From Slavery to Freedom
th
9 ed.
Chapter 4
Eighteenth-Century
Slave Societies
Shipment of African slaves to
South Carolina, 1769
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Eighteenth-Century Slave Societies
 Eighteenth-Century Slave Societies
 No single black slavery experience
 African American experience influenced by:
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Local conditions
Nationality of colonizer
Geographical location of outpost
Colony’s demographics
Modes of economic production
Atlantic world market in slaves
Sex ratio
Geographical source of blacks themselves
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Eighteenth-Century Slave Societies
 Two major eighteenth-century demographic
trends
 First:
 Majority of slaves direct from Africa
 Men outnumbered women
 Africans came from diverse ethnic groups
 Second:
 American-born slave population increased (Creoles)
 Multi-racial population; familiar with different religions
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Eighteenth-Century Slave Societies
 Cultural “syncretism” – blending of African and
European cultures to create a new form
 Varied from region to region
 African people drew upon experience and
cultural patterns to escape bondage
 Transformation of Africans into African
Americans differed by time, place, and freedom
strategies
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New England
 Slave Populations
 Fewer blacks than any other region, but blacks
important to region’s eighteenth-century
commercial life
 Slave Occupations
 Put to work in skilled trades
 Used increasingly in eighteenth century as
“body servants”
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New England
 Negro Election Day
 Festival tradition, public election of black
“kings” and “governors”
 Evidence of cultural syncretism
 Forged sense of community, secured obedience and
loyalty to masters
 Concentration of blacks in few towns allowed for such
communal experiences
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New England
 Cotton Mather and Inoculation
 Idea of inoculation came to Cotton Mather from
his slave, Onesimus
 Known as the “African solution”
 Heated arguments over the African folk medical
practice
 Mather and African informants proven correct
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Acceptance or rejection of inoculation was difference between
life and death
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The Mid-Atlantic Colonies
 New York Colony
 Largest number of slaves in North throughout
eighteenth century
 Pinkster – traditional Dutch Pentecostal
celebration mixed with African and Creole
dancing, drums, banjos
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The Mid-Atlantic Colonies
 Expansion of Slavery
 Mid eighteenth century, non-elite whites began
to buy slaves, and options for manumission
disappear
 Increase in grain production increases need for
slave labor
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The Mid-Atlantic Colonies
 Pennsylvania Slavery
 Pennsylvania Quakers debated morality of
slavery
 Led to early manumission movement
 Operated schools to educate black children
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The Chesapeake Region
 African Outsiders
 Difficult adjustment for non-English speaking
“saltwater” Africans
 One quarter died within first year
 Ran away in groups; caught by white troops
 Population Growth
 In 1720s Virginians began importing more
women to naturally increase slave population
 During 18th century, Chesapeake blacks first
black population to grow by natural increase
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Insert Table: Black
Population Growth in
Virginia, 1700-1800
Black Population Growth in
Virginia, 1700-1800
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African Immigration to Virginia
and South Carolina, 1700-1790
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The Lower South, Eastern
Seaboard
 The Slave Population
 Increase in African slaves paralleled significance
of rice as an export
 African slaves taught masters about growing rice
 As black majority grew, so did size of plantations
 Due to malarial environment, import necessary
 The Chesapeake and the Low Country
 Distinctly different trends in slave work and
culture in the South’s two major slave systems
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The Lower South, Eastern
Seaboard
 Chesapeake
 Slaves had varied work routine, worked in small units
 Lots of interracial contact
 Reciprocal cultural influences
 South Carolina Lowcountry
 Lived on large plantations with few whites present
 Greater cultural autonomy
 Task system
 Lived on plantation units – “village communities”
 African religion, music, language, kinship patterns, and
naming practices influential in life and culture
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A view of Kamalia in Africa and a view
of Mulberry Plantation in South Carolina
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The Lower South, Eastern
Seaboard
 Rural and Urban Slave Life
 Two types of black society in South Carolina
slave system: rural and urban
 Urban slaves far more Anglo-assimilated
 People of Mixed Race
 South Carolina did not prohibit interracial sexual
conduct
 Mulattoes overrepresented among skilled
laborers
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The Lower South, Eastern
Seaboard
 African Traditions
 Belief in minkisi – “sacred medicine”
 Amulets control health and destiny
 Root “doctors”
 Caesar – slave noted for antidotes to poison
 The Stono Rebellion
 Freedom and Catholic identity inspired revolt
 Spanish offer of freedom to fugitive slaves professing
Catholicism
 Fort Mose
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The Lower South, Eastern
Seaboard
 Menendez and Mose
 Mose leader granted freedom for military service
 In Mose, established families and adopted
Spanish practices such as godparenthood
 The War of Jenkins’ Ear
 Anglo-Spanish conflict over legitimacy of
British Georgia
 Menendez defended Spanish, recaptured Mose
from British
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The Lower South, Eastern
Seaboard
 The End of Mose
 Free blacks did not return to war-ravaged fort
 Ordered to leave St. Augustine and build frontier
village near original site
 After Britain’s victory in French and Indian War,
Menendez and other Mose residents resettled in
Cuba
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The Lower Mississippi Valley
 French Louisiana
 Exercised significant cultural autonomy
 Slaves directly from Africa, held by small
number of white masters
 Africanized slave culture
 African religious beliefs
 Knowledge of poisons and antidotes
 Black-Indian alliance formed at tobacco
settlement Natchez
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The Lower Mississippi Valley
 Maroon Societies
 Entire Creole families escaped
 Built huts, stored weaponry
 Farmed, hunted, fished
 Engaged in trade
 Juan Maló noted leader
 Between 1782 and 1784, Spanish governor set
out to capture and destroy maroon villages
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Insert Map: St.
Malo Maroon
communities,
1780s
St. Malo
Maroon
communities,
1780s
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