of serious medical care due to illness or disease, large plantations had sick houses in order to treat them. These houses were directed by the plantation’s mistress and female slaves assisted her (Sullivan
The 1800s were a “period of unreliable and often painful medical treatment” (Johnson) while led to slaveowners and slaves to be wary of their assistance unless necessary. To avoid consulting doctors who charged high fees, “medical care was usually provided by fellow slaves or by slaveholders” (“Treatment of slaves in the United States”), and plantation owners “only rarely [contacted] physicians” (“Treatment of slaves in the United States”). On plantations, slaves prepared and used homemade remedies consisting of “plants, herbs, roots, and non herbal substances” (Sullivan 13) to care for other slaves and their master’s family. If slaves were in need of serious medical care due to illness or disease, large plantations had sick houses in order to treat them. These houses were directed by the plantation’s mistress and female slaves assisted her (Sullivan