1. Colonial North America & Rising Expectations
Chapters 3 & 4
Colonial North America & Rising Expectations

2. This eighteenth-century woodcut shows enslaved black men, women, and children engaged in the steps involved in the curing of tobacco.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
This eighteenth-century woodcut shows enslaved black men, women, and children engaged in the steps involved in the curing of tobacco

3. The slavery codes regulated slaves and asserted the rights of slave owners.

4. The Peoples of North America
African immigrants gave birth to African- American people
Preserved African cultural history
African Americans shaped new way of life
These African Americans were forever separated from their ancestral homeland, but they preserved a large core of their African cultural heritage.
Their contact with Europeans and American Indians helped African Americans shape a way of life within the circumstances that slavery forced on them.
To understand the early history of African Americans, we must first briefly discuss the other peoples of colonial North America.
The Peoples of North America

5. By fourteenth century diverse American Indian cultures
American Indian, African relationship complicated
American Indians lived harmoniously with nature, influenced Africans
Indians sometimes slaveholders
Africans helped defend against Indian attacks
Africans, Indians similarly oppressed in American colonies
American Indians

6. Escaping slaves in the Carolinas
Escaping slaves in the Carolinas during the early eighteenth century sometimes found shelter with the Tuscaroras and other Indian tribes. This map, drawn during a colonial expedition against the Tuscaroras in 1713, shows a Tuscarora fort that escaped slaves probably helped design and build.
Escaping slaves in the Carolinas

7. The Spanish Empire Spanish colonial economy enslaved Indians, Africans
African, Indian, Spanish customs intermingled in U.S. (FL, TX, AZ, NM & CA), Mexico
Africans had been in the area since 1526, when Luis Vasquez de Ayllon brought 100 slaves to Hispanola
Why did Africans, Spanish and Indians intermingle? Why not in the British colonies
There were few Spaniards in the colonies so some of the Africans and Indians who survived were able to gain freedom and become tradesmen, small landholders, and military men. There were often mixed race and identified with their former masters rather than with the oppressed people
The Spanish Empire

8. The British and Jamestown
Jamestown first permanent British colony in North America
Located in Chesapeake region, called Virginia
No gold, climate unsuitable for crops
Tobacco became mainstay of Virginia
White laborers produced most tobacco in Chesapeake colonies
The idea was to send England’s undesirables to America, where they could provide the cheap labor tobacco planters needed. Consequently, until 1700, white labor produced most of the tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies.
The British and Jamestown

9. Africans Arrive in the Chesapeake
1619, 32 people of African descent at Jamestown
Dutch bring 20 Angolans to Jamestown
New arrivals regarded as unfree not slaves
England had no slave laws
Some Angolans Christian, Christians could not be enslaved
First black person born in English America
Parents baptized in Church of England
Born free
Africans remained small minority in expanding Virginia colony
The Angolans became servants to the Jamestown officials and to some planters. Two reasons why their were unfree, not slaves.
Unlike the Portuguese and Spanish, the English had no law for slavery.
2. At least the Angolans, who bore such names as Pedro, Isabella, Antoney and Angelo, hade been converted by the Portuguese to Xnity.
According to English custom and morality in 1619, Xns could not be enslaved. Once they had worked off their purchase price, they could regain their freedom.
In 1623, Antoney and Isabella married and had William who was born free
Africans Arrive in the Chesapeake

10. Black Servitude in the Chesapeake
Demand for tobacco expanded, indentured servitude grew
Blacks, whites sold freedom for set time
Could expect to live as free people
Free black men became landowners
British assumed Africans were alien
British make slaves property of masters
Chattel Slavery
A form of slavery in which the enslaved are treated legally as property
For about 50 years (1620s to 1670s), blacks, whites and Indians work (tobacco fields), live and sleep together. They were indentured servants, which had existed for centuries.
Free Black men owned land, farmed, lent money, sued in the courts, served as jurors and officials. And sometimes they got to vote.
Now, the elite always treated Africans different, but this ideas was not universal among the white poor.
Now, masters tried to get as much work out of indentured servants as possible and many of them died before their regaining their freedom.

11. Race and the Origins of Black Slavery
Economic, demographic developments led to enslavement of Africans
Precedent set for enslaving Africans
Less poor white laborers available
African slaves become less costly
British assumed Africans were inferior
Status of black servants different than whites
Black servants would serve masters for life
By the 1640s, black people could not bear arms, and Anglican priests believed that Africans and their descendants could not become Xns.

12. The Emergence of Chattel Slavery
Children of black female servants, slaves for life
Counter to English law, where status derives from father
Enslaved Africans, African Americans had status of domestic animals
Masters who killed slaves exempted from felony charges
Slaves held accountable for transgressions
System compelled black people to involuntary servitude
Slave codes
Colonial and state laws that defined the status of slaves and the prerogatives of masters
Servitude became the natural condition of black people
Slaves could not testify against white people in courts, own property, leave their master’s estate without a pass, congregate in groups larger than three or four, enter into contracts or marry.
Currently, we have several Bay Area cities that have gang ordinances. Where there are curfews and/or congregates on corners is not allowed. Do you see why this can be an issue for African Americans.

13. The City of Chicago vs. Morales
Morales, the case that thrust the nation's war on gangs before the Court, was an attack on the Chicago Gang Congregation Ordinance, under which police issued more than 89,000 dispersal orders and made more than 42,000 arrests in three years. The ordinance allowed police to arrest any group of two or more people who remained in a public place "with no apparent purpose" if the police "reasonably believe[d]" the group included a gang member and if the loiterers failed to disperse.
excerpted from: Kim Strosnider, Anti-Gang Ordinances after City of Chicago V. Morales: the Intersection of Race, Vagueness Doctrine, and Equal Protection in the Criminal Law , 39 American Criminal Law Review , (Winter, 2002)
The City of Chicago vs. Morales

14. Bacon’s Rebellion and American Slavery
Black slaves, white indentured servants unite against elite
Bacon dies before rebellion can occur
Elite realize danger of freed, white indentured servants
Planters switch to enslaved black labor force
Whites prosperity rested on denying blacks freedom
Master class
Slaveholders
Planters hoped to avoid class conflict (among rich and poor Whites) ensure their prosperity by denying freedom to Blacks.

15. AFRICANS BROUGHT AS SLAVES TO BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 1701–1775
FIGURE 3–1 AFRICANS BROUGHT AS SLAVES TO BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 1701–1775 The rise in the number of captive Africans shipped to British North America during the early eighteenth century reflects the increasing dependence of British planters on African slave labor. The declines in slave imports during the periods 1751 to 1760 and 1771 to 1775 resulted from disruptions to commerce associated with the French and Indian War (or Seven Years’ War) and the struggle between the colonies and Great Britain that preceded the American War for Independence.
Source: From The American Colonies: From Settement of Independence, by R. C. Simmons (© R. C. Simmons, 1976) is reproduced by permission of PFD ( on behalf of R. C. Simmons.
AFRICANS BROUGHT AS SLAVES TO BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 1701–1775

16. Slave Life in Early America
Eighteenth-century slave housing was minimal, often temporary
Furniture, cooking utensils varied from place to place
In early years, cloth came from England
Later, homespun fabric was made by slaves
Clothing evolved to style of West African culture
Food staple corn, yams, salt pork
Rice important in South Carolina low country

17. Miscegenation and Creolization
Interracial sexual contacts between blacks, whites, Indians
White assemblies feared creation of mixed-race class
Creolization led African parents to produce African-American children
Miscegenation, creolization together caused physical, cultural change
Miscegenation and Creolization

18. Examples of hairstyles from precolonial days

19. African influence on African American Hairstyles

20. The Origins of African-American Culture
Retained West African heritage
Extended families as reaction to slavery
Families helped others adapt, sheltered escapees
Families influenced African American naming practices
African religions persisted in America
Even when converted to Christianity indigenous practices remained
Africans names male children after close relatives. This custom survived in America because boys were more likely to be separated from their parens by being sold than girls were.
By the 1700s many African to use surnames they clung to the name of their original master.
The Origins of African-American Culture

21. The Origins of African-American Culture (cont'd)
Incest taboos
Customary rules against sexual relations and marriage within family and kinship groups
Spirit possession
A belief rooted in West African religions that spirits may possess human souls
Divination
A form of magic aimed at telling the future by interpreting a variety of signs
Even now, in many Black churches, one can feel the Holy Spirit and begin to dance.
The Origins of African-American Culture (cont'd)

22. This eighteenth-century painting of slaves on a South Carolina plantation provides graphic proof of the continuities between West African culture and the emerging culture of African Americans. The religious dance, the drum and banjo, and elements of the participants’ clothing are all West African in origin.
Abby Aldrich, Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, VA.
This eighteenth-century painting of slaves on a South Carolina plantation

23. The Great Awakening Evangelical ministers preach spiritual equality
Africans
Africans link spiritual equality to earthly equality
General African conversion
Africans influence church services
Development of distinct African-American church
Blacks segregated in white churches
Masters used church to teach obedience
African-American Christianity blended West African, European elements
The Black church reinforced black people’s collective identity and helped them persevere in slavery

24. Example of African Culture in Religion
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Example of African Culture in Religion

25. Language, Music, and Folk Literature
Black English came from ancestral African language
Music most important aspect of African culture
American popular music influenced by African- American music
West African folk literature survived in North America
Language, Music, and Folk Literature

26. Language, Music, and Folk Literature(cont'd)
Pidgens
Simplified mixtures of two or more languages used to communicate between people who speak different languages
Black English (or African-American Vernacular English)
A variety of American English that is influenced by West African grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation
The Gullah language from the sea islands of SC and GA are still spoken today.
Obviously, the music still around and has an American twist.
Language, Music, and Folk Literature(cont'd)

27. http://www.kno witall.org/gullaht ales/activity/flas h.html
Here are a few Gullah words with African origins.
The language or country of origin is listed in parentheses whenever possible:
[Taken from "The Water Brought Us," by Muriel Miller Branch]
A'min - Amen (Wolof) be - to cultivate, to clean, to remove debris (Temme)
bid', bidi - small bird, small chicken (Kongo)
buckra - white man (Ibidio) de - to be (Igbo) eh - yes (Igbo) hudu - to cause bad luck to someone (Via)
kuta - tortoise, turtle (Mende) nanse - spider (Temme)
nana - elderly woman, grandmother (Twi) tata - father (Kongo)
tote - to pick up (Kongo) uni - you, your (Ibo)
yam - sweet potato (Mende)
The Gullah Language

28. The African-American Impact on Colonial Culture
West African culture shaped work in American South
African styles influenced southern colonial architecture
Slaves worked harder in groups
African-American imprint on southern diction
Black women raised white children
White children acquired African-American speech patterns
Blacks influenced white notions of remedies, cooking
Since Blacks cooked their food, southern White still eat and cook the way African slaves did on plantations.

29. The African-American Impact on Colonial Culture (cont'd)
Gang system
A mode of organizing labor that had West African antecedents. In this system American slaves worked in groups under the direction of a slave driver
The African-American Impact on Colonial Culture (cont'd)

30. FIGURE 3–2 AFRICANS AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION OF THE BRITISH AMERICAN COLONIES 1650–1770
Time on the Cross: The Economics of Negro Slavery by Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman. Copyright © Reprinted by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
AFRICANS AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION OF THE BRITISH AMERICAN COLONIES 1650–1770

31. Slavery in the Northern Colonies
Slavery less extensive in north than south
Small numbers, close to masters, isolation
Northern slaves had fewer opportunities to preserve African heritage
In Middle colonies curfews kept slaves isolated
In New England Puritanical beliefs, few slaves
Puritans converted Africans
Slaves could inherit, own property

32. This eighteenth-century drawing of Philadelphia’s London Coffee House
This eighteenth-century drawing of Philadelphia’s London Coffee House suggests the routine nature of slave auctions in early America. The main focus is on architecture. The sale of human beings is merely incidental. John F. Watson, “Annals of Philadelphia,” being a collection of memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of Philadelphia. The London Coffee House. The Library Company of Philadelphia.
This eighteenth-century drawing of Philadelphia’s London Coffee House

33. Slavery in Spanish Florida and French Louisiana
Numbers small, needed as soldiers more than fieldworkers
British takeover casued slaves to grow
Louisiana imported about 6,000 slaves
Blacks outnumbered whites
Slaves became artians, gained freedom
Sexual exploitation of black women created mixed- race
Mentions the Picous
Slavery in Spanish Florida and French Louisiana

34. African Americans in New Spain’s Northern Borderlands
Fewer black people than British colonies
Some slaves, some with limited freedom
Worked as domestics, laborers or in Meixcan mines
Racial Purity
Spanish top; Blacks, Indians bottom
Most Spainards mixed race
Blacks, Indians had more status
African Americans in New Spain’s Northern Borderlands

35. This detail of a mural located in the Arizona capitol building shows, on its extreme right, the former slave Esteban, who wears a blue turban. During the early 1500s, shipwrecked Esteban traveled through Texas to Mexico. Later he joined Spanish expeditions that explored what are now New Mexico and Arizona.
This detail of a mural located in the Arizona capitol building shows, on its extreme right, the former slave Esteban, who wears a blue turban.

36. Black Women in Colonial America
Black men valued higher than black women
Worked in fields until giving birth
Suffered complications giving birth
Changed from fieldworkers to house servants
Subjected to sexual exploitation
Black Women in Colonial America

37. In this painting African Americans await sale to slave traders, who stand at the doorway on the left.
In this painting African Americans await sale to slave traders, who stand at the doorway on the left.

38. Black Resistance and Rebellion
Slavery in America relied on physical force
African Americans responded by resisting
Some escaped, established maroon communities
Rebellious slaves in Charleston, steal ammuntion, plunder plantations
White southerners never lost fear of slave revolt
Black Resistance and Rebellion

39. Conclusion History of blacks both painful and exhiliarating
Enslavement, racism, loss of African heritage
Resistance, forged family, developed African- American culture
Conclusion

40. Chapter 3 Questions: Choose One
Why did vestiges of African Culture survive in British North America? Or did the unfree condition of the first Africans to arrive at Jamestown lead to racial prejudice among the settlers? OR
What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Black family in the eighteenth century?
Chapter 3 Questions: Choose One