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in. Slavery America . 1600-1865. African American Studies Belleville High School Mr. Mark Darket. Warm-up. What is the word you think of when you hear the word slavery? List out at least five things that you know about slavery? What is the purpose of slavery?
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in Slavery America 1600-1865 African American Studies Belleville High School Mr. Mark Darket
Warm-up • What is the word you think of when you hear the word slavery? • List out at least five things that you know about slavery? • What is the purpose of slavery? • How would slave traders justify trading people?
Analyzing an image • Describe what you see. • What do you notice first? • What people and objects are shown? · How are they arranged? • What is the physical setting? • What, if any, words do you see? • What other details can you see?
Analyze the artwork...1. What do you notice first?2. What things do you see? (list 5)3. What does each object symbolize?4. What might the colors represent?
Assessment on personal accounts. • Which 3 viewpoints are used to describe the African slave trade? • How did the Europeans ‘justify the taking of slaves’? • How did British merchants first obtain slaves from Africa? • What may have caused OlaudahEquiano to lose his appetite on board the slave ship? • Why did the white people seem savage to Equiano? • Why would the Europeans be concerned with the health and well being of the slaves? • Why would the Africans think that the white man may want to eat them? • After being captured by a neighboring tribe, describe the general feelings that OttobahCugoano describes when he is left by his ‘kidnapper’? • What made OttobahCugoano realize that he was being handed over to a slave trader? • Why is Kwesi J. Anquandah -King of Dahomey upset over the way the Africans involved in the slave trade are represented in European accounts of them? • How do the Europeans who are working on the slave ships describe their ‘cargo’? • Why would the slave ship workers continue to ship people to be sold, given their view of their condition?
Poetry Analysis • Tone – sad, inspirational, ambitious, motivational • audience – discouraged, black people, anyone needing inspiration, those seeking hope, the struggling, pessimistic people • MESSAGE –making the impossible…possible, keep pushing, keep following your dreams…, you can make it regardless of your circumstances • Figurative language – oxymoron (proving nature’s laws wrong), personification (grew and breathe), alliteration –same letters, • Elements - rose = symbolism for persistency, concrete = society, crack = trap, fresh air = new beginning, walking = escaped the trap.
Leg 1 Traders would bring manufactured goods from Europe and other goods to the west coast of Africa in exchange for able-bodied men that could be used in slavery. They would be taken to European colonies in North and South America.
Leg 2 The colonies would produce large amounts of raw materials and crops for the mother country. These crops would be sent back to Europe to be made into manufactured goods. Tobacco Corn Sugar Cotton
Leg 3 Manufactured goods were sent all over the world especially Africa.
The Triangular Trade • The triangular trade was important to the British Empire • Slaves were the first cargo shipped to the Americas • While the Americas brought the cargo of raw materials taken to Europe – rice, cotton, tobacco • The raw materials taken into Europe were made into manufactured goods and shipped all over the world including Africa.
What is the total percentage of slaves came from West central, Bight of Biafra, and Bight of Benin areas? Which region had the highest rate of slave exportation? According to the table, how many total slaves were exported from Africa? …Does this account for every slave that was exported from Africa? Why? Why do you think most slaves came from the Western part of Africa?
Groups which helped slavery come into existence • The African tribal chiefs – after wars, chiefs would often sell off the prisoners which they had captured to Europeans. They claimed that they were shipping off their criminals • The ship merchants – Europeans who bought the slaves from African chiefs. Later, these merchants would begin capturing people on their own • The slave owner – without a buyer there is no market, slave owners would pay a hefty price for ownership of another person
Capture and the Middle Passage • After capture, Africans were packed tightly into slave ships. • The death rate of the “passengers” was 50%. histclo.com
Reasons Africans were enslaved in their own land • Africans were generally enslaved for four main reasons: • War • Destitution • Debt • Crime
The Middle Passage americanabolitionist.liberalarts.iupui.edu
Destination, Auction, and Seasoning • Most Africans landed in Brazil with the least number landing in North America. • Slaves were auctioned off to the highest bidder. • Slaves were put through a process of “seasoning” to get them ready for work. • They learned an European language, were named an European name, and were shown labor requirements.
The Beginnings of Slavery in the U.S. • The Portuguese and Spanish had already brought Africans to South and Latin America. • In 1619, the first Africans were brought to the colony Jamestown, Virginia by the Dutch. picturehistory.com
Why Not Enslave the Native Population? • Native Americans were highly likely to catch European diseases. • They were familiar with the terrain and could escape easier. • They had political allies that could fight against the “owners.”
Reasons for Using Enslaved African Labor • Proximity-It only took 2-6 weeks to get to the colonies from the Caribbean at first. • Experience-They had previous experience and knowledge working in sugar and rice production. • Immunity from diseases-Less likely to get sick due to prolonged contact over centuries. • Low escape possibilities-They did not know the land, had no allies, and were highly visible because of skin color.
Case Study: Anthony Johnson • He was an African brought to the colonies in the 1620s. • He obtained his freedom, and purchased 250 acres of land in Virginia. • He owned at least one slave and white indentured servants. • This shows that blacks were not thought of strictly as slaves until the 1660s. http://claver.gprep.org
Slavery in the Colonies • New England colonies-no large plantation systems; slaves lived in cities and small farms • Chesapeake Bay colonies-large tobacco plantations; center of the domestic slave trade • Carolinas and Georgia-large rice and cotton plantations
The Effects of the American Revolution and the Constitution • Gradual abolition of slavery in the northern colonies • End of the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1808 • Entrenchment of slavery in the South with the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 by Eli Whitney
Life of a Slave • Most slaves had Sundays off and they went to church. • Most slaves could not read or write, and it was illegal for them to learn. • Slave Codes-They could not: leave their home without a pass, carry a weapon, gather in groups, own property, legally marry, defend themselves against a white person, or speak in court.
Resistance • Flight-Slaves would runaway. • Truancy-Flight for a short amount of time and then the slave came back. • Refusal to reproduce-Women refused to have children. • Covert Action-Slaves would sometimes kill animals, destroy crops, start fires, steal stuff, break tools, poison food.
Violence • 4 major slave revolts- • Stono Rebellion-failed revolt in South Carolina in 1739 • Gabriel Prosser-led failed revolt in Virginia in 1800 • Denmark Vessey-led failed revolt in South Carolina in 1822 • Nat Turner-killed 60 white people in Virginia in 1831
Punishment • Slaves were often brutally punished for misbehaving. • Punishments included: whipping, branding, being sold, gagged (silence), and other torturous methods were used.
Land of Freedom? Slavery in colonial America
CREATING ANGLO-AMERICA • TWO BASIC QUESTIONS: • HOW DID SLAVERY TAKE ROOT IN THE • ATLANTIC WORLD? • WHAT IS THE LANGUAGE OF FREEDOM?
TOBACCO AND SLAVERY • Englishmen and Africans • The spread of tobacco led settlers to turn to slavery, which offered many advantages over indentured servants • In the early to mid-seventeenth century, the concepts of race and racism had not fully developed • Africans were seen as alien in their color, religion, and social practices • Slavery in History • Although slavery has a long history, slavery in the North America was markedly different from Europe • Slavery developed slowly in the Americas because slaves were expensive and their death rate was high in the seventeenth century
SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES • “NO EUROPEAN NATION, INCLUDING ENGLAND, EMBARKED ON THE COLONIZATION OF THE NEW WORLD WITH THE INTENTION OF RELYING ON AFRICAN SLAVED FOR THE BULK OF ITS LABOR FORCE.” • BUT THE INCESSANT DEMAND FOR WORKERS SPURRED BY THE SPREAD OF TOBACCO CULTIVATION LED TO IT EVENTUALLY.
The Idea of Race How do you define racism? When did the idea of racism develop?
THE IDEA OF RACE Define racism When did racism develop? Forever / whenever 1900s? 1600s? 1700s? 1600-1700. • Discrimination of another person based on their ethnicity, culture, background, religion. • Hatred towards people that are not the same race as yours. • Stereotypes • The belief that your race is superior to another.
“RACE” & “RACISM” • THE TERM “RACE” IS A MODERN CONCEPT THAT HAD NOT FULLY DEVELOPED IN THE 17TH CENTURY. • ITS MEANING, IS THE IDEA THAT HUMANITY IS DIVIDED INTO WELL-DEFINED GROUPS ASSOCIATED WITH COLOR.
“RACE” & “RACISM” • FONER DEFINES “RACISM” AS: • “AN IDEOLOGY BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT SOME RACES ARE INHERENTLY SUPERIOR TO OTHERS AND ENTITLED TO RULE OVER THEM.”
SLAVERY AND THE LAW • The line between slavery and freedom was more • permeable in the seventeenth century than it • would later become. • Some free blacks were allowed to sue and • testify in court. • Anthony Johnson arrived as a slave but • became a slave-owning plantation owner.
SLAVERY AND THE LAW • It was not until the 1660s that the laws of Virginia and Maryland explicitly referred to slavery. • A Virginia law of 1662 provided that in the case of a child who had one free and one enslaved parent, the status of the offspring followed that of the mother. • In 1667 the Virginia House of Burgesses decreed that religious conversion did not release a slave from bondage.
NORTH AMERICAN SLAVERY “IN THE AMERICA’S, SLAVERY WAS BASED ON THE PLANTATION, AN AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE THAT BROUGHT TOGETHER LARGE NUMBERS OF WORKERS UNDER THE CONTROL OF A SINGLE OWNER. THIS IMBALANCE MAGNIFIED THE POSSIBILITY OF SLAVE RESISTANCE AND MADE IT NECESSARY TO POLICE THE SYSTEM RIGIDLY. IT ENCOURAGED THE CREATION OF A SHARP BOUNDARY BETWEEN SLAVERY AND FREEDOM.”
A Slave Society • A number of factors made slave labor very • attractive to English settlers by the end of the • 17th century, and slavery began to supplant • indentured servitude between 1680 and 1700 • By the early eighteenth century, Virginia • had transformed from a society with • slaves to a slave society. • In 1705, the House of Burgesses enacted • strict slave codes.
Notions of Freedom • From the start of American slavery, blacks ran away and desired freedom. • Settlers were well aware that the desire for freedom could ignite the slaves to rebel
Slave Culture and Slave Resistance African-American Cultures • In the Chesapeake, slaves learned English, were part of the Great Awakening, and were exposed to white culture • In South Carolina and Georgia, two very different black societies emerged • Rice plantations remained distinctly African • Urban servants assimilated into Euro-American culture
CRISES OF RESISTANCE,1739-1741 1739 – ON JAMAICA, A MAJOR BRITISH CENTER OF SUGAR PRODUCTION, COMMUNITIES OF MAROONS RESISTED PLANTERS’ AUTHORITY UNTIL BRITISH AUTHORITIES IN A TREATY RECOGNIZED THEIR FREEDOM IN EXCHANGE FOR WHICH THE MAROONS AGREED TO RETURN FUTURE ESCAPEES. 1739-40 – STONO REBELLLION IN SOUTH CAROLINA SAW AN UPRISING OF OVER 100 SLAVES WHICH LED TO A TIGHTER SLAVE CODE FOR SOUTH CAROLINA AND A PROHIBITIVE TAX ON IMPORTED SLAVES 1741 – RIOTS AND FIRES IN NEW YORK CITY WHERE SLAVES WITH WHITE ALLIES PLANNED TO BURN PART OF THE CITY,. SEIZE WEAPONS, AND MURDER THE WHITE POPULATION OR TURN OVER NEW YORK TO SPAIN. ALL THESE CRISES DISPROVE THE NOTION THAT SLAVES HAD NO CONCEPT OF “LIBERTY”
Slavery and the British Empire Slave Systems in the English Colonies • Three distinct slave systems were well entrenched in Britain’s mainland colonies • Chesapeake • South Carolina and Georgia • Non- plantation societies of New England and the Middle Colonies • Chesapeake slavery was based on tobacco • Chesapeake plantations tended to be smaller and daily interactions between masters and slaves were more extensive
Slavery and the Empire • Slavery transformed Chesapeake society into an elaborate hierarchy of degrees of freedom • large planters • yeomen farmers • indentured servants; tenant farmers • slaves • With the consolidation of a slave society, race took on more and more importance as a line of social division • Liberties of free blacks were stripped away