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Transcript
The Institution and its Human Impact
 Africa had its own slave trade within its Nations
 Gave “justification” to take African slaves
 European explorers noticed skin colour
 Term “black” in the 16th Century meant dirty, devil-
like, soil, evil, debasement
 Early theories of their skin colour- burnt by the
sun, or that apes evolved into African or bestiality
 Therefore…. seen as naturally INFERIOR
Q: Why is slavery considered to be an institution?
• First African slaves brought to Jamestown, Virginia
•
•
•
•
in 1619 (might have been instances of slavery prior
to this time in failed colonies)
First considered indentured servants
Racial slavery happened gradually
Many indentured slaves had worked through their
terms and were freed – lack of labourers and
competition
Slavery became necessary to produce lucrative
crops, such as tobacco
 1661 Slavery entered Virginia law – initially directed at
indentured servants (white and black)
 Other colonies legalized slavery throughout the latter
part of the 17th century
• Slavery practiced throughout American colonies in the 17th
and 18th century
• Slavery built the economic foundations of America
• Many former indentured labourers could not support
themselves
• Lower classes revolt in Jamestown
• Bacon promised freedom if Blacks joined his cause
Outcome
• Planter class is afraid of their servants
• Divide lower classes between whites and blacks
• 1st Virginia Slave Codes of 1705
1. Separate treatment of white indentured servants and
black slaves
2. Black punishment harsher
‘The poverty of the country is such that all the power and
sway has got into the hands of the rich, who by extortious
advantages, having the common people in their debt,
have always curbed and oppressed them in all manner of
ways.’ --Nathaniel Bacon
 Africans were forcefully taken from their countries for
slavery
 The voyage to the New World and the Caribbean was
long and the slaves were mistreated
Amistad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMliaXlKxow
What types of atrocities did you witness in this clips?
How might the slaves have felt during this voyage?
 http://www.historytools.org/sources/equiano.pdf
• Africans did not know where they were going
• Branded with hot irons and restrained with shackles
• ‘Living quarters’: 5 feet of headroom, little ventilation,
no place for waste, disease
• Voyage took from 1-6 months 10-20 % died
 Invention of the Cotton Gin led to the ability to




produce cotton in mass quantity – cotton became a
lucrative crop and major export of the South
More slaves needed due to increased demand
Price of slaves increased and price of cotton increased
Became inherited and permanent
Overtime slavery viewed as essential for Southern
plantations (tobacco and cotton)
 Eli Whitney
 Cotton Gin
1. Household servants
• Mostly women (young and old)
• Privileged, but abused and never had time off
• Catered to whims of white society
• Suffered a great deal of sexual abuse
2. Artisans
• Most privileged
• Blacksmiths, masons, carpenters
• Worked on their own with little supervision
• Mostly men
3. Field Workers
• Majority of slaves
• Black women were seen as strong but their quotas were
lower
• Lived in individual or group barracks near the field
• Slave communities developed
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Slave Music
Folk Tales
Gullah
Ceremonies
Religion
 Continuation of African tradition
STYLE
 Percussion important
 Syncopated rhythm (down beats)
 Call and response
FORM OF PROTEST
 2 forms (secular and spiritual)
 Form of spiritual resistance
 God will punish whites for slavery
 Music of protest, leads to later forms (rap, jazz)
Wade in the water (children)
Wade in the water
Wade in the water
God's gonna trouble the water
If you don't believe I've been redeemed
God's gonna trouble the water
I want you to follow him on down to Jordan stream
(I said) My God's gonna trouble the water
You know chilly water is dark and cold
(I know my) God's gonna trouble the water
You know it chills my body but not my soul
(I said my) God's gonna trouble the water
(Come on let's) wade in the water
Wade in the water (children)
Wade in the water
God's gonna trouble the water
Now if you should get there before I do
(I know) God's gonna trouble the water
Tell all my friends that I'm comin' too
(I know) God's gonna trouble the water
Sometimes I'm up lord and sometimes I'm down
(You know my) God's gonna trouble the water
Sometimes I'm level to the ground
God's gonna trouble the water
(I Know) God's gonna trouble the water
Wade in the water (children)
Wade out in the water (children)
God's gonna trouble the water
Caller: Now see that possum he works hard.
Chorus: Hoe Emma Hoe, you turn around dig a
hole in the ground, Hoe Emma Hoe.
 Used to regulate the pace
of their work
 Used to talk about their
overseers, masters and
their living/work
conditions
 Call and response used
See this website for
examples:
Caller: But he cain't work as hard a me.
Chorus: Hoe Emma Hoe, you turn around dig a
hole in the ground, Hoe Emma Hoe.
Caller: He sits a horse just as pretty as can be.
Chorus: Hoe Emma Hoe, you turn around dig a
hole in the ground, Hoe Emma Hoe.
Caller: He can ride on and leave me be.
Chorus: Hoe Emma Hoe, you turn around dig a
hole in the ground, Hoe Emma Hoe.
(Repeat)
 Songs were passed down through generations
orally
 Stories were as well
 Themes included weak animals trying to trick
stronger animals
 Teaches children to outwit their oppressor
 Symbolic of relationships with Whites
 Ex: Bre’r Rabbit
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/remus/toosharp.
html
What is the significance of these tales?
 Creation of their own unique language
 Combination of European and African languages
 Language was a form of resistance, whites could
not understand gullah
 De buckruh dey duh 'ood duh hunt tuckrey.--"The white
man is in the woods hunting turkeys."
 All two dem 'ooman done fuh smaa't. -- "Both those
women are really smart."
 Enty duh dem shum dey? -- "Aren't they the ones who
saw him there?"
 Dem dey dey duh wait fuh we. -- "They are there waiting
for us."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvuWSJI87r8
 Way for slave owners to get slaves to work faster- have a
feast
 Corn-shucking got done quickly
 Slaves knew they had to do the work anyway, at least
they get a reward
Slave Religion (mix of African Religion and
Christianity)
 One great god
 Grouping of lesser gods (like Natives)
 Reincarnation
 Slaves added Christianity to their own beliefs
 Used as psychological resistance
 Founded own churches (sense of community)
 Evangelicalism (singing and religion)
 Rap music today is still connected to religion
 Moynihan Report (1965)The Negro Family: The Case
For National Action
 Deep roots of black poverty and absence of nuclear
families
Problems for Nuclear Family under Slavery:
 1. family members can be sold at any time
 2. if master died, family could be separated
 3. finances- if problem sell slave to raise money
 Nuclear family
 Had long marriages (unless separated by force)
Why?
 Resistance- love, self-respect, self-worth
Why did masters allow?
 If married had children = future slaves
 Masters had ceremonies for slaves
 “Jumping the Broomstick” African Tradition
 Often off-plantation marriages (marry slaves from
other plantations) WHY??
1. Not many slaves in same age group
2. Sexual abuse by owners hard on families
 Fathers maintained a relationship with their
children (saw weekly)
 Threat of separation though was always present
 Assistance of slave communities in raising children
(if family is broken)
 1. Symbol of respect for elderly, called elders
“uncle” or “aunt”
 2. sense of belonging in new slave communities
“brother” or “sister” (still used in rap music)

Were not passive, they DID resist slavery
A few forms….
1. Day-to-day resistance
2. Runaways
3. Maroon Communities
4. Slave Rebellion
 1. Feigning illness- master would not want to push slave
 2. Tool breaking- get a day off
 3. Feigning ignorance- frustrates master
 4. Arson- barns, master’s house
 5. Outright violence against master (not common)
1. Hideouts
 Slave communities watch out for
 Many temporary runaways
 Punished by a whipping
2. Permanent freedom
 young, unattached men
 Not the norm
 Relied on Northern abolitionists
 1820s North abolished slavery
 Not fundamental to their economy
 Fugitive Slave Act- anywhere in US, people returned to owners
 Underground railroad- to Canada or hideouts up north
 Florida- Native communities offer sanctuary to slaves
 Defensive wars
 1880s Gabriel Presser
Richmond, Virginia
 Set fires to create chaos
 Starts rebellion but does
not get message to many
slaves
 Arrested for treason
 Wins lottery $1500 and




buys himself
1822
Becomes a preacher
Spreads word to revolt
Never happens, white
authorities hear about it
 Slave preacher
 Start in Virginia
 Heads to Florida, idea to
kill white people
 60 whites killed
 Caught after several
months
 Less revolts because less
organized
 Myth = Lincoln the “Great Emancipator”
 Outbreak of Civil War: slavery the main political
issue of the war
 Fugitive Slave Act- point of tension, people in
Union do not want to give slaves back
 Yankee Leasees: North runs plantations with slaves
for the war effort (difference, paid a little)
 In South, many plantations left without masters
(did not work)
 Some slaves joined the Union Army
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
All slaves in confederate held territory on Jan 1, 1863 will
be free
Slave owners will be given $1500 for loss of property
Tries to get Southern States to come into the Union so
they can keep slaves
People misinterpret and think that slavery will end,
Lincoln’s popularity decreases
Blacks volunteer in the Union army
Cause becomes tied with freeing of slaves
13th Amendment prohibits slavery but Yankee Leasees
can still exist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akfQ7TfAQVY
 Sharecropping (very similar to slavery; little freedom)