THE MIDDLE PASSAGE --
TRANSPORT TO AMERICA
The Middle Passage was one leg of the Triangular Trade & Refers to the transport of slaves.
About 10-40 % died on the trip.
Africans had to endure on the slave ship:
HeatCrowding
IllnessNo Sanitation
TRANSPORTING TO AND ARRIVING IN AMERICA
Mutinies by Slaves did occur.
On Arrival:
Families were often separated.
Sold on the auction block.
African slaves were in a foreign culture and did not understand the language.
Slave Traders were heavily armed
SLAVERY IN COLONIAL AMERICA
Population:
By the Mid-1700’s 1 in 5 colonists were African Slaves
First Africans in America were Indentured Servants: Their children would be slaves.
South Carolina & Georgia: Majority
Plantations with 100+ slaves were common
Slaves were a minority elsewhere in the colonies
SLAVE LIFE
Rice & Indigo
Heat & Diseases
Little Contact with Whites
Preserved Culture
Virginia & Maryland Tobacco
Artisans & Laborers in towns
Encouraged to raise families but . . .
More Contact with Whites
South Carolina & Georgia
SLAVE LIFE
Middle & New England Colonies
Much Fewer slaves
House Servants, artisans, ship builders
Contributed to Atlantic economy
FREE BLACKS
Freeing SlavesLaws discouraged freeing slavesNeeded Legislative Permission to free a slaveHad to Leave the colonyFreedom could sometimes be purchased
TreatmentWorse conditions than slaves
Treated more poorly
Limited Rights -- No votes, could not marry whites, or testify vs. whites
LAWS AND PUNISHMENTS
Each Colony has own Slave Laws
Georgia barred slavery for a short period
Movement Restricted -- Passes needed
Laws
Punishments
Whipping
Banishment--West Indies
Death
REVOLTS AND RESISTANCE
Revolts were difficult to organize
When you make men slaves, you... compel them to livewith you in a state of war. - Olaudah Equiano, former slave
Stono Rebellion
Several dozen blacks attack and kill whites
Burned the land and march towards Florida, and a settlement for runaway slaves. Caught and killed.
Usually Resisted by:“Forgetting” or “Not understanding” orders
Faking Illness
Slave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave Resistance1. “SAMBO” pattern of behavior used
as a charade in front of whites [the innocent, laughing black man caricature – bulging eyes, thick lips, big smile, etc.].
Slave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave Resistance2. Refusal to work hard.
3. Isolated acts of sabotage.
4. Escape via the Underground Railroad.
Runaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave Ads
Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages
Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages
The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.
Slave Rebellions Throughout Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americasthe Americas
Slave Rebellions Throughout Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americasthe Americas
Slave Rebellions Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum Southin the Antebellum South
Slave Rebellions Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum Southin the Antebellum South
1822
Gabriel Prosser
1800
Slave Rebellions in the Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South:Antebellum South:
Nat Turner, Nat Turner, 18311831
Slave Rebellions in the Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South:Antebellum South:
Nat Turner, Nat Turner, 18311831
The Culture of SlaveryThe Culture of SlaveryThe Culture of SlaveryThe Culture of Slavery1. Black Christianity [Baptists or
Methodists]: * more emotional worship services. * negro spirituals.
2. “Pidgin” or Gullah languages.
3. Nuclear family with extended kin links,where possible.
4. Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals].
Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda
Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda
Why did the South become so reliant on cotton?
Why didn’t the South become industrialized like the North?