Charleston Workhouse
The Charleston Workhouse was a facility in Charleston, South Carolina, used primarily for the imprisonment and punishment of enslaved individuals. Located on Magazine Street, adjacent to the Old Charleston Jail, the Workhouse operated as a site where enslavers could pay to have enslaved people confined and subjected to physical punishment. The facility was known for its harsh conditions, including floggings, confinement in stocks, and forced labor on a treadmill used for grinding corn. The Workhouse was damaged in the 1886 Charleston earthquake and was never rebuilt.
History
The first workhouse in Charleston was established in 1736, modeled after English poorhouses. It was initially intended to house impoverished individuals but was soon repurposed to detain runaway enslaved individuals and those deemed "unruly" by their enslavers. The original facility, which also served as a public hospital, was located at the southwest corner of Magazine and Mazyck streets. By 1740, the City of Charleston passed a law that all captured runaways be held in the Workhouse until claimed or sold.When a hospital for white paupers was built elsewhere in 1768, the sole purpose of the Workhouse became the punishment of enslaved individuals. After a fire in 1780, the British military, which occupied Charleston during the American Revolution, relocated the Workhouse to a former sugar refinery at the west end of Broad Street. After the occupation, the City of Charleston continued to use that facility for imprisonment and punishment of enslaved individuals before moving the Workhouse back to its original location in the late 1700's. By 1804, the Workhouse was permanently housed next door to the Charleston District Jail, which had been completed in 1802. In 1806 a new city ordinance restricted "corrections" to 20 lashes or fewer, limited to two per week or no more frequently than every three days. Also, any slave kept in the workhouse for more than nine months with fees unpaid was liable to be sold at auction. As of 1808, workhouse slaves were used for manufacturing pumps out of cypress and pine, and grinding corn into meal.
The workhouse was extensively described in a slave narrative published in The Emancipator in 1838. The informant said that the place was colloquially known as the Sugar House. This euphemistic or sarcastic name was because corporal punishment was believed to "sweeten" the temperament of people subjected to whippings.
On July 13, 1849, the Charleston Workhouse Slave Rebellion took place when an enslaved man named Nicholas Kelly led an insurrection against the guards. Armed with improvised weapons, Kelly and his fellow rebels wounded several guards and successfully liberated 37 enslaved individuals. However, most escapees were quickly captured and re-incarcerated. Kelly and two others were tried and executed by hanging.
Henry Box Brown included an image of the workhouse in his 1850 Mirror of Slavery touring panorama, promising a depiction of the interior of the Charleston Workhouse "with Treadmill in full operation." The workhouse caught the attention of abolitionists again in 1857, when F. C. Adams described it for the New York Evening Post. Slave owners could board slaves there for 17¢ a day; the slaves would be fed a peck of corn-grits per week. Adams described the jail cells, a "punishment room," and offices for slave brokers.
File:Charleston_Daily_Courier_1841_estate_sales_at_the_negro_mart.jpg|thumb|Three newspaper listings for estate sales to be held at the negro mart attached to the Charleston Workhouse yard
Operations and conditions
The Workhouse was known for its brutal treatment of enslaved individuals. Enslavers could pay a fee to have enslaved people whipped or otherwise punished. A standard flogging, consisting of up to 20 lashes, cost 25¢. Additional punishments included confinement in stocks and forced labor.One of the most feared punishments was the treadmill, introduced in 1825. Originally designed for grinding corn, this machine was shaped like a large rotating stairway which up to 24 individuals would climb while their arms were pinned above their heads. Enslaved individuals would climb for three-minute intervals, followed by three minutes of rest, but these cycles could continue for up to eight hours per day. Many collapsed from exhaustion, suffered severe injuries, or died from the strain.
The Workhouse also served as a detention center for enslaved individuals awaiting sale. Enslaved individuals labeled as "runaways, vagrants, or disobedient" were confined in the facility, often before being returned to their enslavers or resold.