Slavery in AmericaFrom Colonial Americato Antebellum U.S.

Earlier Forms of Slavery• Slavery existed in many places and forms throughout human

history: Greeks, Romans, Slavs, Muslims, Africans, Europeans• Differed from place to place, time to time• Majority of slaves before Atlantic Slave Trade:

• Slaves captured in wars (POWs)• Payment for debts (could sell self into slavery)• Usually temporary situation, at least generationally (status of

slave not inherited from parents)• Ways of gaining status for some slaves (some social mobility)

• African slavery existed before Atlantic Slave Trade• POWs, agricultural work, some soldiers, some gained high status• Most were of low status or debtors• Could marry non-slaves, children were free

Environmental And Geographical Variety of Africa

Spread of Islam in Africa up to Middle Ages

Trade Across the Sahara• Trade brought west African societies

into contact with Berbers, Arabs, other African tribes

• The importance of camels – necessary to cross desert

• Huge camel caravans to west Africa• West African rulers and kingdoms

converted to Islam: used Islamic law, institutions, and writing

• Link to Trade and Spread of Islam in Africa (Art)

Islam & Slave Trade

• Muslim demand for slaves of all races: not religious, for political power and wealth

• Variety of uses for African slaves: for household, military, and labor

• Different than Atlantic slave trade which was racially- and plantation-based

• Slave caravans from west Africa across Sahara• Muslims also traded in slaves from east Africa –

coastal ports on Red Sea and Indian Ocean carried slaves from African interior

Empires of Medieval Africa

West African Kingdoms: Ghana• Ghana – “land of gold”

• Strong kingdom before Islam• Controlled trade of gold & salt• Berber traders converted elite to Islam• Then Berbers adopted militant form of Islam –

followers were called Almoravids• Conquered Spain, converted Ghanaians

• Art of the Almoravid Period• Trans-Saharan Gold Trade

West African Kingdoms: Mali• Mali (1200-1450 CE)

• Mandinke People• Successor to state of Ghana• Upper Niger River• Good agriculture & lots of rainfall• Strong Rulers: Sundiata, Mansa Uli, Mansa Musa• MM Pilgrimage to Mecca 1324 CE• Very rich & powerful – visited kings of other nations• Timbuktu became center of learning & culture (p. 134)

Mosque in Djenne (Mali)

Empire of Mali (1200-1450 CE)

Ife West African Bronzes• 12th-15th-century CE• Symbols of power

and religion• Connection with

spirit world• Power of kings

• To reach spirits• Over people

• Link to images• Link to videos

Effects of trade on West Africa• Connections to other cultures• Spread of Islam• Slave trade• Growth of African merchant class and cities• Consolidation of kingdoms to control trade• Power used to control trade and people:

enslaved non-Muslims and unprotected• Example, Ife bronzes: show kings AND

captives

European Exploration & Labor Systems

• Colonization & Empires based on exploitation of native and African populations• Spanish system = encomienda labor system = mining and

agriculture by natives (slaves/serfs)• Portuguese, French, and English = enslavement of Africans• Creation of plantations in Caribbean, No. and So. Americas

to grow staple crops: sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton• Racial system of slavery eventually developed –

Europeans rationalized only blacks could be slaves

Slave trade transported slaves throughout Atlantic World – majority of slaves outside U.S.

Atlantic Slave Trade• Europeans tapped into existing slave trade in Africa• Atlantic slave trade increased demand for slaves exponentially• Atlantic demand dramatically intensified and expanded slave

trade within Africa • Slave trade greatly affected African societies

• Increase power of kings and elites• Created new trader elite on coast – multilingual, multi-ethnic,

married Europeans, mixed-race children• Affected political boundaries and states• Led to increased warfare and slave raids, conducted with Euro.

guns• Created thousands of refugees• Created African dependence on foreign goods, preventing

indigenous economic development still seen today

Slavery and Industry• Often people think of slavery and industrialization as two

separate processes• But there are major links and connections:

• Time periods• Goods• Methods of production• Machinery• Methods of labor control• Emphases on efficiency and productivity• European middle classes involved in both: merchants, bankers,

shipping, plantation owners• Slavery and industrialization connected in major ways –

reinforced each other, affected the development of each other

Slave Captives• Slaves were usually captured by African slave raiders• In early years of Atlantic trade, kings or traders sold slaves that were

on hand• As trade deepened and expanded, demand for slaves increased, and

raiders had to go further into the interior for supplies of slaves• Usually went up one of the major rivers in canoes• Raided villages• Link to clip of slave capture from the film Amistad• Raiders took slaves to coastal forts or factories run by Africans or

mixed-race trading families• Slaves were usually kept in pens on the beach• Many slaves died en route to forts and on beaches before ever

setting sail for the Americas

African Slave “Factory” on African Coast

West African Slave Fort or “Factory”

Tools of the African Slave Trade

Slave Fort and Boats

Slave Fort, Ghana, 1973

Slave Ship

Middle Passage: efficient and controlled transportation of goods AND murderous enslavement and exploitation of fellow humans

Below-decks of Slave Ship, 1845

Atlantic Slave Trade, 1701-1810

Cuban Sugar Mill

Slavery and Industry: use of new technologies, machinery, labor control for moreefficient production of consumer goods

Sugar Plantation

Sugar Mill

The Merchant Ship: Industrial?

• A factory at sea

• Discipline• Control• Hierarchy• Economic

profit• Engaged in

Atlantic trade

Consumption, Production, Finance• Relationships between new forms of industry and new

forms of consumption• New forms of popular consumption fueled and

reinforced the development of industrial production – slave and free

• New forms of banking, finance, insurance to fund and secure Atlantic trade

• Examples: sugar plantations, rum, coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton

• Conclusion: most inhabitants of the Atlantic world were connected to slave systems in some way – not equal ways, of course

The Coffee House:meeting place, banking, dealing, consumption

New Forms of Consumption

• Cheap sugar, textiles, guns, rum• Not just for royalty anymore• Growing middle-class conspicuous consumption:

• Cakes, sugary treats, for example• But also working-class consumption• Coffee houses – places to talk politics• Sugar – cheap calories for factory workers• Cheap goods for Atlantic Trade• New consumption patterns tightened relationships,

both positive and negative

North American Slavery

• Distinctions:• General differences between North American and

Caribbean/South American slavery• Differences by size of plantation• By region – northern slavery, upper vs. lower south,

western slavery• By crop – tobacco, rice, sugar, coffee, cotton• Changes over time (for example, after Am. Revolution;

after end of Atlantic slave trade; after LA Purchase)• Link to clip on slavery in the Carolinas (from the PBS

series, Slavery and the Making of America (2005)

Slaves in the Original Thirteen Colonies (1750-1860)

Slaves as Percentage of Southern Population (1750-1860)

Slaves as Percentage of Southern Population (1750-1860

Pirates

• What do pirates represent?

Blackbeard the Pirate

Link to National Geographic article onBlackbeard’s ship, recent archaeologicalwork on the underwater wreck

Blackbeard and North Carolina• Blackbeard hijacked French slave ship La

Concorde off Caribbean island of Martinique; set slaves free

• Ship had been used for at least 3 slaving voyages, around 500 slaves each• 61 died on Middle Passage on last voyage• 16 crew members also died

• Blackbeard plundered ships in triangle and Atlantic/Caribbean trade

Atlantic Resistance to Power?

• At their most radical:• Pirates represented rare form of interracial lower-class

solidarity• Whites, blacks, and people from all over the Atlantic fought

Atlantic industrial and slave systems together

• But….white resistance to power, authority, and exploitation usually took other forms:• Problem of racism - usually divided white working-class

from slaves and free blacks in Atlantic world• White workers defined themselves as not slaves• Whites gained prestige, small level of comfort &

consumption, wages for not being slaves

Popular Resistance

• There were a variety of popular responses by people around the Atlantic in times of economic change• During feudalism (peasants vs. lords)• Reused during transition to industrial economy• Used to attack or undermine authority of

masters (of different kinds – slave masters, industrial owners, middle class)

Mumming and MasqueradeMumming was tradition of masquerade in feudal and modern Europe

Usually around harvest or Xmastime

A night when it was ok to challenge lord’s ormaster’s authority

Lord or masterexpected to sharewealth or abun-dance, “the treat” Mummers showing up at the master’s door

Luddites in EnglandLuddites reused tradition of popular local protest and masquerade to protest new industrial system

Luddites smashed newindustrial factories and machines to protest control and power of new industrial system

Often worked at night, in masks, costumes, under cover of darkness

Signed protest letters as “Ned Ludd”

Modern Mumming in Philly

Modern Mummers Day Parade in Philadelphia every New Year’s Day

History of Public Resistance and Performance• Context of owner surveillance and control – attempts to

limit gatherings in groups, fear of slave revolt• Slaves, free blacks, post-slavery black Americans cele-

brated Emancipation Day as reminder of continued fight for racial, social, and economic equality

• Claiming public sites or spaces when they did not have any formal power or rights

• Examples• John Canoe or Jonkonnu• Pinkster and Negro Election Day• Public religious, political, musical expression

• Often poked fun at whites through dress and mimicry

Everyday acts of resistance – What are they talking about?

Slavery in Age of Revolution• Revolutionary and Enlightenment beliefs had great

impact on slaves and slavery• Ideas of liberty, freedom, equality, natural rights

circulated throughout the Atlantic world• Adam Smith – free labor and markets are best• Lord Dunmoore – slaves would be freed if they fought

for Brits during Am. Revolution• Some upper south owners freed slaves after Am.

Revolution • Northwest Ordinance, 1787 – slavery banned from NW

territory• Gradual Emancipation in northern states in late 18th- and

early 19th centuries

Frederick Douglass and the Slave Experience• In what ways did Douglass resist the power of slaveholders

and slave society?

Resistance: Atlantic Abolitionists• Britain developed strong abolitionist movement• Quakers in 18th and 19th centuries• William Wilberforce and reformers in Parliament –

British slave trade abolished, 1807• Abolition of slavery in colonies, 1830s• Strong working-class support for abolition, despite

fears of textile unemployment• British: if they could abolish slavery, then it was right

thing for U.S. to do• Advocated “free trade” and “free labor” instead of

slave labor• Critics of “free labor” said it wasn’t truly free either

Close-up of Painting

Comments?:

Possible Student SelectionStudent Comments:

Abolition: Common White Fears

• For most whites, abolition was scary • It raised questions and fears about ex-slaves:

• Are blacks capable of being free?• Can they live peacefully with whites?• Will they work if not forced to? – assumed they were

naturally lazy• Will they work for wages?• Will they assimilate into society?• Fears of sexual relations with whites – racial mixture

French and Haitian Revolutions

• Circulation of revolutionary ideals throughout Atlantic

• Impact of French Rev. on slaves in Haiti and other Atlantic slave societies

• Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804: only successful slave revolt

• Haitian Revolt and Republic inspired slaves throughout Atlantic

• Struck fear in whites – worst possible outcome in white minds

Effects of Issues of Slavery and Wage Labor in the Atlantic World?

Zombies!• What is a zombie?• Dead, but alive• Disguise of zombie• Group of zombies – mass conformity• Mindless, speechless• Created by some kind of disaster• Consciousness – being conscious vs. loss of control

Zombies: Atlantic Radicals?• Product of Atlantic economic, social, and cultural

history and connections• Loosely based on West African and Haitian vodun

(voodoo) religious practices, combined with Christian and other influences

• Africa – Caribbean – Britain – U.S. – World • Stories and myths - critical of power, control, loss of

freedom• Began under slavery • Emancipation as evolving issue – new forms of

power and control – wage labor, colonialism, Jim Crow,….

Film, White Zombie, 1932• Meaning?

Fela Kuti, Zombie, 1977• Nigerian Afrobeat musician• Influenced by U.S.

Black Power movement

• Anti-colonial activist• Activist for Nigerian

democracy, against govt. repression

Michael Jackson’s Thriller• What is the message of Thriller?

• How does Thriller deal with white fears?

Image of Integration: The American Dream

Image of Integration: Public Culture

Image of Religious Mystery:Black Christianity and Folk Traditions

Image of Black Urban Culture: Street Performance

Major Issues that Defined Atlantic World• Control and discipline of workers (slave and

free)• Production for profit• Control of time• Control of space• Movement and trade of primary resources in

exchange for finished industrial goods• Growth of middle classes in ports and

industrial centers• Growth of working-class/slave populations

Connections• New forms of power, control, and profit in the Atlantic

World• Connections between slavery and industrial capitalism• Popular forms of resistance to power and economic

exploitation• Wage labor developed within context of Atlantic Economy

and African enslavement – wage workers compared to slaves

• Possibilities of cross-racial resistance• Problems of white fears: of loss of control and power

(slavery)• Emancipation movements and continuing importance of

issues of race, power, freedom in Atlantic and world history