Plantation field layouts and gang assignments encoded a logic of domination and surveillance.

Evidence

The uniform layout of the land had a logic, one designed to dominate. Faster workers were placed at the head of the line, which encouraged those who followed to match the captain’s pace. When enslaved workers grew ill or old or became pregnant, they were assigned to lighter tasks. One enslaver established a “sucklers gang” for nursing mothers, as well as a “measles gang,” which at once quarantined those struck by the virus and ensured that they did their part to contribute to the productivity machine. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 574

Categorization

• XREF: The line-pick ‘captain at the head’ system evokes scientific-management pacing and the later factory assembly line pacing — a bridge to Taylorism again.