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Name:

Slavery in the American South

PLANTATIONS: TOBACCO, RICE, SUGAR CANE AND COTTON

Due to the Spanish expedition, headed by Christopher Columbus, European exploration and colonisation rapidly expanded, especially in the Caribbean region and parts of North and South America. This led to the discovery of the “New World”, where land was distributed and new landowners founded large plantations. On these large plantations landowners grew the likes of sugar, tobacco, cotton, rum and other profitable commodities.

The sugar plantations were particularly harsh environments to work in. Planting and cane cutting was a strenuous job, requiring strong, healthy slaves to till the land from dawn to dusk. Children were also put to work to clean, guard and keep the birds away from the crops. Slaves were made to work six days a week from a young age until they became old and frail.

Slaves were divided into skilled and unskilled labour as a plantation’s sustainability was dependent on both. Field hands were considered unskilled, whilst skilled labourers like masons, joiners and metalworkers were needed to keep fields, farm equipment and transport functioning. The wider community’s needs were served by other slaves working as cooks, nurses and seamstresses.

When the Europeans settled in America, the idea was that they would be given small pieces of land to cultivate and develop a variety of crops for export to Europe. Initially tobacco and cotton was grown, but over time, sugar crops started to replace these due to the profitability of the crop.

An ideal sugar plantation required a large piece of land, an investment in machinery to process the crop and a large number of labourers.

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas (including nearby islands such as those of the Caribbean and Bermuda).The term originated in the early 16th century after Europeans made landfall in what would later be called the Americas in the age of discovery, expanding the geographical horizon of classical geographers, who had thought of the world as consisting of Africa, Europe, and Asia, collectively now referred to as the Old World.

Figure 1: taken from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World

ACTIVITY 1:

Divide the class into four groups. Each group should read the information below, summarise the important and relevant information, and briefly report back to the class. Research the information on the following website: http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/captivepassage/arrival/arr011.html

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SUGAR PLANTATIONS:

At first, settlers in America imported cane sugar from the West Indies. However, after the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, plantation owners began growing sugar cane.

Once harvested, sugar had to be processed quickly. Enslaved Africans working on sugar plantations had to work day and night for a lengthy period of time after harvesting. As well, sugar processing involved considerable physical danger to those involved.

The crushed cane was used for fuel, molasses, and as a base for rum. The industry grew rapidly, and by 1830, New Orleans had the largest sugar refinery in the world with an annual capacity of 6,000 tons.

http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/captivepassage/arrival/arr012.html

TOBACCO PLANTATIONS:

Virginia and Maryland were founded as outposts for English commerce, financed by English merchants. This endeavour was to fill England’s tax coffers and to furnish a place to send the excess population.

Early American settlers soon found tobacco had a profitable market in England, and all other economic activities were discontinued. It was popular in Europe where tobacco smoking and snuff taking had become fashionable. The English consumed more tobacco per capita than any other European nation in the 17th century and sought a place to grow it so they would not have to buy from their old rival, Spain. They could take advantage of this opportunity only if they could get enough labour to increase output. Much of the profits went to importing more English servants. However, the supply of indentured servants had decreased by the end of the 17th century. Desperate for a labour force, they turned to African slaves.

Plantation owners imported large numbers of slaves to cultivate the tobacco, dry its leaves, and pack it to be transported to market. When prices fell in the middle of the 17th century, some planters turned to producing rice and sugar cane.

Tobacco was a very labour-intensive crop. Planters were kept busy for about nine months of the year with sowing, transplanting, weeding, and other tasks associated with tobacco cultivation. The crop quickly depleted the soil, forcing farmers to continually search for new land. A field could produce approximately three crops before it had to lie fallow for several years.

http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/captivepassage/arrival/arr013.html

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COTTON PLANTATIONS:

A large number of early settlers in America grew cotton. To grow cotton and to pick, gin (remove the seeds from the white fluff), and bale it took a great deal of work. Large numbers of slaves were purchased to do this work.

The industry was given a boost with the invention of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin in 1793. With the aid of a horse to turn the gin, a man could clean fifty times as much cotton as before. This increased the demand for slave labour rather than decreasing it. In 1803 alone, over 20,000 slaves were being brought into Georgia and South Carolina to work in the cotton fields.

Much of this cotton was exported to Britain where the invention of the Spinning Jenny, the Water Frame, and the Power Loom had rapidly increased the demand for raw cotton. By 1850, America was producing 3,000,000 bales of cotton, and the industry had become a vital element of the South’s economy.http://www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/captivepassage/arrival/arr014.html

RICE PLANTATIONS:

South Carolina was in many ways similar to the Caribbean. The soil and climate of South Carolina proved ideal for the cultivation of rice. Although rice was not initially envisioned as a major crop, by 1720, it had become the colonists’ most important food item. By 1750, it was South Carolina’s major export, surpassed only by tobacco and wheat. Rice, like tobacco, required a fairly high level of skill and experience to grow, and the English in South Carolina were unsuccessful at first. Enslaved Africans came from rice-producing regions in Africa ensured prosperity of rice plantations in North America. Of those brought to South Carolina during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, 43 percent came from rice-producing regions of Africa. The colonists’ dependency on knowledge and experience of rice cultivation meant that the enslaved Africans possessed a comparatively large amount of bargaining power.

The method of using the tidal flow to cultivate rice transformed the coastal Southeast between 1783 and the early 19th century. It was a highly productive method on the lower stretches of a few rivers from the Cape Fear in North Carolina to the St. Johns in north Florida. The initial investment to create a tidal rice plantation was substantial and took a huge amount of backbreaking labour as well. Enslaved Africans cleared riverside swamps of timber and undergrowth and surrounded them with earthen levees. Next they constructed an intricate system of dams, dikes, floodgates, ditches, and drains. The rise and fall of the tide was used to irrigate the fields several times during the growing season to encourage rice growth and to control weeds and pests.

Rice farmers in South Carolina did not use indentured servants from England to the extent that the tobacco farmers in the Chesapeake region did. This was largely

Figure 2: taken from http://www.justseeds.org/blog/images/Slaves-Picking-Cotton-On-A-Plantation.jpghttp://www.justseeds.org/blog/images/Slaves-Picking-Cotton-On-A-Plantation.jpg

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due to the fact that English settlers who came to the colony in 1670 from Barbados brought enslaved Africans with them, creating a base of slave labour. The tendency and the desire to use slaves was also strengthened by the belief that they were more accustomed to the warm, semi-tropical climate than British servants and that they were, therefore, immune to many of the diseases that plagued the inhabitants of the region. As in the Chesapeake region, disease was a serious problem. Yellow fever was a particularly virulent killer in South Carolina. The warm climate combined with the necessity of growing rice near swamps and standing water, in order to allow for irrigation, created a disease-breeding environment. Africans were far more accustomed to the warmer climate than were the Europeans, yet they suffered the effects of certain diseases just as the English did. Smallpox affected them severely and they were particularly susceptible to lung infections such as influenza, tuberculosis, and pneumonia, owing to a lack of food and clothing. Africans in South Carolina had greater resistance to diseases such as yellow fever and malaria, however, because both diseases were endemic in Africa and thus many slaves were immune to them.

Reasons for using slave labourFew Europeans were prepared to work in the hot and humid climate on these plantations and so at first, the native Indians were used as labour. But being overworked, disease ridden and ill-treated the Native Indians refused to continue working. The landowners attempted to obtain labour from Ireland and England. But the ten thousand indentured white servants that did make the free passage across the Atlantic Ocean, were unsuited for the work in the tropics. Some indentured servants were also leaving to start their own farms as land was widely available.

The Transatlantic slave trade originated as there was a shortage of labour in the American colonies. To meet the demands for labour, European trades therefore turned to West Africa and Central Africa.

The Spanish, Portuguese, and English colonists in the New World all perceived that African slaves possessed numerous advantages. Many of the Africans, unlike many American Indians, were accustomed to the hard labour conditions and the climate. Many of the African slaves knew metal working, especially in iron, whereas the Native Americans were unfamiliar with iron and used softer metals, primarily for decorative rather than productive purposes.

Paid workers would require a weekly salary, whereas slaves could be bought at a set price and once paid for, their only necessities were food, clothing and housing which was significantly cheaper than paying a weekly wage.

ACTIVITY 2: ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW:

1. True or False and explain your answer:

1.1 Slaves were considered equal to their owners during the 1700s. (2)

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1.2 Crops such as maize and wheat were popular crops on the plantations. (2)

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1.3 Sugar plantations were the worst kind of plantations to work on. (2)

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1.4 Skilled and unskilled workers were separated according to their abilities. (2)

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1.5 African slaves were not a good choice for the slave labour. (2)

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2. What is the difference between skilled and unskilled labour? Give examples of each. (4)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Explain in your own words what slavery means. (3)

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4. Why did people use slaves instead of paid workers? (3)

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(Total:20)

ACTIVITY 2

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by a weak tribal state to a more powerful one, or by outright kidnapping by local traders. Some became slaves as a form of punishment for a crime committed, or for an outstanding debt which was never repaid.

European slave traders rarely ventured beyond Africa’s coastal regions. The African interior was riddled with disease, the natives were often hostile and the land uncharted. The Europeans preferred to stay in the coastal region and have the natives bring the slaves to them.

Read this eye witness account of Dr Alexander Falconbridge who served as the surgeon aboard a number of slave ships that plied their trade between the West African coast and the Caribbean in the late 1700s. This account is taken from a popular book published in 1788. Because of his experiences he became active in the Anti-Slavery Society and was appointed Governor of a colony established for freed slaves on the coast of modern-day Sierra Leone. His service was brief as he died in 1788 shortly after his appointment. We join his story as he describes the process through which the native African loses his freedom:

There is great reason to believe, that most of the Africans shipped off from the coast of Africa, are kidnapped. But the extreme care taken by the black traders to prevent the Europeans from gaining any intelligence of their modes of proceeding; the great distance inland from whence the Africans are brought; and our ignorance of their language (with which, very frequently, the black traders themselves are equally unacquainted), prevent our obtaining such information on this head as we could wish. I have, however, by means of occasional inquiries, made through interpreters, procured some intelligence relative to the point. . . . From these I shall select the following striking instances: While I was in employ on board one of the slave ships, an African informed me that being one evening invited to drink with some of the black traders, upon his going away, they attempted to seize him. As he was very active, he evaded their design, and got out of their hands. He was, however, prevented from effecting his escape by a large dog, which laid hold of him, and compelled him to submit. These creatures are kept by many of the traders for that purpose;

How slaves were caputured, sold and transported from West Africa

Figure 3: taken from http://upload.wikime-dia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Slaves_ruvuma.jpg

Figure 4: taken from http://www.recoveredhistories.org/images/passage-01.jpg

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and being trained to the inhuman sport, they appear to be much pleased with it.

I was likewise told by an African woman that as she was on her return home, one evening, from some neighbours, to whom she had been making a visit by invitation, she was kidnapped; and, notwithstanding she was big with child, sold for a slave. This transaction happened a considerable way up the country, and she had passed through the hands of several purchasers before she reached the ship.

A man and his son, according to their own information, were seized by professed kidnappers, while they were planting yams, and sold for slaves. This likewise happened in the interior parts of the country, and after passing through several hands, they were purchased for the ship to which I belonged. It frequently happens that those who kidnap others are themselves, in their turns, seized and sold.

. . . During my stay on the coast of Africa, I was an eye-witness of the following transaction: a black trader invited an African, who resided a little way up the country, to come and see him. After the entertainment was over, the trader proposed to his guest, to treat him with a sight of one of the ships lying in the river. The unsuspicious countryman read¬ily consented, and accompanied the trader in a canoe to the side of the ship, which he viewed with pleasure and astonishment. While he was thus employed, some black traders on board, who appeared to be in the secret, leaped into the canoe, seized the unfortunate man, and dragging him into the ship, immediately sold him.

The preparations made at Bonny by the black traders, upon set¬ting out for the fairs which are held up the country, are very considerable. From twenty to thirty canoes, capable of containing thirty or forty Africans each, are assembled for this purpose; and such goods put on board them as they expect will be wanted for the purchase of the number of slaves they intend to buy.

When their loading is completed, they commence their voyage, with colours flying, and music playing; and in about ten or eleven days, they generally return to Bonny with full cargoes. As soon as the canoes arrive at the trader’s landing place, the purchased Africans are cleaned, and oiled with palm-oil; and on the following day they are exposed for sale to the captain

When the Africans, whom the black traders have to dispose of, are shown to the European purchasers, they first examine them relative to their age. They then minutely inspect their persons, and inquire into the state of their health, if they are afflicted with any infirmity, or are deformed, or have bad eyes or teeth; if they are lame, or weak in their joints, or distorted in the back, or of a slender make, or are narrow in the chest; in short, if they have been, or are afflicted in any manner, so as to render them incapable of much labour; if any of the foregoing defects are discovered in them, they are rejected. But if approved of, they are generally taken on board the ship the same evening. The purchaser has liberty to return on the following morning, but not afterwards, such as upon re-examination are found exceptionable.

The traders frequently beat those African which are objected to by the captains, and use

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them with great severity. It matters not whether they are refused on account of age, illness, deformity, or for any other reason. At New Calabar, in particular . . . the traders, when any of their Africans have been objected to, have dropped their canoes under the stern of the vessel, and instantly be headed them, in sight of the captain.

As soon as the wretched Africans, purchased at the fairs, fall into the hands of the black traders, they experience an earnest of those dreadful sufferings which they are doomed in future to undergo. . . . They are brought from the places where they are pur¬chased to Bonny, etc. in canoes; at the bottom of which they lie, hav¬ing their hands tied with a kind of willow twigs, and a strict watch is kept over them. Their usage in other respects, during the time of the passage, which generally lasts several days, is equally cruel. Their allowance of food is so scanty, that it is barely sufficient to support nature. They are, besides, much exposed to the violent rains which frequently fall here, being covered only with mats that afford but a slight defence; and as there is usually water at the bottom of the canoes, from their leaking, they are scarcely ever dry.”

References:

This eyewitness account appears in Falconbridge, Alexander, An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa (1788); Curtin, Phillip D. Atlantic Slave Trade (1969); Matheson, William Law, Great Britain and the Slave Trade, 1839-1865 (1967).

“Slave Trade: the African Connection, ca 1788” EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2007).

ACTIVITY: DIARY ENTRY

Write a diary entry of an African slaves capture. Record the feelings and emotions, the details of what strange new encounters were experienced. Your diary entry can be written from the point of view of a slave, a sailor, a doctor or family member who may have witnessed these events. Your diary entry must be between 100 and 120 words.

(10)

Slave marketsOnce the slaves were in the Americas, they were inspected for disease and then sold by auction, to the highest bidder. Regardless of who the slaves were, family or husband and wife, they were often separate at the auction, as a bidder may not want to buy the whole family, but only the strongest, healthiest member.

Slave Auctions were often advertised on pamphlets and posters, so that buyers knew when a slave ship

Figure 5: taken from http://www.historyonthenet.com/files/fs/slave_trade/images/auction.jpg

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was due to arrive.

When the slave ship docked, the slaves would be taken off the ship and placed in a pen or cage life cell. There they would be washed and their skin covered with grease, or sometimes tar, to make them look healthier than what they actually were. This was done so that they would fetch as much money as possible. They would also be branded with a hot iron to identify them as slaves.

The slaves would be brought from the pen, in turn, to stand on a raised platform so that they could be seen by the buyers. Before the bidding began, those that wished to, could come up onto the platform to inspect the slaves closely. The slaves had to endure being poked, prodded and forced to open their mouths for the buyers to inspect the condition of their teeth. The auctioneer would decide a price to start the bidding. This would be higher for fit, young slaves and lower for older, very young or sickly slaves. Potential buyers would then bid against each other. The person who bid the most would then own that slave.

ACTIVITY: DIARY ENTRY CONTINUED

The slave ship has now docked at an American bay. The slaves are forced to disembark, forcibly washed, and lined up to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Continue with your original diary entry. However, now record what was experience in the “New World”. Your diary entry must be between 100 to 120 words.

(10)

Numbers of slaves that were taken to AmericaApproximately 12 million African slaves were captured and transported to the Americas. Some did not make the journey from their home villages to the ship. Many died during the 6 to 8 week voyage, known as the Middle Passage, across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World.

WATCH THESE CLIPS ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ce-Qidhn8M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LwJtnVfNkA

Figure 5: taken from http://www.historyonthenet.com/files/fs/slave_trade/images/auction.jpg

Figure 7: taken from http://faculty.weber.edu/kmackay/image_slaveT-radePoster.jpg

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The map below shows the Slave States and the Free States, as well as the States with the Highest Percentage of Slave Population within the United States of America.

Figure 8: taken from http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac47/fightfortruthradio/slavery_us_1860.jpg

Figure 9: taken from http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2010/12/statepops.jpg

What happened to the raw materials that slaves produced?

The African slaves were captured in Africa by Europeans because of the trade of slaves between the European traders and the African chiefs. The traders bought manufactured goods with them from Europe to trade for the slaves. These manufactured goods included cloth, spirit, tobacco, beads, cowrie shells, metal goods, and guns.

The slaves were then transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas to work on the plantations, producing a number raw materials (sugar, tobacco, cotton, rum and other profitable commodities). These raw materials were transported to Europe where these particular commodities were in great demand as they did not grow well in the European’s cold, harsh climate. These raw materials were then processed in Europe creating a number of different manufactured goods.

Figure 8: taken from http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac47/fightfortruthradio/slavery_us_1860.jpg

Figure 9: taken from http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2010/12/statepops.jpg

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What happened to the raw materials that slaves produced? The African slaves were captured in Africa by Europeans because of the trade of slaves between the European traders and the African chiefs. The traders bought manufactured goods with them from Europe to trade for the slaves. These manufactured goods included cloth, spirit, tobacco, beads, cowrie shells, metal goods, and guns.

The slaves were then transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas to work on the plantations producing a number raw materials (sugar, tobacco, cotton, rum and other profitable commodities). These raw materials were then transported to Europe where these particular commodities were in great demand as they did not grow well in the European’s cold, harsh climate. These raw materials were then processed in Europe creating a number of different manufactured goods.

ACTIVITY:

Write a paragraph, summarising the advantages and disadvantages of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The paragraph must contain between 100 and 120 words. (10)

Figure 10: taken from http://w3.salemstate.edu/~cmauriello/Course%20Development/WorldCIVII/Images/triangulartrademap.gif

WATCH THIS YOUTUBE CLIP, EXPLAINING THE TRIANGULAR TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/other-shows/videos/assignment-discovery-shorts-atlantic-slave-trade/

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341. True or False and explain your answer:

1.1 Slaves were considered equal to their owners during the 1700s. (2)

False, slaves were considered property of their owners.

1.2 Crops such as maize and wheat were popular crops on the plantations. (2)

False, crops such as sugar, cotton and tobacco were the most popular crops.

1.3 Sugar plantations were the worst kind of plantations to work on. (2)

True, sugar plantations were the worst plantations to work on.

1.4 Skilled and unskilled workers were separated according to their abilities. (2)

True, skilled and unskilled workers were separated according to their field of competence or trade.

1.5 African slaves were not a good choice for the slave labour. (2)

False, African slaves were a good choice as they were used to the hot climate of North Africa which was similar to the American Southern climate.

2. What is the difference between skilled and unskilled labour? Give examples of each. (4)

Skills that were not trades, like basic labour, for example field hands were considered unskilled, but labourers that had trade skills such as masonry, joiners and metalworkers were considered skilled labour.

3. Explain in your own words what slavery means. (3)

Slavery is when people are forced to work with little or no pay and whereby one person has absolute power over another.

4. Why did people use slaves instead of paid workers? (3)

Any 3 appropriate answers

• Slaves were cheaper than paid workers.

• Paid workers had rights and slaves did not as they were considered property.

• Slaves were a once-off purchase and did not require payment thereafter.

• They could have babies and produce more slaves.

A slave’s journey to a life of servitude often began in the interior of Africa with him or her being captured by a neighbouring tribe as a prize of war, as tribute given

Answer sheet