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Sugar and Slavery

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Sugar and Slavery

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    1. Sugar and Slavery Sugar-- Before 1500s no sugar in the diet-- the only sweetener available was honey. When Europeans learned about sugar there was an insatiable demand for the tropical crop. Learned of it from the Muslims-- growing it on Cyprus, Crete, and Southern Spain. Difficult places to grow sugar-- need lots of irrigation as the summer is long and dry. Sugar itself requires a great deal of labor. Spaniards into it for the money-- GOLD. Portuguese ended up with Brazil-- no known gold (yet). Planted sugar using indigineous labor. Failed--

    3. Dutch Expansion Organized Dutch East India Company trading company to bring spices from Asia then established Dutch West India Company-- seized everything the Portuguese had in Africa-- Soa Tome, Angola, Brazil. Eventually expelled from Brazil but had learned how to grow sugar and had access to slaves. Expand to British island of Barbados.

    4. Caribbean

    5. Sugar Plantations Plant the cane, weed and fertilize, cut all the cane during a very short harvest season, run through a roller, squeeze juice out, boil juice into molasses, and then make sugar.

    6. Hoeing Cane Caption: “Holeing a Cane-Piece, on Weatherell’s Estate,” shows first gang of slave men and women performing the most common method of preparing fields for the planting of sugar cane; black driver surpervising the work. Caption: “Holeing a Cane-Piece, on Weatherell’s Estate,” shows first gang of slave men and women performing the most common method of preparing fields for the planting of sugar cane; black driver surpervising the work.

    7. Cutting Cane Caption, “cutting canes”; men and women in first gang cutting cane; two women in lower left, one drinks from a gourd container, the other smokes a pipe; ox cart on right is loaded with canes to be taken to the mill. “Cutting canes in general commences in January . . . . The Negro seizes the cane by the top, cuts off the upper joints to plant for the next crop; he then cuts down the remaining stem close to the ground....” (Bridgens). Caption, “cutting canes”; men and women in first gang cutting cane; two women in lower left, one drinks from a gourd container, the other smokes a pipe; ox cart on right is loaded with canes to be taken to the mill. “Cutting canes in general commences in January . . . . The Negro seizes the cane by the top, cuts off the upper joints to plant for the next crop; he then cuts down the remaining stem close to the ground....” (Bridgens).

    8. Sugar Mill Woodcut depicts human-powered sugar mill and various phases of sugar manufacture at a very early period. Note cauldron in left-hand corner for boiling the sugar, and the pots into which the unrefined sugar was placed; background shows sugar cane reaping. It is difficult to ascertain if the figures in this image are intended to be Africans or Amerindians--or, perhaps, both. Woodcut depicts human-powered sugar mill and various phases of sugar manufacture at a very early period. Note cauldron in left-hand corner for boiling the sugar, and the pots into which the unrefined sugar was placed; background shows sugar cane reaping. It is difficult to ascertain if the figures in this image are intended to be Africans or Amerindians--or, perhaps, both.

    9. Antigua Mill Yard, 1823 Original caption is: “A Mill Yard, on Gamble’s Estate....” Shows a functioning sugar mill with sails into the wind; canes being brought in ox-pulled carts, slaves "heading” canes into the mill rollers, women stacking cane bunches in foreground; black driver to left and at base of windmill, white owner or manager in lower left overseeing the scene. Original caption is: “A Mill Yard, on Gamble’s Estate....” Shows a functioning sugar mill with sails into the wind; canes being brought in ox-pulled carts, slaves "heading” canes into the mill rollers, women stacking cane bunches in foreground; black driver to left and at base of windmill, white owner or manager in lower left overseeing the scene.

    10. Boiling House Image accompanies article, “Sugar Cultivation in the West Indies. “ Although about a decade after slave emancipation in the British West Indies, this scene (one of four in the article) can easily serve for the later slave period. This same illustration and accompanying article appeared in Ballou’s Pictorial (Boston); however, the Ballou article specifies that the locale is Jamaica and that the engraving was made “from the designs of an artist who resided for a long time in that island.” Image accompanies article, “Sugar Cultivation in the West Indies. “ Although about a decade after slave emancipation in the British West Indies, this scene (one of four in the article) can easily serve for the later slave period. This same illustration and accompanying article appeared in Ballou’s Pictorial (Boston); however, the Ballou article specifies that the locale is Jamaica and that the engraving was made “from the designs of an artist who resided for a long time in that island.”

    11. Slave Market, Pernambuco Engraving captioned, "Gate & Slave Market at Pernambuco” (Alternate title in list of plates is “View of Count Maurice’s Gate at Pernambuco, with the slave market”); street scene shows slaves waiting to be sold, surrounded by Europeans.Engraving captioned, "Gate & Slave Market at Pernambuco” (Alternate title in list of plates is “View of Count Maurice’s Gate at Pernambuco, with the slave market”); street scene shows slaves waiting to be sold, surrounded by Europeans.

    12. Brazil Difficult to enslave people close to home (escape/rebellion) European diseases-- no immunity-- 90% of Native Americans populations in 1492 died 100 yeas later. Africans expensive-- 25-30% death rate in transport. But in 1580s searing drought in Angola creating massive slave market. Short distance to Brazil from Africa. Allowed transport of slaves across the Atlantic to work in sugar fields.

    13. Barbados Cotton and Indigo the main crops. Offered then slaves on credit-- within a few years to an island not unlike Virginia to the first Caribbean sugar island- a few hundred owners with 80,000 slaves. Brought the English into the trade. 1670s Royal African Company. Extended sugar growing from Barbados to Jamaica (by 1700s the world largest producer-- competing even with Brazil).

    14. Numbers 11-14 million Africans taken from Africa to the new World Outright depopulation of major areas of West Africa More men than women sold. Africans likely kept more slaves than they sold (recasting the socio-political mileau)

    15. North American Colonies Henry Popple, Map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish Settlements (London, 1733). [Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas] Note: French, English and Spanish ColoniesHenry Popple, Map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish Settlements (London, 1733). [Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas] Note: French, English and Spanish Colonies

    16. North America Three main areas: Chesapeake, South Carolina, Louisiana Indigo, Tobacco, Rice, and Short Staple Cotton Only 6% of slaves from the Atlantic Slave Trade to North America (mostly through the Caribbean).

    17. Indigo Plantation This engraving, titled “Indigoterie,” shows various phases of the cultivation and processing of the indigo plant (as well as illustrations of some other plants and trees). The captions underneath are linked to numbers on the engraving, and these are sometimes cross-referenced to pages in the volume where the illustration is described. Note European overseer under the tree in the center. A slightly modified version of this illustration was later published in Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l’Amerique (Paris, 1722, vol. 1, between pp. 168 and 169).This engraving, titled “Indigoterie,” shows various phases of the cultivation and processing of the indigo plant (as well as illustrations of some other plants and trees). The captions underneath are linked to numbers on the engraving, and these are sometimes cross-referenced to pages in the volume where the illustration is described. Note European overseer under the tree in the center. A slightly modified version of this illustration was later published in Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l’Amerique (Paris, 1722, vol. 1, between pp. 168 and 169).

    18. Tobacco Label English tobacco label, includes depictions of blacks and whites smoking long-stemmed pipes.English tobacco label, includes depictions of blacks and whites smoking long-stemmed pipes.

    19. Gullah Basket

    20. Rice Winnowing Separates rice and hulls.Separates rice and hulls.

    21. Pounding Rice Loosens hulls. Mortar weighs 10 pounds. This photo is after slavery; during slavery the task would be assigned to one person per pestal. Loosens hulls. Mortar weighs 10 pounds. This photo is after slavery; during slavery the task would be assigned to one person per pestal.

    22. Planting Rice

    23. Poster Announcing Slave Auction Poster reads: “To be Sold & Let by Public Auction on Monday the 18th of May, 1829”; location unknown. Poster reads: “To be Sold & Let by Public Auction on Monday the 18th of May, 1829”; location unknown.

    24. New Orleans Auction Shows very large room with crowds; auctioneers selling slaves and various types of material goods.Shows very large room with crowds; auctioneers selling slaves and various types of material goods.

    25. Slave Auction Lewis Miller, Sketchbook of Landscapes in the State of Virginia, 1853-1867 (p. 49, bottom) Caption, “Miss Fillis and child, and Bill, sold at publick sale in May 12th, Christiansburg, Montgomery County.” Shows mother holding infant , adult male by her side; white men bidding. Written on the auction block: “[Bill] sold for 800 and fillis for 600.”Lewis Miller, Sketchbook of Landscapes in the State of Virginia, 1853-1867 (p. 49, bottom) Caption, “Miss Fillis and child, and Bill, sold at publick sale in May 12th, Christiansburg, Montgomery County.” Shows mother holding infant , adult male by her side; white men bidding. Written on the auction block: “[Bill] sold for 800 and fillis for 600.”

    26. The Plantation Plantations were complex places. They consisted of fields, pastures, gardens, work spaces, and numerous buildings. They were distinctive signs of southern agriculture and ultimately became prime markers of regional identity. Designed to be vast growing "machines" that produced a single crop for export -- tons of cotton, rice, sugar, or tobacco -- plantations are best understood as cultural landscapes, as human environments inscribed with the competing cultural scripts of their owners and the African Americans who were forced to work there. Successful cultivation of a crop required an array of structures including barns, stables, sheds, storehouses, and different types of production machinery.

    27. Greenhill Plantation, Virginia Overlooking the Staunton River.Overlooking the Staunton River.

    28. Slave Quarters Slave Quarters, St. Mary’s County Maryland.Slave Quarters, St. Mary’s County Maryland.

    29. A Little Town The Gaillard [plantation] quarters was a little town laid out with streets wide enough for a wagon to pass through. Houses was on each side of the street. A well and church was in the center of the town. There was a gin-house, barns, stables, cowpen and a big bell on top of a high pole at the barn gate. -- Ned Walker, former slave on a plantation in Fairfield County, SC

    30. Baptist Church

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