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2mdiv_2013_ch7_powerpoint.pptChapter Seven
Understanding the African American/Black Experience
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Discussion
- Is the term African-American appropriate?
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Free Blacks in America
- Not all African Americans came to America as slaves; a few came even in the 17th century as free men, sailors working on ships.
- In the early colonial years, some Africans came as indentured servants, as did many of the immigrants from the British Isles.
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Free Blacks in America
- Indentured Black servants became free when they completed their term of indenture;
- they were also eligible for head rights for land in the new colony in the Chesapeake Bay region, where indentured servants were more common.
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Free Blacks in America
As early as 1619, a class of free black people existed in North America.
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Why enslave others?
- Slavery was extremely profitable.
- Free labor allows those in power to gain wealth at the expense of others.
- Slavery as a form of free labor was on the rise as products like sugar, coffee, cotton, and tobacco became in great need.
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- Many countries like Spain, France, the Dutch, and English wanted their colonial plantation system to work to produce these good and the most profitable means of doing this was by cheap or free labor through slaves.
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Africans as slaves in America
- African slaves were valuable because of their skill level.
- Africans also brought the skills and trades of their homeland to North America, and their expertise shaped the industry and agriculture of the continent.
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- West Africans with experience navigating the waterways of their homeland helped open the rivers and canals of the Northwest frontier to boat traffic.
- Seasoned African cattle drivers were able to apply their skills to ox teams and livestock.
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- Many Africans were deeply familiar with large-scale rice and indigo cultivation, which were completely unknown to European Americans; without the skills of Africans and their descendants, the rice fields of South Carolina and Louisiana might never have existed.
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- The number of Africans brought to the Americas has been hard to estimate.
- Estimates vary between 9 and 15 million.
- The slave trade began in the 1500s with only several thousand being bartered or stolen, then over the next 400 years there were tens of thousands being shipped.
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Chattel Slavery
- Slavery in America was called chattel slavery because unlike slavery in other parts of the world, the slaves were not considered humans but property.
- As property or chattel, they could be sold, beaten, raped, hung, lynched all at their master’s disposal and this occurred often.
- Slavery through it’s free labor allowed America to flourish. But it was never an institution that was accepted by all whites.
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Slavery in America
- Movies like “Gone with Wind” would have many believe that slavery was an acceptable institution.
- Lack of knowledge about the first known civilization and resource abundant continent Africa may make some believe that slavery was better than the Africans homeland.
- But slavery in America was brutal and was to be long lasting because it was about free labor—the second economic resource.
- Middle Passage
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The Untold Slave Story
Gordon Wood in over 300 pages of colonial revolutionary history cites no slave fugitives, no slave insurrections, no maroons or no colonial opposition to slavery
However, slave revolutions lasted throughout the entire period until the Civil War
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The Untold Slave Story
Slaves at first wanted to escape the slavery system, then they sought to destroy it, and this started with:
* The Pointee Coupee of 1795 which was set by the prior in 1791.
* There was the formation of a virtual slave army although they were poorly armed they got the attention of the New Orleans militia.
* Sixty six were killed and their heads were placed on high poles.
* These were fueled by the Haitian Revolution and the abolition of slavery by the French.
- Louisiana under Spanish control
- Started on Julian Poydras estate: were to burn down the estate and kill all that came to help put out the fire
- 2 Tunican women betrayed the group
- 63 people were implicated
- Found that it would have been bigger than just Pointe Coupee
- Put severed heads on posts along Mississippi River as deterrent
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The Untold Slave Story
Gabriels Revolution in Virginia in 1800, was a struggle of oppressed workers as well as slaves against the merchants led by Gabriel—a free slave.
It was not a race war but a class struggle.
- Included all oppressed people, but just black slaves
- On day of revolt, a major storm delayed things by knocking out bridges and roads
- Word spread and the revolt was stopped
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The Untold Slave Story
This did not stop them as another conspiracy took place in 1816 led by Denmark.
Denmark, a freed slave, wanted to help others gain freedom
Gabriel, Denmark their countless predecessors had been intelligent, cunning and rhetorically powerful figures, but in 1831 a truly charismatic leader emerged from the slave social order.
- Another slave informed on them
- Over 100 arrested and many executed including Denmark
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The Untold Slave Story
- Nat Turner emerged and he was a prophet who helped the slaves fight with his ability to see the future.
- After Nat was killed some legislators thought they had destroyed the slaves light, but they were indeed wrong.
- You can not make a people who were once free, enslaved. These Africans never stopped fighting but little of this is found in history.
- Ravaged Southhampton for two days, killing over 55 white adults and children
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The Untold Slave Story
- Underground Railroad while thousands of free men and women were committed to the fugitives, it was the intelligence, desire, and courage of the fugitive slaves themselves that sustained this great movement.
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The Untold Slave Story
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The Untold Slave Story
- Until the Civil War, slave fugitives were an everyday occurrences
- Some were caught & returned, some were killed, some committed suicide, some utilized the Underground Railroad, some were in maroon communities
- For the slaves, acts of resistance and the lore that swelled around them in tales and songs became Black culture
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What Role did Blacks Play in the American Revolution?
- Blacks not only revolted and created their own wars but they also fought on the side of the British in the American Revolution.
- The British unlike America had granted them their freedom in exchange for their skills.
- But who did the American Revolution really help?
- It gave civil rights to about 15% of the population. Leaving poorer colonists, the slaves, all women and the Native-Americans to the mercies of few.
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What role did the Willie Lynch Letter Play?
- It helped the slave owners control slaves through their minds instead of beatings (beatings caused a loss of labor time).
- It utilized the method of divide and conquer to pit slaves one against another.
- It utilized brainwashing to convince whites that all blacks should never be trusted.
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What role did the Willie Lynch Letter Play?
- Five Rules:
- Maintain strict discipline
- Instill belief of personal inferiority
- Develop awe of master’s power (instill fear)
- Accept master’s standard of “good conduct”
- Develop a habit of perfect dependence
- Does the Willie Lynch letter still impact Americans today?
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Chattel Slavery
- Slavery through it’s free labor allowed America to flourish. But it was never an institution that was accepted by all whites.
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White and Black Abolitionists
- Abolitionists made slavery a moral issue and increased the pressure for change.
- Whites and Blacks worked together for this common cause.
- There was more solidarity between people of all colors than is often focused on.
William Lloyd Garrison
- The Liberator
- The New England Anti-Slavery Society
- Militant view
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Angelina Grimke Weld
- Southern woman
- 1st American woman to address Congress on behalf of slavery and women’s rights
- Provided a woman’s perspective
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Frederick Douglass
- Degrees of freedom
- Full integration into political and economic life
- Supporter of women’s rights
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Is Equal Opportunity a Reality for African Americans Today?
- After 300 or more years of slavery, Willie Lynch methods and Jim Crow Laws do you think it is safe to assume that discrimination is no longer an issue for African Americans?
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Discussion
- Was slavery only in this country?
- What is meant by chattel slavery?
- Why was slavery in America more brutal than other slave institutions?
- Why did most slaves in this country come from Africa?
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Discussion
- In what way did the slaves fight back to slavery?
- Why weren’t Native Americans used as slaves?
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