The gang system is a system of division of labor within slavery on a plantation. It is the more brutal of two main types of labor systems. The other form, known as the task system, was less harsh and allowed the slaves more self-governance than did the gang system. The gang system was also much more efficient because it allowed continuous work at the same pace throughout the day, never letting up or slowing down. There were three gangs. The first gang(or "great gang") was given the hardest work, for the fittest slaves. The second gang was for less able slaves(teenagers, or old people, or the unwell slaves) and this gang was given easier work. The third gang was given the easiest work.
Famous quotes containing the words gang and/or system:
“What lies behind facts like these: that so recently one could not have said Scott was not perfect without earning at least sorrowful disapproval; that a year after the Gang of Four were perfect, they were villains; that in the fifties in the United States a nothing-man called McCarthy was able to intimidate and terrorise sane and sensible people, but that in the sixties young people summoned before similar committees simply laughed.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“The intellect is vagabond, and our system of education fosters restlessness. Our minds travel when our bodies are forced to stay at home. We imitate; and what is imitation but the travelling of the mind?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)