CRINKLES
Jan./Feb. 2004, pp. 24+
Copyright © 2004, CRINKLES. Published by LMS Associates LLC. January/February 2004, pp.
Indigo
The Blue Gold of the South
By Robin Pickens
• Do you have a favorite pair of blue jeans? Did you ever wonder about the origin
of the blue color?
Today, your blue jeans are dyed with synthetic (human-made) chemicals.
However, until about 100 years ago, the only way to dye clothes blue was to use
natural dyes, many of which came from plants.
The King of Dyes
For millennia, the most favored natural dye was from the indigo plant. Its
properties have been known for thousands of years. It was used in Egypt as
early as 1600 BC. Egyptian mummies were wrapped in fabric dyed with indigo.
Indigo has been linked with myth, superstitious ritual, and wealth.
By the 17th century, indigo was in great demand throughout the world. Indigo
was the best natural dye because it produced a rich, blue color that did not fade
like other natural dyes. Indigo could be used to dye almost any natural fiber, from
animal fibers to plant fibers. It was considered the "king of dyestuffs."
Indigo gained in demand as common trade. It only grew in warm climates,
such as India, Asia, South America, and Central America. These countries
shipped it to other countries that were not able to grow indigo. Europe was one
country where indigo was in high demand. English winters were too cold for the
plant to grow.
Those who could grow and sell indigo became rich. In 1663, King Charles II of
England was in need of money. To settle a debt, he granted colonial land to eight
friends. These "Lords of Proprietors" settled the land that the King named
"Carolina" or what is today called North Carolina and South Carolina. Their
settlement, the first in Carolina, was called Charles Town. It was later shortened
to Charleston.
Indigo and Charleston, South Carolina
Charlestown was located by the rivers and the Atlantic Ocean, which was
favorable for the new colony's economy. England was eager for the natural
resources that Charlestown offered.
Because Charlestown was a port city, it provided a market for trade of indigo,
rice, naval stores (products made from pine trees, such as turpentine, pitch, and
lumber for building and repairing ships), animal skins, and Native American
goods. It would soon become the richest colony in the Americas.
By the 1740s, indigo was a promising crop. Charlestown's high ground had
sandy, loose soil, which was perfect for growing indigo. Colonists had
unsuccessfully tried to grow other crops such as corn and potatoes. The crops
did not thrive, because the ground was swampy. At this time, indigo was so
valuable that the king of England offered a bounty to planters who successfully
yielded indigo crops. This period was known as the "indigo Bonanza".
First Lady of Blues
By the mid 1750s, indigo was a booming industry. South Carolina exported
nearly one million pounds of the blue dye per year!
This bonanza in South Carolina was in large part due to a young woman, Miss
Eliza Pinckney. She defied the conventions of her time and was an astute
businesswoman. She ran three of her father's plantations when she was just
sixteen years old! Her family's plantation needed a cash crop. Eliza chose indigo.
Not fearful of the risks, Eliza experimented with indigo seeds her father sent
from the West Indies. In 1744 she finally had a successful crop. She did not keep
all the indigo seeds to herself. She gave them away to friends and neighbors.
The challenges did not end there. Eliza had no one to explain to her the
proper way to process the plants into the valuable dye. Not daunted, Eliza figured
out the processing by trial and error. This was critical, because the processing
determined the quality of the dye. She also shared her hard-earned knowledge
about the processing of indigo. Soon, millions of pounds of indigo cakes were
being exported to other countries.
Plantation Life
Indigo created fortunes and helped to form the southern plantation society.
Some plantation owners became as wealthy as European royalty.
Plantations were southern farms that were usually dedicated to the production
and sale of a single crop. Plantations relied on the labor of many slaves, and
were run to make money. Plantation owners differed from other southern farmers
who may have even owned a few slaves because they participated in a market
economy. This was risky business. If the crop failed, or no one bought their crop
yield, they would lose money and their survival was threatened.
Indigo production required intense manual effort. In the South, this manual
labor was slave labor. Many slaves that manufactured the indigo dye became
sick and died, probably from cancer.
Demand for field labor increased the English slave trade from Africa. This is
another reason indigo production was successful in the South. It fit into the
already existing plantation and slave labor culture. By 1730, two-thirds of the
South Carolina population were African slaves. Plantation owners believed that
the plantation culture could not survive without slave labor.
Revolution and Indigo
Indigo production continued up until the Revolutionary War. Until that time,
indigo was more valuable than gold. It was considered the "blue gold" of the
south. Without indigo, many cities such as Georgetown would not have existed
nor prospered were it not for the plant and the dye it produced. Indigo trade
provided the wealth that made it possible for the colonies to sever ties with
England. Ironically, after the Revolutionary War, the colonies could no longer
depend upon indigo trade to England. England was no longer ruling over the
colonies, and thus the state lost its indigo bounty and principal trading partner.
So the south changed its economy. Rice, cotton, and tobacco took indigo's
place as cash crops. Nevertheless, even today, indigo has retained a value and
popularity that has not really diminished.
Indigo Magic
Just looking at the indigo plant, you would never know that it could yield such
a deep, beautiful blue color. The plant itself is not remarkable at all. It has small
green leaves, pinkish pea-shaped flowers in late summer, and small bean-like
seed pod clusters in fall.
Colonists had to go through a long and complicated process to get the blue
indigo dye:
First, harvested indigo plants were placed in three successive fermentation
vats or pits filled with water. As the plants sat in the vats, they rotted, or
fermented. This produced a liquid, called indican. Indican was formed from a
chemical reaction between the plant debris, the water, and the air. The fermented
plants were stirred with large paddles. Then, the water was drained. The
remaining residue was strained, and left to dry.
This resulted in a stiff, blue paste. The paste was formed and cut into blocks
called cakes. The indigo cakes could then be shipped.
To dye fabric, the cakes were dissolved in water with lime, potash, or soda.
This would sit for several days. The solution turned a copper color.
The solution was now ready to dye fabrics. The fabric was submerged into the
dye solution for a few minutes. When it was lifted out, an amazing thing
happened. Like magic, the fabric turned a deep blue indigo color.
Read More About It:
Resources on Indigo and South Carolina:
These books are mainly for research.
Balfour-Paul, Jenny. Indigo. British Museum Press, 1998. 264 p. This popular
blue dye has been around for more than 5,000 years. Read the story of the
world's oldest and most valued dye.
Messmer, Catherine C. South Carolina Low Country: A Past Preserved.
Photography by C. Andrew Halcomb. Sandlapper Publishing Co., 1988. 143 p.
Contains pictures and history of plantations and churches from the South
Carolina cities of Charleston, Georgetown, and Beaufort counties.
Pettit, Florence. America's Indigo Blues: Resist--Printed and Dyed Textiles of
the Eighteenth Century. Hastings House, 1988. 469 p. Detailed reference about
indigo in America's colonial period.
Weir, Robert M. Colonial South Carolina: A History. University of South
Carolina Press, 1997. 430 p. A great source on one of the most interesting
colonies in North America.
These books will be interesting to read.
Krebs, Laurie. A Day in the Life of a Colonial Indigo Planter. PowerKids Press,
2003. 24 p. Read the story of a typical day for Eliza Pinckney, a remarkable
woman in Colonial South Carolina.
L'Hommedieu, Arthur John. From Plant to Blue Jeans. Children's Press, 1998.
32 p. Discover the process of making blue jeans, from the harvesting of cotton to
sewing the finished product.
Whitehurst, Susan. The Colony of South Carolina. Rosen Publishing Group
PowerKids Press, 2000. 24 p. From the founding of Carolina to just after the
Revolutionary War, read about the colony of South Carolina.
On the Web:
Eliza Lucas Pinckney
http://scetv.org/legacy/laureates/Eliza%20Lucs%20Pinckney.html
From the South Carolina public television web site, a brief biography of Eliza
Pinckney. Includes a short video segment. Part of the SCETV "Legacy of
Leadership" series.
South Carolina Colonization
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/book/chap4_4.html
If you would like to find out more about the colonization of South Carolina,
look at this web site.
South Carolina Women of the American Revolution
http://sciway3.net/clark/revolutionarywar/elizelucas.html
Read about the background of Eliza Pinckney.
Trade Topics
http://www.apl.com/boomerangbox/d110501.htm
A short history of indigo.
True Colors
http://www.si.edu/lemelson/centerpieces/whole_cloth/u3tc/u3materials/tcessa
y.html
"Where Do Colors Come From?" Find out about the chemistry and history of
dyeing at this web site.
Who Was Eliza Pinckney?
Eliza Pinckney was inducted into the South Carolina business hall of fame in
1989, the first woman to be so honored. She spent her last days with her
daughter at the Hampton Plantation which is now a state park. You can see the
tree under which George Washington stood while visiting her. Learn more about
her at:
http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/pinckney.html
http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/NWLDLive/bios/A21BIO.html
Color by Numbers
Can you find the indigo leaves? Follow the codes and color the spaces
according to the numbers. (See picture, "Indigo Coloring Activity" and "Indigo
Coloring Activity [Answer].")
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