Plantation Soundscape

Northerners believed that the silence of the south was an indicator of backwardness and claimed that only the cries of beaten slaves broke the sound barrier. Nineteenth century slaveholders carefully designed the soundscape of their plantations to establish order and power. The slaves sung in the fields when working, to reflect efficiency and productivity. Slaves at rest were to be silent. Mark M. Smith explains that the slaves in turn used their mastery of silence to escape without being heard.