A family on Smith's Plantation in Beaufort, South Carolina, back in 1862. Mothers, like the one pictured left,  who gave birth to children on the plantations, were expected to return to work as soon as possible and child slaves were sometimes separated from their families. Limited, cramped conditions and the lack of state recognition of slave marriage often led to children being placed with adults other than their parents or being sent to sleep on a mat in the master's house
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