Agreed, Gibb.

Overseers, responsible to the plantation owner, treated the field slaves in such a way that their work would yield satisfactory results. Order and discipline was required, but callous treatment of expensive labor would yield inferior results.
Recalcitrant slaves were punished, often severely, and sold off to itinerant traders who sold them into the worst kinds of labor.

Slavery is a terrible part of our history, but those portraying those times often twist events and practices to add "punch" to their productions.

Seldom does one see the cycle of plantation farming- it looks like cotton picking was year-round; tilling, seeding, care during plant growth and other aspects of the cotton cycle are ignored, Corn, sugar, rice, feed crops, etc. also were important in different parts of the south.