Overseers manage and supervise underlings.
Slaves and overseers
Overseers.
Black slaves who served as overseers of other slaves were known as "black overseers" or "slave drivers."
Overseers were either trusted slaves or hired workers who kept the slave population working and subdued.
Slave overseers got paid a small portion of the plantation and some times food and shelter.
Slaves and overseers
Both black and white men worked as overseers during the slavery days of the American South. In Cuba, black overseers were often put in charge of Chinese indentured servants.
Overseers in the Southern colonies were workers hired by planters to watch over and direct the work of slaves. So they were more like supervisors, and if the slaves weren't performing their tasks, the overseers would then proceed to whip them.
Yellow chineese
overseers
The overseers that Saint Justin Martyr writes about later became known as bishops in the Christian church hierarchy.
Overseers were responsible for supervising and managing the work of slaves on plantations. They enforced discipline, often through physical punishment such as whipping, to ensure that slaves met their daily work quotas. Overseers were tasked with maximizing productivity and profit for the slave owners.