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African American Studies

African American Studies. Chapter Three: BLACK PEOPLE IN COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA, 1526-1763. The Peoples of Eastern North America: Eastern Woodland Indians. Original inhabitants of eastern North America Variety of languages, diverse environments, distinct tribes

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African American Studies

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  1. African American Studies Chapter Three: BLACK PEOPLE IN COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA, 1526-1763

  2. The Peoples of Eastern North America: Eastern Woodland Indians • Original inhabitants of eastern North America • Variety of languages, diverse environments, distinct tribes • Migration across bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska 12,000 years ago • Mistaken assumptions • Civilizations with: hereditary monarchies, formal religions, armies, social classes, stone temples, great cities, official records, astronomy, mathematics, held land communally, women’s rights, • Weakened by disease • A refuge for escaping slaves

  3. The Peoples of Eastern North America: The British and Jamestown • The British: English, Welsh, Scots, and Irish • Comparatively poor • 1497: Voyage of John Cabot • Too poor to fund colonization • Protestant Reformation • 1607: Jamestown • Virginia Company of London • Gold, rice, sugar • Tobacco • Native Americans • England’s undesirables (until 1700)

  4. Africans Arrive in the Chesapeake • Spanish Colonization • 1526: Luis Vasquez de Allyon • Spanish Colony • Georgetown, South Carolina • Hernado de Soto • Florida to Mississippi • 1565: St. Augustine, Florida • English Colony at Jamestown • 1619:Portuguese slaver from Angola • Dutch warship and English ship attack slaver • Angolans arrive in Jamestown • “Unfree” but not slaves • No English law for slavery • English custom and morality: Christians could not be enslaved • Work off purchase price • Antoney and Isabella marry • 1624: William

  5. Black Servitude in the Chesapeake • Indentured servitude • Apprenticeship • Passage to North America • 1620s-1670s: unfree indentured servants • Death: overworked, disease • Hope of freedom • Anthony Johnson • 1621: arrives in colony • 1651: 250 acres • Owned land, farmed, lent money, sued in courts, served as jurors and as minor officials, voted

  6. Race and the Origins of Black Slavery • 1640-1700: British tobacco-producing colonies (Delaware to northern Carolina) • 1671: less than 5% • 1700: at least 20% • Fewer white indentured servants • Britain gains lead in Atlantic Slave Trade • Changes the character of slavery • “Us and them” mentality • No surnames, listed separately on census • 1640s: cannot bear arms, cannot become Christian • 1662: Legislature doubles fine for sexual contact between races • Three escapees: Dutch, Scot, African • Prices raise: set time to life

  7. The Emergence of Chattel Slavery • During the 1600s characteristics of chattel slavery begin to emerge • Bills of Sales: children immediately enslaved for life • English Common Law • Children determined by mother rather than father • Allows for sexual exploitation • Mid-1600s: statutes assume servitude to be the natural condition of black people • 1660-1710: Slave Codes • Cannot testify against a white person in court • Own property • Leave master’s estate without a pass • Congregate in groups of 3 or 4 • Enter into contracts • Marry • Bear arms • Christianity no longer protects against slavery • 1669: House of the Burgesses exempt from felony charges masters who kill a slave while administering punishment • By 1700: reduced legally to the status of domestic animals

  8. Bacon’s Rebellion and American Slavery • 1676: Rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon • English aristocrat moves to Virginia • Disagrees with William Berkley over Indian policy • Followers include white indentured servants • Appeals to black slaves to join rebellion • Dies before progress could be made • Convinces English that relying on white indentured servants could ultimately become a mistake

  9. Plantation Slavery, 1700-1750 • Reliance on slavery • Racial prejudice • Declining availability of white indentured servants • Increasing availability of Africans • Fear of white class conflict • Demand for tobacco in Europe

  10. Plantation Slavery, 1700-1750 • 1700-1770 • 80,000 Africans arrive in the tobacco colonies • 1750: 144,872 slaves live in Virginia • Variations of conditions • Small plots of land • Vast acres of tobacco fields • Before the mid-18th century • Nearly all slaves- men and women-work the fields • After 1750: carpenters, blacksmiths, carters, millers, tanners, shoemakers, etc • Women: fieldwork, domestic service

  11. Voices • Read the passage entitled “A Description of an 18th Century Virginia Plantation” on page 57 of your text • Respond to the two discussion questions which follow • What does this passage indicate about plantation life in mid-18th century Virginia? • How does the description of black people presented here compare to the passage from the South Carolina statute book that begins this chapter? • Refer to page 47 to respond to this question • Passage appears at the start of the page in blue ink • “From the introduction to the original South Carolina Slave Code of 1696”

  12. Low-Country Slavery • South of the tobacco colonies • Coastal plain or low country of Carolina and Georgia • West Indian plantation system • Cultivation of rice • British settlers from Barbados • Brought slaves from island • Chattel slavery system from start • Mostly African males (90%) • ¼ Native Americans • 1706-1776: 94,000 Africans at Charleston • High mortality rates • Begin trading beef and lumber • Move to rice plantations • Large acreage

  13. Low-Country Slavery Continued • 1732: King George II of England • Georgia acts as buffer (S. Carolina and Spanish Florida) • James Oglethorpe • Refuge for England’s poor • Bans slavery • Economic difficulties combine with land huger • 1698: Carolina has the strictest slave code in North America • 1721: Charleston organizes a “Negro Watch” Curfew • Shot on sight • 1704: authorize arming of male slaves • Class systems and plantation models • Creoles • Preservation of African heritage • Task system vs. gangs

  14. Slave Life in Early America • 18th Century Housing • Minimal, temporary • Chesapeake: Small log cabins, dirt floors, few windows • S. Carolina/Georgia: African styles of architecture, mud or tabby (lime, oyster shells, sand) walls, thatched roofs • Few material possessions • Wooden boxes and planks • Eventually tables, pots, and lamps • Dress • Men: breechcloths/ shirts, trousers, hats • Women: skirts/ shifts, handkerchiefs • Children: naked until puberty • Cloth: England/ Handspun

  15. Miscegenation and Creolization • Miscegenation: interracial sexual contact • British define those of mixed race as black • Some advantages but no enhanced legal status • Colonial assemblies ban interracial marriages • Fear of having free, white mothers which might allow children of mixed race to sue and gain their freedom • Fear that legally recognized mixed-race would weaken white supremacy • Creolizations: cultural exchanges

  16. The Origins of African American Culture • African Heritage • Family structure • Extended families • Sex ratios balance with decline of Atlantic Slave Trade in 1750s • Notions of kinship • Middle Passage • Sale of Slaves • Shelter escapees • Naming practices • Religious concepts and practices • Refusal to convert to Christianity • Indigenous and Islamic faiths • African words and modes of expression • Musical style and instruments • Cooking methods and food • Folk literature • Folk art

  17. The Great Awakening • Mid to late 18th century: religious revival • Jonathan Edwards • George Whitefield and John Wesley • Converting to Christianity • Fear Christianity would lead toward freedom and equality • Satisfaction with ancestral religions • Great Awakening brings conversion • Ancestral gods, nature gods, and an almighty creator/Holy Trinity • “Spirit Possession”/Preaching • Personal rebirth, singing, movement, emotion • West African Water Rites/Baptism

  18. The Great Awakening Continued • Evangelical Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian welcome black members • Address one another as “brother” and “sister” • Sit apart from one another • Take communion together • Black after white • Serve as church officers • Meekness, humility, obedience • By the late 18th century, black men were being ordained as priests and ministers • Preach to whites as well as blacks ultimately influencing religious practices in America • Open churches of their own

  19. Language, Music, and Folk Literature • Language • Gullah and Geechee dialects of South Carolina and Georgia • Music • Call and response • Complex rhythms • Strong beats • Masters ban drums and horns • Banjo, guitar, violin • Folk Literature • Tales • Proverbs • riddles

  20. The African American Impact on Colonial Culture • Music • English Ballads • Language • Phraseology and diction • Medicine • Herb doctors • Folk remedies • Food • West African culinary traditions • Work • “gang system” • Work songs • Architecture • Employed as builders • High peaked roofs • Front porches • Wood carvings • Elaborate ironwork

  21. Slavery in the Northern Colonies • Religion • Puritanism in 1630 • Religious utopianism • English Pietist Society of Friends • 1682: Pennsylvania • Non violence, divine spirit within all • Climate • Demographics • More white laborers than south • 1770s: 50,000 (4.5%)-400,000 (40%) • Staple crop • Economy • Slave life • Small farms • Live with masters, work with masters • Religious principles-less oppressive • Slave codes (New England vs. NJ, NY, Penn) • Property ownership • Preservation of African heritage

  22. Slavery in Spanish Florida and French Louisiana • Language • Spanish/French • Religion • Roman Catholic • Work • Soldiers vs. agricultural works • Social status • Members of the Catholic Church • British takeover of Florida • Flee to Cuba • Plantation slavery • Louisiana • 1720: Few black people • 1731: outnumber white people • New Orleans

  23. Black Women in Colonial America • Region influences opportunities • Mass. Lucy Terry Prince • 3 to 2 until mid-18th century • Birthing complications • House servants • Sexual exploitation

  24. Black Resistance and Rebellion • “Slavery in America was always a system that relied ultimately on physical force to deny freedom to African Americans” (67). • Resistance • Escape • maroons, from Spanish cimarron • Bounty hunters • 1693: Spanish colony of Florida • South Carolina, Georgia, Great Dismal Swamp of southern Virginia • Rebellion and revolt • Demographics • Creoles • 1712: New York • 1739: Stono Bridge near Charleston, SC

  25. African American Folk Tales • Mules and Men • Zora Neale Hurston • How Jack O’Lanterns Came to Be • How the Snake Got Poison • How the Possum Lost the Hair off His Tale • How the ‘Gator Got Black • Spirituals • Go Down, Moses • Swing Low, Sweet Chariot • Steal Away • I Got a Home in Dat Rock • I Thank God I’m Free at Las’ • Unit Review • The Loophole of Retreat from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl • Harriet A Jacobs

  26. Review Questions 1. Based on your reading of this chapter, do you believe that racial prejudice among British settlers in the Chesapeake led them to enslave Africans? Or, did the unfree conditions of the 1st Africans to arrive at Jamestown lead to racial prejudice among the settlers? 2. Why did vestiges of African culture survive in British North America? Did these vestiges help or hinder African Americans in dealing with enslavement? 3. Compare and contrast 18th century slavery as it existed in the Chesapeake, in the low country of South Carolina and Georgia and in the northern colonies. 4. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the black family in the 18th century? 5. How did enslaved Africans and African Americans preserve a sense of their own humanity?

  27. Review Guide Questions & Answers

  28. Marc & Evan • 1. Describe the lives and civilizations of the Eastern Woodland Indians. • They developed civilizations with religions and social classes, and built cities. • 2. How did the Eastern Woodland Indians influence the lives of Europeans and Africans? • Europe was not a single nation like the Eastern Woodlands.

  29. Alejandro & Anthony 3. Why were the English slow to establish colonies in the Americas? They had economic concerns with establishing in the new world 4. How did investors hope to make a profit at Jamestown? How were they actually able to turn a profit? They hoped to a make a profit off of gold, trading with Indians, cutting lumber or raising crops. They actually made a profit off of growing a certain strain or tobacco.

  30. Mike & Matt • 5. Why are the first Africans that arrive in the Chesapeake regarded as “unfree” rather than “slaves”? • The English had no law for slavery or Christianity. • 6. Describe black servitude in the Chesapeake. They were brought from Haiti and the Dominican. They were some of the first Africans in North America. They served as servants to Jamestown officials.

  31. Lee & Jon • 7. How does Anthony Johnson figure into the discussion of slavery in Colonial America? • Johnson was a black slave who attained freedom and started a successful farm. He had servants himself, including white ones. • 8. How does black slavery begin in British North America? • Fewer whites wanted to be indentured servants, but the demand for tobacco continued to grow so they needed a labor force. The House of Burgesses makes laws declaring blacks servants for life.

  32. Kennedy & Timmy 9. How does the emergence of chattel slavery impact Africans and African Americans? Almost all black people are workers. A mother’s child would be enslaved for life 10. How does Bacon’s rebellion both help and hurt the African cause? The Bacon rebellion hurt the Africans cause. Now only black people would be slaves.

  33. Jacob & Eric • 11. Why do Chesapeake planters rely on slavery to meet their labor needs? • Chesapeake planters relied on slavery in part due to the dwindling number of white indentured servants and the growing population of black slaves. Slavers also feared a white class-conflict. • 12. Describe plantation slavery. • Some slave owners owned a smaller number of slaves—five or six—and developed close relationships with them. Others owned 1000s of acres of land and never got to know any of their slaves. Plantation work lasted for hours and was very labor-intensive.

  34. Andrew & Aaron 13. Discuss low-country slavery (especially as it compares to the Chesapeake area). They were primarily indentured servants, grew rice over crops like tobacco and there was a high rate of mortality among slaves. However, the population had trouble reproducing due to a surplus of males. There were also more black people due to the subtropical climate that discouraged white settlement. 14. Describe slave life in early America- specifically homes, dress, and food. Slaves lived in wooden shacks with dirt floors in the Chesapeake. Further down south, they lived in houses made of tabby with thatched roofs. Men wore hats, trousers and shirts in the fields, but only wore a breechcloth in the summer. Women only wore skirts in the summer and shifts and handkerchiefs all other times. In the winter, masters gave out woolen or cloth clothing. They ate corn, yams, pork, beef or fish.

  35. MaryKate, Kara, & Jaclyn 15. What is miscegenation? - Interracial sexual contact 16. What is creolization? -Assimilating slaves into culture 17. How were Africans and African Americans able to preserve their African heritage? - Family structure, kinship was passed on

  36. Olivia & Samantha 18. How did the Great Awakening influence slavery during the Colonial Period? Increased black acculturation, blacks and whites regarded each other as brother and sister, increased black conversion to Christianity 19. How did African American language, music, and folk literature influence those in the colonies of European descent? Black english (African phrases and grammer + english), blacks performed ballads for whites, black folk remedies caught on, African architecture and ironwork, African foods became colonial staples (bbq pork, black eyed peas, collard/mustard greens), the “gang system” for labor and slave songs

  37. Katie & Gabby 20. Describe slavery in the northern colonies? Organized religion was very important. There was a cooler climate and more white laborers. Most slaves were agricultural workers and lived in their master’s house and worked with their master, his family, and usually 1 or 2 slaves. 21. Describe slavery in Spanish Florida and French Louisiana. Slaves spoke Spanish and French because slaves were Roman Catholic, instead of protestants. The number of slaves was smaller. There were more black men as soldiers than as field workers. It was easier to gain freedom because most lived in New Orleans, away from their masters. Many slaves became skilled artisans.

  38. Naysir & Kyla 22. How did the role of black women in Colonial America compare to the role of black men? -Slave men were farmer and did hard labor. Slave women primary role was that of a mother. The mothers gave birth to children multiplying the work force. 23. Describe black resistance, rebellion, and escape efforts in the colonies. -Black resistance was very few since many did not speak the same language and many of their spirits were broken due to the seperation from their family. But some still tried to revolt and escape.

  39. The African American Odyssey • Many Rivers to Cross • with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

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