Slavery and Sugar
• First African slaves in Lisbon, Portugal
a) Captured by Portuguese
• Labored (sugar plantations)
a) Madeira Island
b) Brazil
c) Caribbean
West African Society
• Skilled farmers
• Slavery in W. African society
a) Treated like family members
b) Marriage allowed
c) slaves’ offspring born free
Slavery in the New World
• Western Europe engaged in slave trade
• 10-12 million slaves in New World
a) Slave trade lasted four centuries
b) About 600,000 slaves
1) British Colonies
Shock of Enslavement
• Slave trade
a) Collaboration (Europeans and Africans)
• Africans
a) Actual capturing of slaves
1) Nightfall attacks/raids
b) families/ethnic groups separated
1) why?: lessen collective resistance
18th Cent. print
Middle Passage
• Middle Passage: Voyage from west Africa to
New World slave colonies
• Voyage conditions:
a) Kept below deck
b) Duration: 3 weeks – 3 months
c) No adequate sanitation
1) Epidemics common (1/6 died)
• Sale methods: auctions or the “scramble”
Early 19th cent. Sketch
Olaudah Equiano,
ca. 1780,
unknown artist
-Captured:
Nigeria, 1756
-age: 11 yrs. old
Slavery’s Impact
• European Nations
a) Grew strong/wealthy
• Africa
a) Grew weaker
b) Raids deadly
1) Labor/manufacturing affected
Slavery in the Colonies
• First Africans
a) Virginia (1619)
1) Traded for supplies
• Slavery (initially)
a) Few slaves
1) why?: too costly
b)Mingled w/ indentured servants
Shift: Indentured Servants to
African Slavery
• 1670s
a) Number of indentured servants decline
1) Why?: lack of arable land
• Slaves (more expensive)
a) Work longer hours
b) Fewer days off
Slavery and Law
• Slave population growth = slavery laws
• Virginia (1662)
a) Mother’s condition
1) Offspring (free/bond)
• Virginia (1667)
a) Christianity not exemption
• Virginia (1669)
a) Death during punishment not a crime
Labor and Slavery
• Tobacco production increased
a) Where: Maryland, Virginia, and N. Carolina
1) Slavery increase
• Slaves labored (Lower South)
a) Rice plantations
b) Indigo plantations
Slaves’ Daily Life
• Majority: field work
• Clothing
a) Inadequate (winter)
• Small plantations (tobacco)
a) Work along side master
b) Lived w/owner
• Rice/indigo plantations (large)
a) Slave quarters
“Buddy Qua of St. Vincent” 18th sketch
Slave Family (most important
institution)
• Danger: family broken up
• African culture
a) African names
• Small plantations
a) Spouses (neighboring farms)
• Large plantations
a) Families lived together
Slave Community
• Community
a) Protect children and elderly
• Kinship ties
a) Children (terms used)
1) Auntie or uncle
b)Adults (terms used)
1) Brother or sister
Development of African American
Culture
• When: 18th cent
• Factors needed
a) High birthrate
b) Increase in country born
• Foundation: dance and music
a) Before language
b) Recreated: banjo
18th cent. Painting, slave quarter (S.
Carolina)
Development of African American
Culture
• Fusion: religion, music, and dance
a) Burial ceremonies
1) Dancing and singing
• Christianity not preached to slaves
a) why?: Claims of freedom
b) Why?: Universal brotherhood/equality
Africanization of Colonies
• Recent arrivals
a) Reinforced African tradition
• African style of cooking
a) In colonial diets
• “Herb doctors” helped
a) blacks
b) whites
“Residence and Slave Quarters of Mulberry
Plantation,” by Thomas Coram, ca. 1770 (Charleston)
Slave Resistance
• Broke/lost tools
• Mistreated animals
• Mock owners
• Runaway
a) Established maroons communities
• Revolt (least common)
“The Slave Hunt,” by Thomas Moran,
1862, oil on canvas.
“Virginia Gazette,” Sept. 14, 1769, by
Thomas Jefferson
Slavery and British Economy
• Enormous profits
a) Slave trade
b) Plantation products
c) export goods
• Economic impact
a) Funded
1) Banks
2) Insurance companies
Control of the Economy
• Navigation Acts (1651-1696)
a) Colonies
1) Suppliers of raw materials
2) Market for British products
3) Other nations excluded
Control of the Economy
• Enumerated commodities
a) Shipped to England only
1) Sugar, tobacco, rice, and indigo
• Colonies can’t produce
a) wool
b) No tariff on English products
Poor Whites in the Colonies
• No land or slaves (40%)
• Labor
a) Tenant farmers or indenture servants
b) Overseers
• Slavery’s impact
a) Limited their labor opportunities