The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South [Revised & Enlarged (1981 reprint)] 0195025636, 9780195025637

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JOHN W BLASSINGAME

.Slave.,

Community PLANTATION LIFE IN Ht THE ANTEBELL UM SOUTH

Jf

Revised

& Enlarged

Edition

!

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2011

http://www.archive.org/details/slavecommunityplOOblas

The

Slave

Community

A

The Slave Community Plantation Life in the Antebellum South

REVISED

AND ENLARGED

EDITION

JOHN W. BLASSINGAME

New York

Oxford

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1979

Copyright

©

1972, 1979 by Oxford University Press, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Blassingame, John

The

slave

W

1

940-

community.

Bibliography: p.

Includes index. I

2.

Slavery in the United States— Southern States.

.

Plantation life— Southern States.

E443.B55

ISBN ISBN

1979

I.

975'.oo4'96o73

0-19-502562-8

0-19-502563-6 pbk.

This reprint, 1981-2 Printed in the United States of America

Title.

78-26890

For Teasie

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

Intriguing, complex, opaque; these are descriptive terms easily

The more the student of the peculiar more the conviction grows that antebellum Southerners persisted in deviating from the beliefs and behavioral applied to American slavery.

institution reads, the

patterns historians have ascribed to them.

The most incongruous

appeared in the press. In 1859 ^^^ African Re^pository printed one of these accounts from a Tennessee newspaper

stories

re-

:

On Lynn Creek, Giles county, Tennessee, Baptist Church, supported

by

cants of that "persuasion,"

who

a

for their regular pastor a negro

named George— known ing to the estate of one

he had

is

a Hardshell

of wealthy

for several years past

man, black

Matthew

communihave had

as the ace of spades,

Old George," and belong-

as "Bentley's

said to be a most excellent

ago,

number

there

Bentley, deceased. George

man and

a

is

good preacher. Sometime

a noted public discussion, lasting four days,

with a

white preacher, on the subject of baptism, from which the

white best."

man is said to have come off (if any The Church wants to buy George,

be sold out of his master's family, and

to

Southern pro-slavery parson. George

is

of a large congregation, nearly

all

and who pay him

$600

a salary of

of

difference) "second-

but he is

is

unwilling

withal a regular

the "preacher in charge"

whom to

$700

are slaveholders, for his pastoral

services.

This book had

to

be revised because of George Bentley.

encountered George in 1961 assistant for Professor Elsie

story of his ministry

when

read that summer. Little in the story

then;

escaped from the dilemmas

A

made

sense to

me

it represented by rationalizing: must have been. But George would few years ago when I began compiling a book of

might have been

not go away.

I first

as a research

Lewis of Howard University: the

I

I

was working

appeared frequently in the abolition news-

papers

it

I

a hoax;

it

viii

Preface to the Second Edition

slave

documents, the account of George Bentley

ally leaped

me

again.

were perplexed by nineteenth-century blacks being "conservative," a bondsman who was portrayed as "a

described as

Southern pro-slavery parson"

wrapped

ministry virtu-

out of the pages of the African Repository at

If observers

regular

s

an enigma.

in

And what

was

clearly

a

mystery

of those Tennessee planters

who believed that one of their slaves could lead them to Heavenr" Had many more of the Africans and their descendants been so thoroughly acculturated, Americanized, and christianized that they were able to teach their masters'?

by George Bentley were innumerable. I found answers to a few of them in books, dissertations, and essays published since 1972. But in the main I turned to new primary

The. questions

raised

sources for data on Southern religion, the evolution of the black

church and the

role of the minister in

on American language, folk

and the African impact

it,

religion, folklore, agricultural practices,

customs and sexual attitudes.

The white church which had

to

quickly emerged as the key institution

be analyzed in order

to

understand the most crucial

aspects of Southern antebellum society. guilt

among

pervasiveness of

planters, the acculturation of the

evolution of marriage and family tion,

The

life in

bondsman, the

the quarters, the educa-

treatment, and personality development of the slave

all

some degree, on the activities of Southern white churches. At first my examination of Southern churches led to almost as much confusion as light. Then, I decided to follow the suggestion of the Reverend Charles C. Jones, who observed in hinged,

to

1842: "It

is

not good to measure ourselves by ourselves.

One

op-

portunity of faithful comparison, will shed more light and carry

more conviction

into the

mind, ofttimes, than volumes of

facts

and arguments. The only danger comparisons, worse,

that,

is

we may

to be apprehended from such becoming acquainted with that which is

rest satisfied

with that which

is

had."

My

com-

parison of the activities of the Catholic church in Latin America

with those of churches in the South made clear Southern life I had initially perceived dimly.

The Reverend

Jones's observations led

me

many

to other

facets of

comparisons.

Preface to the Second Edition

How,

I

men and women

wondered, did white

bondage? Did

react to

encountered in

their personaHties disintegrate? In

or resist bondage.

new

culture, work,

Examination of slavery in the British

some of the new avenues I explored. had been chronicled in abolijournals, I read them systematically in

Indies also suggested

Since George Bentley's

and

tionist

an

effort to

age

when

colonizationist

activities

uncover more data on Southern

society.

Living in an

the practice of writing letters to editors for publication

was one of America's seers,

many

in Africa faced the

language, incorporate or reject elements of a

West

enslaved in Africa

same problems blacks the Americas. Both groups had to learn a new

ways whites enslaved

and accept

ix

ministers,

favorite pastimes.

Southern planters, over-

businessmen, and reformers often

politicians,

corresponded with Northern journalists. Antebellum Northern editors not only published the missives they received, they also

news accounts from Southern periodicals. Data on slave resistance, accommodation, and treatment, the impact of bondage on white planters and non-slaveholders. Southern anti-slaverv sentiment, religious attitudes, and social and economic philosophies rarely found in other records appeared reprinted letters, editorials, and

regularly in abolition journals.

In addition to trying to solve the myriad dilemmas posed by

George Bentley, I have attempted to answer the questions raised by students, colleagues, and reviewers since the first appearance

The

of

Slave

Community

in 1972. Especially

regard was the session at the

important in this

976 annual meeting of the Associathe Study of Afro-American Life and History where

tion for

1

Eugene Genovese, Herbert Gutman,

Leslie

Howard Owens,

George Rawick, and Earl Thorpe challenged some of clusions. Since

debate,

I

I

con-

do not enjoy the polemics of historiographical

have incorporated some of their suggestions and those

of James Anderson, Ralph Carter, John ley

my

Engerman (published

in a

Henrik Clarke, and Stan-

book of essays edited by Al-Tony

Gilmore) without long protestation or argument. Sometimes, of course, the changes diverge so markedly from the suggestions

giving

rise to

Some

them

that provenience

is

not easy to trace.

colleagues have persistently asked such penetrating ques-

X

Preface to the Second Edition

made represent in many ways a continuawith them. Mary F. Berry of the Department of

changes

tions that the

tion of dialogues

I

Mae G. Henderson and

Health, Education, and Welfare,

Venn Woodward

Central University insisted that tives,

urged

me

to write history

me human diversity.

words, and exhorted tion for

to

I

consider alternative perspec-

with an

essayist's

develop the creative

economy

viewers, friends, and

critics, I

Some

was

I

by

re-

some of

also led to reconsider

of the changes

of

apprecia-

artist's

Inevitably, while contemplating the larger issues raised

the minor details.

C.

of Yale, and David Bishop of North Carolina

have made, therefore,

only extend discussions of black and white insanity, slave secular songs, courtship rituals, sexual attitudes, rebel leaders, African cultural survivals, slave

women,

On

perceptions of bondsmen.

children,

occasion

I

and

drivers,

and white

have responded

to ques-

some of the assertions I made in 1972 by presenting more proof of them in the notes. But since the point of diminish-

tions about

ing returns

is

reached rather quickly in such operations,

restrain myself. It

was not always

tried to

I

from a

easy. Historians suffer

chronic temptation to expand their citations ad infinitum in vain clinch

efforts

to

largely

immune

arguments over essentially emotional

to logical proof.

scholar can only present

what evidence he

cient and, in the words of Carter G.

minister

who

felt that his

issues

Facing such controversies, the or she thinks

Woodson, "weep

congregation consisted of too

is suffi-

like the

many

to

lost but not enough to be saved." Whatever the mix of reviews, critiques, and suggestions leading to specific changes, I appreciate all of them primarily for the light they shed on George Bentley. While George is less of a

be

mystery

to

me now

than he was in 1961, he

is

still

elusive:

he

apparently wrote no autobiography and gave no interviews, the records of Giles County, Tennessee yield few glimpses into his character,

and

his master

was an extremely obscure

figure.

J.W.B.

New

Haven, Connecticut

Seftemher 1978

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

This book describes and analyzes the Hfe of the black

slave: his

African heritage, culture, family, acculturation, behavior,

reli-

and personality. In terms of emphasis, it breaks sharply with American historiographical tradition. Even a cursory examination gion,

of the literature shows that historians have never systematically

explored the ers,

life

experiences of American slaves. Southern plant-

on the other hand, have had an extremely good press

United

in the

have analyzed practically every aspect

States. Historians

of the planters behavior, ideology, social

and economic

position,

customs, and politics. Although the 3,954,000 black slaves greatly outnumbered the 385,000 white slaveowners in the South in i860, the slave has generally been shunted off to the wings on the historical stage.

By fect,

concentrating solely on the planter, historians have, in

been listening

is

that of an all-powerful, monolithic institution

strips the slave of life,

only one side of a complicated debate.

The

view of the plantation which emerges from planter

distorted

records

to

ef-

religion, or

any meaningful and

manhood. The

which

distinctive culture, family

clearest portrait the planter has

drawn of the slave is the stereotype of Sambo, a submissive halfman, half-child. Such stereotypes are so intimately related to the planter's projections, desires, and biases that they tell us little about slave behavior and even less about the slave's inner life, his thoughts, actions, self-concepts, or personality.

Any

new

must

rest

kinds of sources viewed from

dif-

examination of such a

securely on an analysis of ferent angles.

The

new

topic as slave life

utilization of psychological theory

step in this direction.

The new

are useless, however,

if

insights gained

development of

the

they are applied to stereotypes and

stricted to traditional sources. Instead,

sonality

is

slaves

first

from psychology re-

an investigator of the per-

must depend

largely

on the

per-

Preface to the First Edition

xii

sonal records left by the slave, especially autobiographies. This all

the

more necessary because

historians

is

have deliberately ignored

these sources. Consequently, a great deal of emphasis has been

placed on non-traditional sources in this study in an effort to de-

more clearly the slave's view of bondage and to discover some new insights into the workings of the system. While relying heavily on those black autobiographies which

lineate

pass the tests systematically

commonly

applied to historical sources,

examined

plantation records,

several

agricultural

This approach permits us three witnesses. insider's

Two

view slave

to

I

have

also

hundred white autobiographies, journals, and travel accounts. life

through the eyes of

of them, the planter and the slave, give an

view of the plantation. The third witness, the

traveler,

views the relation between slave and master from the outside. Al-

though there are no absolute guarantees of mensional picture of the plantation

truth, this three di-

at least reveals

the complexity

of the institution and, hopefully, gives us a close approximation of the interaction between masters

The

and

slaves.

inescapable conclusion which emerges from an examina-

tion of several different kinds of sources

different slave personality types.

because masters varied so at certain

helped ity.

to

points,

much

and the

shape behavior,

is

that there

Sambo was one

was not the dominant

slave personal-

Rather than identifying with and submitting

master, the slave held onto

was open and family

in character, the system

slave quarters, religion,

it

were many

of them. But,

many remnants

totally to his

of his African culture,

gained a sense of worth in the quarters, spent most of his time free

from surveillance by whites, controlled important aspects of

and did some personally meaningful things on his own This relative freedom of thought and action helped the slave to preserve his personal autonomy and to create a culture which has contributed much to American life and thought.

his life,

volition.

Like most scholars, course of

my

I

have accumulated many debts in the

investigation.

I

could write

much

about

all

of those

whose published work influenced my thinking, but I hope that the footnote citations and the bibliography truly reflect what I have learned from them. The burdens of research and

historians

Preface to the First Edition

summer

writing have been lightened by a

xiii

grant from Yale Uni-

and the aid of several people. The probing questions raised by Mack Thompson of the University of California at Riverside during an institute at Carnegie Mellon University in

versity

my first efforts influence my thinking.

1964 about to

of an essay

I

with the topic have continued

Similarly, Richard Morse's criticisms

wrote on slave personality during

graduate study I

to deal

at

Yale helped

have developed in

this

me

my

many

to identify

book. David B. Davis,

first

year of

of the topics

Edmund Morgan,

and C. Vann Woodward of Yale University, Louis Harlan of the University of Maryland, and John sity of

Hope

Franklin of the Univer-

Chicago, read several drafts of the manuscript; Joseph

Logsdon of Louisiana State University

New

at

Orleans,

Thomas

Holt, Jerry Thomas, and Lawrence Powell of Yale University, and Nicholas Canady of Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, commented on the early drafts; Mrs. Dorothy Porter, at Howard University, and the North Carolina and Louisiana State

Curator of the Negro Collection staff^s

of the University of

University helped

my

me

find

many

sources.

I

am

deeply indebted

Rubin and Miss Mae Henderson for the hot summer they spent uncovering material on antebellum planters, to Miss Fran Drago of Wesleyan University for helping me to refine my psychological concepts, and to David Robinson of Yale for sharing his knowledge of Africa with me. Mrs. Anne Granger, Mrs. Janet Villastrigo, and Mrs. Rebecca Davis, who had the unenviable task of deciphering my script, to

research assistants Barnett

cheerfully typed several drafts of the manuscript.

Dedication of this book to

payment

my

wife

is,

as

only she knows, poor

for her sacrifices.

J.W.B.

New Haven, March 1972

Connecticut

CONTENTS

1

2

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals, 3

The Americanization of the South,

of the Slave

and the Africanization

49

3

Culture, 105

4

The

5

Rebels and Runaways, 192

6

Plantation Stereotypes and Institutional Roles, 223

7

Plantation Realities, 249

8

Slave Personality Types, 284

Slave Family, 149

Appendix

I

:

Comparative Examination of Total

Institutions,

323

Appendix II: African Words, Numerals, and Sentences Used by Former Slaves in Georgia and South Carolina in the 1890s, 332

Appendix

III:

Statistics

on Slaves and Slavery:

Observations and Tables, 336 Critical Essay

on Sources, 367

Selected Bibliography, 383

Index, 403

ILLUSTRATION SOURCES

Frontispiece

Century Magazine 31:813

Figure

i

Cornell University Library

Figure 2

Cornell University Library

Figure 3 Figure 4

Library of Congress

W.P.A., The Negro in Virginia (Hastings Publishers,

_

N.Y., 1940, copyright,

Hampton

Figure 5

Library of Congress

Figure 6

Harper's

Weekly 4 344

Harper's

Encyclopedia

Figure 7

Vol.

8,

Institute)

:

New

of

United States History, and Enlarged by Ben-

Edition. Revised

son John Lossing (Harper

& Row,

191 5)

Chicago

Figure 8

Historical Pictures Service of

Figure 9 Figures 10,

American Anthropologist io:plates XL, XLI

Figure 12

Library of Congress 1 1

British

Museum

Figure 13 a

The

Papers of Benjamin Latrobe, Maryland Histori-

cal Society

b

Curt Sachs, Les Instruments de musique de Mada1938, copyright, Institut Ethnologic, University of Paris)

gascar (Paris,

c

Bernard Ankerman, Die afrikanischen Musikinstrutnewte (Berlin, 1901)

d

The

e

Jean-Sebastien Laurenty, Les

f

Laurenty, Les Tamhours a fente de VAfrique Centrale

Papers of Benjamin Latrobe

Tamhours a fente de VAfrique Centrale (Tervuren, Belgium, 1968, copyright. Royal Museum of Central Africa)

Figure 14 a

The

Papers of Benjamin Latrobe

b

Sachs, Les Instruments de musique de Madagascar

c

Stephen Chauvet, Musique Negre (Paris, 1929, copy-

Illustration Sources right, Societe deditions geographiques,

xvii

maritimes

et

coloniales)

d

The

e

Ankerman, Die afrihanischen Musikinstrumente

f

Ankerman, Die afrikanischen Musikinstrumente

Figure 15

Papers of Benjamin Latrobe

W.

Hamilton

the Brush

Pierson, In

(New

York,

1881) Figure 16

Muriel and Malcolm

Bell, Jr.

Figure 17

Muriel and Malcolm

Bell, Jr.

Museum

Figure 18

National Maritime

Figure 19

John Ogilby, Africa (London, 1670)

Figure 20

Pierre

Dan, Historic van Barhayen (Amsterdam,

1634) Figure 21

Louis A. Berbrugger, Algerie historique, fittoresque

Figures 22, 23

American Anthropologist

Figure 24

Figure 25

Century Magazine 3 1 .808 Century Magazine 3 1 525

Figure 26

Century Magazine

Figure 27

Peter Schnapp. Copyright, Peter

Figure 28

The New York

et

monumentale

8,

8,

3

1

:

524

Schnapp— ReaZites

Public Library

Encyclopedia

New

Harper's Vol.

Encyclopedia

New

of

United

States

History,

of

United States

History,

Edition

Edition

Figure 31

Hampton

Figure 32

Illustrated

Figure 33 Figure 34

Library of Congress

Figure 35

XLIII

Lennox and Tilden Foundations

Harper's Vol.

Figure 30

io:plates XLII,

n.s.

:

Astor,

Figure 29

(Paris, 1843-45)

Institute Library

London News 38

The Chicago

:

1

39

Historical Society

James S. Buckingham, The Slave States of America (London, 1842)

Figure 36

Culver Pictures

Figure 37

William Wells Brown, Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave (Boston, 1847) Henr)' Bibb, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bihh, An American Slave (New York, 1849)

Figure 38 Figure 39

William

Still,

phia, 1872)

The Underground

Railroad (Philadel-

11

xviii

Illustration Sources

Figure 40

Culver Pictures

The Underground

Railroad

Figure 41

Still,

Figure 42

Library of Congress

Figure 43

Solomon Northup, Twelve Years

a Slave

(London,

1853) Figure 44

Northup, Twelve Years

Figure 45 Figure 46

Century Magazine

Figure 47 Figure 48

Har'per's

31

:

520

Monthly Magazine

1

5

:

440

Harpers Monthly Magazine 8 456 :

Ballou's Pictorial

1

4 49 :

Figure 49

Harper's Monthly Magazine 8:457

Figure-50

Harper's Monthly Magazine 8 :459 Merry's Museum 6:111

Figure 5 Figure 52

The New York Astor,

Figure 53

Harper's Vol.

Figure 54 Figure 55

8,

Public Library

Lenox and Tilden Foundations Encyclopedia

New

Putnam's Monthly Harper's Vol. 6,

United

States

History^

United States

History,

10: ^4y

Encyclopedia

New

of

Edition

of

Edition

Figure 56

Harper's Monthly Magazine 19:729

Figure 57

Frederick Douglass,

(New York, Figure 58

My

Bondage and

My

Freedom

1855)

Austin Steward, Twenty-two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman (Rochester, N.Y., 1861)

Figure 59 Figure 60 Figure 6

Northup, Twelve Years Harper's

Weekly

^2^ Moses Roper, A Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery (Lony:

don, 1840)

Figure 62

Library of Congress

Figure 63

Wilson Armistead,

A

Tribute for the Negro

(New

York, 1848)

Figure 64

Bibb, Narrative

Figure 65

James A. Bear,

Jr.,

editor, ]efferson at Monticello,

University Press of Virginia (Charlottesville, 1967)

The

Slave

Community

Enslavement, Acculturation,

and African Survivals

Middle Passage: voyage through death to life

upon

these shores,

"lo April 1800— Blacks rebellious. is

Crew uneasy. Our linguist

says their

moaning

a prayer for death,

ours and their own.

Some

try to starve themselves.

Lost three this morning leaped with crazy laughter to the waiting sharks,

sang as they went under."

.

.

.

Voyage through death, voyage whose chartings are unlove.

A charnel stench,

effluvium of living death

spreads outward from the hold,

where the life

living

interlocked,

Deep

and the dead, the horribly dying, foul with blood and excrement.

lie

in the festering hold thy father

lies,

the corpse of mercy rots with him, rats eat love's rotten gelid eyes.

But, oh, the living look at you

human eyes whose suffering accuses you, whose hatred reaches through the swill of dark to strike you like a leper's claw.

with

Robert Hayden

The

chains of the American Negro's captivity were forged in

and peasant, merchant and agriculturalist, warrior and priest, Africans were drawn into the vortex of the Atlantic slave trade and funneled into the sugar fields, the swampy rice

Africa. Prince

4

The

Slave

Community

lands, or the cotton

The

and tobacco plantations of the New World. was almost unbelievably painful and

process of enslavement

bewildering for the Africans. Completely cut land, they civilization

oflF from their native were frightened by the artifacts of the white man's and terrified by his cruelty until they learned that they

were only expected to

to

work

him

for

doing in their native land.

mitted suicide; others refused to

memory own status.

held on to the their

To

some

argue, as

as they had been accustomed some were so morose they comlearn the customs of whites and

Still,

of the African cultural determinants of

scholars have, that the

greatlyfrom the enslavement process because "heroic" warrior tradition, or that

it

it

was easy

contradicted their for

Africans were by nature docile and submissive,

mythology

for history.

mately related

The enslavement

to the history of

them because to substitute

is

of Africans

was

Indian-white relations in the

World and

certain historical

gard to the

latter, historically it

members

slaves suffered

first

and anthropological

who

inti-

New

principles. In re-

has been almost impossible to en-

nomadic food gatherers, herdsmen, hunters, or fishermen. Consequently, Europeans in North America either exterminated the war-like hunting tribes or worked the simple food gatherers to death. Neither group made slave

of societies

effective slaves.

On

are

the other hand, and in spite of the myths

surrounding the "noble red man,"

when Europeans encountered

Indians of a higher culture accustomed to svstematic agricultural labor

and sedentary habits (as did the Spaniards

in

Mexico and

other parts of South America), the Indians were reduced to ery or something closely akin to Initially,

slav-

it.

the English in North America were so

outnumbered

by the war-like Indian nations and Confederations surrounding

them that they rarely systematically attempted to enslave the red men. This was especially true of their immediate neighbors.

When, however,

inter-tribal

wars or conflicts with whites

sulted in Indian captives, they

unsafe tion;

to

keep an Indian slave

were enslaved. Even in the

so,

neighborhood of

it

re-

was

his na-

most of them were sold out of the colonies in which they

were captured. The more peaceful Indians succumbed

so quickly

^

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals to

European

syphilis) or

imen

that they did not

make

so alien to the plantation reg-

Europeans turned

many

suitable slaves. Because of the

men

problems an alien people faced in enslaving land,

and

diseases (smallpox, typhus, measles, influenza,

had an economic system

5

in their native

Africans to supply their labor needs.

to

In Africa the whites encountered some of the same problems

they did with native Americans. Like

many

Indians, African

hunting, pastoral, and fishing peoples were too nomadic or warlike to

be captured. As a

most of the Africans brought

result,

North America were members of agrarian rica,

A

accustomed

to hard,

polities in

West

continuous labor and a sedentary

to

Aflife.

majority of them belonged to the Ibo, Ewe, Biafada, Bakongo,

Wolof, Bambara,

Ibibio, Serer,

and Arada peoples. Members of

the large, well-organized African states like the Yoruba,

Daho-

mey, Ashanti, Fulani, Kom, Mandingo, and Hausa, with centralized governments, fast

standing armies, rarely

fell

moving

cavalries,

their

or disciplined

into the slave trader's hands. It took

modern weapons, until the first decades of the twentieth century to conquer some of these states. On occasion, some of the centralized states became so weak that large numbers of their citizens were captured, as happened with the Oyo Yoruba after 1750. For the most part, however, these peothe British, even with

were almost immune

fact, these were the more peaceful (or defenseless) neighbors and sold them and the peoples who fell under their political, economic, military, and cultural hegemony into bondage. Approximately ten million Africans were brought to the New World between the sixteenth and the mid-nineteenth

ples

nations which

to

made war on

enslavement. In

their

century.^

1.

Wesly Frank Craven, White, Red, and

Black:

The Seventeenth Century

W.

Robert Higgins, "The Geographical Origins of Negro Slaves in Colonial South Carolina," South Atlantic Quarterly LXX (Winter 1971), 34-47; Almon W. Lauber, Indian Slavery in Virginian

(Charlottesville,

1971),

73-75;

Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States

(New

York,

1913)2.

J.

F.

Ade Ajayi and Dan

Espie,

A Thousand

Years of

West African

History (London, 1965), 157-60, 318-29; M. M. Green, Iho Village Affairs (New York, 1964 [1947]), 32-48, 61-77; J- D. Fage, A History of West

The

6

The

Slave

Community

ethnic origins of the

first

slaves are important primarily in

which native culture and economic organization prepared the African for one facet of plantation life:

relation to the extent to

systematic labor.

made

it

While

the customary labor of certain peoples

relatively easy for

New

World,

them

to

adapt to agricultural labor in

all clear that there was a close relaand rebelliousness among slaves and their ethnic origin. For example, although South American masters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries obtained most of their slaves from what they considered the most "docile" of Afri-

the

not at

it is

tionship between docility

can peoples, these slaves rose in rebellion after rebellion during the colonial period. In other words,

tween the African plantation

was not the contrast beand his dependency on the

it

slave's warrior past

which was primarily responsible

for determining his

behavior, but rather the interaction between certain universal

West African

elements of

of plantation

life,

culture, the institutionalized

the process of enslavement,

and

demands

his creative re-

sponse to bondage.^

Although a few chiefs sold

own

subjects,

household

most African slaves were prisoners captured

slaves, or criminals,

in

their

wars or kidnapped by slave

raiders. After their capture, the

Africans were tied together by a rope and then marched hun-

dreds of miles while suffering from tion.

many

Consequently,

duced

to a

very

thirst,

hunger, and exhaus-

either died along the

way

or

were

re-

weak and emaciated condition by the time they On the coast, the Africans were made to

reached the sea coast.

Africa (London, 1969), 81-95; Daryll Forde and P. M. Kaberry, West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1967), 37-39, 7^'-73,, 90; Basil Davidson, The Growth of African Civilization (London, 1965), 173.

233; Philip D. Curtin,

The

passim; Walter Rodney,

Atlantic Slave Trade:

"Upper Guinea and the

Africans Enslaved in the

New

.

A

.

Census (Madison, 1969)*

Significance of the Origins of

World," journal of Negro History LIV (Oct.

1969), 327-45. 3.

On

the economic

life

of

West African

tribes, see:

Madeline Manoukian,

Tribes of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (London, 1951), 13-23; P. Amaury Talbot, Tribes of the Niger Delta (London, 1932), 273-84, 294;

Madeline Manoukian, The Ewe-Speaking People of Togoland and the Gold Coast (London, 1952), 11-12, 15-20.

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

jump up and down, had genital organs handled

fingers

by

7

poked

a doctor.

in their mouths and their Those chosen by the Euro-

peans were then branded.^

Taken on board ship, the naked Africans were shackled together on bare wooden boards in the hold, and packed so tightly that they could not sit upright. During the dreaded Mid-Passage (a trip of from three weeks to more than three months) the were let out of the hold twice daily for meals and exercise, and women and children were often permitted to spend a great

slaves

deal of time on deck.

men

treme heat,

The

foul

lying for hours in their

blood and mucus covering the ness. Mortality 1

floor,

first

own

defecation, with

caused a great deal of

few weeks of the

matic experience for the Africans. sane and

air of the hold, ex-

sick-

from undernourishment and disease was about

The

6 per cent.

and poisonous

many became

so

A

was the most trauof them went in-

trip

number

despondent that they gave up the will

to live. Slaves in the latter condition

were described

as

having

the "fixed melancholy."^

Africans were not, however, totally immobilized by shock.

Often they committed suicide (especially while

still

on the

Afri-

can coast) by drowning, or refusing food or medicine, rather than accept enslavement.

West

He

captain

made

it all

the

way

to the

asserted that he

thought

all

contrary

I

Security.

content

tinued 4.

One

Indies before the Africans began a mass suicide attempt.

our troubles of this Voyage was over; but on the

might say that the Dangers

On

the 14th of

among till

the

on the Borders of

rest

March we found

a great deal of Dis-

the Slaves, particularly the 1

Men, which conwhen

6th about Five o'Clock in the Evening,

Elizabeth Donnan, ed.,

Documents

Illustrative

of the

History of the

Slave Trade to America

(4 vols., Washington, D.C., 1930-35); Daniel P. Mannix and Malcolm Cowley, Black Cargoes: A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 15 18-1865 (New York, 1962), 1-49, 100-130; W. O. Blake, The His-

and the Atlantic Slave Trade (Columbus, O., i860), 93-142; John R. Spears, The American Slave Trade (New York, 1900), 1-82. 5. Mannix and Cowley, Cargoes, 104-30; An Abstract of the Evidence Delivered Before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, ly 90-91 (Lontory of Slavery

don, 1791), 39-44; Spears, Trade, 68-81; Blake, History, 126-42.

dr^^ %^/

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

Figures

The Shock

i, 2, 3, 4.

to

9

of Enslavement

Amazement about an hundred Men Slaves jump'd it was with great Difficulty we sav'd so many out of the whole we lost 33 of as good Men Slaves

our great

over board, and as as

we did; we had on

selves,

board,

but resolv'd to

who would die,

not endeavour to save them-

and sunk

directly

down.

Many more

The

10

Figure

Slave

Community

Into the

5.

Hold

them were taken up almost drown'd, some of them died

of

since.

Many

.

.

.®

of the Africans resisted enslavement at every step in

Conscious of the wrongs they suffered,

their forced emigration.

they began trying to escape on the long march to the coast. Failing this and suicide attempts while shores, the Africans often

the

New World

and

still

in sight of their native

mutinied while being transported

killed their

to

white captors. In spite of their

nummuMannix and Cowley

chains and lack of arms, they rebelled so frequently that a

ber of ship owners took out insurance to cover losses from tinies. '^

In their study of the slave trade,

uncovered 6.

Quoted

in Darold D.

Wax, "Negro

Resistance to the Early American

Slave Trade," Journal of Negro History LI (Jan. 1966), 9-10. 1-15; Lorenzo J. Greene, "Mutiny on the Slave 7. Wax, "Resistance," Ships," Phylon V (Fourth Quarter 1944), 346-54; George Francis Dow, Slave Shi^s and Slavery (Salem, 1927), 83, 175, 207; Joshua Coffin, An Account of Some of the Princi'pal Slave Insurrections (New York, i860), 14-15, 33;

Donnan, Documents,

I,

463,

II,

232, 266, 397, 460-86,

III,

37-42, 51,

119,

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals ""iii"«n#iijf

Figure

6.

Middle Passage

fairly detailed

1699 a

1

?"*'"'

to 1845,

hundred

accounts of

fifty-five

mutinies on slavers from

not to mention passing references to more than

others.

The

list

long.

On

the record

it

by the natives— freemen— is almost as

of ships "cut off"

often in revenge for the kidnapping of

does not seem that Africans submitted

tamely to being carried across the Atlantic like chained beasts.^ 318; Harvey Wish, "American Slave Insurrections Before 1861," Journal of Negro History XXII (July 1937), 299-320; Spears, Trade, 31-35. 8.

Mannix and Cowley,

Cargoes,

1 1

1.

The

12

Slave Comtnunity

Early records indicate that the Africans continued to

even after they landed in the

New

Many

World.

resist

eighteenth-

century travel accounts, memoirs, and slave notices show that a

number

newly imported Africans almost

of the

soon as their feet touched American

as

advertisement of 1775

is

typical of

ran away North Carolina

literally

A

soil.^

many:

ELOPED from the Subscribers on Wednesday the 26th Inst, two newly imported Men Slaves kauchee and boohm, about 6 Feet high, and, perhaps 30 Years of Age.— They absconded in

Company

with three other Slaves about two Months ago, and were taken up at Broad-Creek, about 10 miles off, and brought back by William Catling of that Place, who has since purchased a is

Wench who was

imported with them; from which

it

supposed they are lurking about that Neighborhood.

Even when they did not run away, the Africans were often obstinate, sullen, and uncooperative laborers. An English traveler observed in 1746 that an African born slave, "if he must be broke, either from Obstinacy, or, which I am more apt to suppose, .

.

.

from Greatness of Soul, will require

you would

really

.

.

.

hard Discipline

be surpriz'd at their Perseverance;

.

.

.

they often die before they can be conquer d/'^®

The

psychic impact of what they had undergone was so great

newly imported Africans, exhausted from the journey which often lasted more than six months from the time of their capture, offered little resistance to their masters. For most that a majority of

9.

John

Brickell,

The Natural

272-74; Alexander Hewatt,

An

History of North Carolina (Dublin, 1737), Account of the Rise and Progress of

Historical

the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia (1779), in B. R. Carrol, ed., HisSouth Carolina (2 vols., New York, 1836), I, 331-32, 348;

torical Collection of

Hugh Jones, The Present State of Virginia (Chapel Hill, 1956), 76; Harriet Martineau, Retros'pect of Western Travel (3 vols., London, 1838), II, 98; Bernard Romans, A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida (New York, 177$^), 73; Garnett Andrews, Reminiscences of an

Old Georgia Lawyer

(Atlanta, 1870), 10. 10. Quoted in Wax "Resistance," 11; "Observations on Several Voyages and Travels in America," William and Mary Quarterly, Ser. i, XV (Jan.

1907), 149.

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals slaves in the seventeenth tury, the

and

13

early part of the eighteenth cen-

shock of enslavement was crucial in determining their

behavior. Captured and brought to America under the most

painful and bewildering conditions, the seventeenth- and eight-

eenth-century Africans were taken from a society where their

was assured, and thrust into one where customs and

status

guages were

and where

totally different

no import. The African

who

to face

was not

for the experience

he was about

entirely unfamiliar to him. Generally, both

women were

knew

was of

survived the Mid-Passage, however,

had one important advantage, and

their prior status

lan-

accustomed

men

to agricultural labor in Africa

and

of the existence of slavery. In fact, the frequent wars rep-

resented a constant reminder of the threat of capture.

Even

so,

enslavement was an unparalleled shock. ^^ Historians have few sources on the initial reactions of Africans to their

bondage. From the sketchy accounts which have sur-

vived, however, their reactions.

who

more or less clear idea of Fortunately, there were a few African-born slaves it is

possible to obtain a

lived to recount stories of their enslavement.

Venture Smith, born in Guinea

in

of these,

1729, was brought to the

United States when he was eight years

old.^^

He remembered

Polygamy was man could not marry an additional

that his people raised sheep, goats,

practiced, but apparently a

One

and

cattle.

wife until he obtained the consent of his other wife or wives.

When

Venture's father, a wealthy prince, took a third wife with-

out his mother's consent, she

left

him, though she soon rejoined

him. Venture remembered his father as "a strength and resolution, affable, kind

equity and moderation."

He

recalled

and

man

of remarkable

gentle, ruling with

most vividly and painfully,

however, his father giving cattle and goats

to

assuage the avarice

of African slave raiders, the raiders breaking the bargain, de-

11.

Green, Iho, 32-48; Forde and Kaberry, Kingdoms, 268-69; Francis Hall,

Travels in Canada and the United States in 18 16 and 18 17 (London, 181 8),

432. 12. Venture Smith, A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa (New London, Conn., 1798).

Figures 7, 8

Landing

5

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

and torturing

stroying the village,

shocking scene

to this

is

day fresh in

been overcome while thinking on

The most famous and ess of

father to death:

my

mind, and

The

it."^^

we have

revealing account

of the proc-

son of an Ibo tribal elder, Olaudah was born in

Benin empire (located in what

in a part of the

ern Nigeria).

Industrious

agriculturalists,

the

is

Ibos

corn, tobacco, cotton, plantains, yams, beans, spices,

apples and traded for guns, dried in

'The

have often

I

enslavement was written by Gustavus Vassa, or Olaudah

Equiano.^^

1745

his

1

East-

produced and pine-

and beads. Land was held

fish,

common, and everyone worked

and poultry were

now

in the fields. Bullocks, goats,

The women wove the men made hoes,

also raised.

and

calico cloth

made earthenware while shovels, spears, and swords. They had an organized marketing system

shields,

and used small iron anchor-shaped coins as money. Often parents promised children in marriage while they were quite young, and the marriage was consummated when the girl

came

of age. Since the girl

own

band's family, her gifts

from the groom's family. In order

started in

The

became the 'property"

girl

life, all

of their friends

acquired a

new

and

to get the

relatives

belt to indicate the

and the marriage ceremony ended with

The

of her hus-

family was compensated for her loss by

new

couple

gave them

change

gifts.

in her status,

a great feast.

family was rigidly patriarchal. Olaudah asserted that the

marriage bed was so "sacred" and of their wives that adultery

men

was punishable by death. The women

were bashful and chaste. According were "uncommonly graceful, bashfulness; nor do of incontinence

Within the

I

so jealous of the fidelity

alert,

remember

to

to

Olaudah, the

and modest

to a

women

degree of

have ever heard of an instance

amongst them before marriage."^^

patriarchal system,

women

played important

roles.

They made

the clothes, served as warriors, did the marketing,

and worked

in the fields alongside their

13.

husbands.

The

care

and

Smith, Narrative, li.

Gustavus Vassa, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (London, 1794), 1-61. 14.

15.

Vassa, Narrative, 14-1^.

16

The

Slave

Community

training of the children were primarily the responsibility of the

women. As

deep bond of affection developed between mothers and children. Olaudah was especially favored in this regard because he was the youngest boy: ''As I was the youngest of the sons,

a result, a

mother, and was always with her; and she used

my

pains to form

mind.

in the arts of agriculture

and throwing

javelins;

blems, after the

The

my

became, of course, the greatest favorite with

I

manner

to take particular

was trained up from my earliest years and war: my daily exercise was shooting and my mother adorned me with emI

of our greatest warriors.

"^^

Ibo religion was a complex synthesis of magic, nature

worship, and belief in a Supreme Being. Creator, lived in the

The Supreme

Sun and governed

all

Being, or

events, especially

who guarded one against evil were revered: there were frequent nightly prayers and

death and captivity. Ancestors, spirits,

oblations of the blood of freshly sacrificed animals at their graves.

Some

Ibos believed in transmigration of souls, and

the priest.

The

and discovered

priests,

all

honored

succeeded by their sons, foretold events

jealousy, theft,

and evidence of poisoning. In adwere also physicians.

dition to their religious duties, the priests

Upon

the death of a priest, his body, along with his earthly pos-

was buried, after the proper sacrifice of animals, at the end of the day. Some snakes were considered as omens of future

sessions,

events and were not molested.

There were

several noteworthy Ibo customs.

elders decided all disputes

The

The chief men

and meted out punishment

or

for crimes.

people were cheerful and enjoyed music and dancing. Ac-

cording

to

Equiano, his people was "almost a nation of dancers,

musicians, and poets.

phant return from

Thus

every great event such as a trium-

battle or other cause of public rejoicing

is

cele-

brated in public dances, which are accompanied with songs and

music suited

to the occasion.

"^^

Children were often named after

some spectacular event which occurred

The

at the

time of their birth.

Ibos bathed frequendy, practiced circumcision, and had no

knowledge of swearing. Fearful of being poisoned, the people i6.

Vassa, Narrative, 31.

17.

Vassa, Narrative,

7.

al-

I

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

ways it

kissed fruit or tasted food to

show

17

a friend or stranger that

did not contain poison.

European contact with Africa almost destroyed the society Olaudah knew. After Europeans gained a foothold on the coast, wars, frequently started by avaricious chiefs to obtain slaves, became endemic. Traditionally, prisoners of war had been either returned for ransom or kept as slaves who were treated like, and did the same work as, other members of their master's family; they could even

and

slaves,

tives to

own

African slave traders.

some of their war capEuropeans changed this by en-

couraging raids which frequently led in the area

owned many

property. Equiano's father

his people traditionally sold

by black slave

Olaudah and

his sister

to the

kidnapping of Ibos

traders.

were kidnapped when he was eleven.

At first, they comforted each other. When they were separated, Olaudah cried and refused to eat for several days. Traveling for

many

was finally sold to a kind African goldsmith. Alwas light, he had an anxious wish for death to

days, he

though

his labor

relieve

me

from

escape, he

all

my

and Olaudah was friends,

love of liberty.

sold to

European

after his capture. Arriving

on the

strange ship and the white

men

and long

hair."

The

He

grief.

and weighed down by

my

him.

When

billowing

my

mother

."^^ .

.

months

traders seven

slave coast,

he was

by the

terrified

with "horrible looks, red faces,

boat was a veritable devil's

pit.

The

to kill

whites

and

eat

he saw a pot of water boiling on the deck, he fainted. sails

and the

ability of the

ship start and stop at will filled

him

to

was, he recalled,

grief after

were "so savage" that he was sure they were going

The

way

pains." Constantly looking for a

was pressed down with

"quite oppressed

and

*

the white

men were

whites

to

make

the

him with wonder and convinced

evil spirits.

The

groaning men, shriek-

women, galling chains, and nauseating, suffocating smell made the hold of the ship "a scene of horror almost inconceivable." On the way to Barbados, two slaves, chained together, ing

1

8.

Vassa, Narrative, 35. For an overview of the staggering variety of slave

systems in Africa, see: Africa (Madison, 1977).

Suzanne Miers and Igor KopytofF,

eds.,

Slavery in

The

18

Community

Slave

jumped overboard and drowned. Although he was anxious about his fate and terrified by the whites, Olaudah was consoled by some members of his own ethnic group who were on board. Still, the constant flogging of black slaves and white sailors and

dying daily were oppressive. "Every circumstance served only to render

apprehensions and

my

my

state

more

painful,

I

men

met with

my

and heighten

opinion of the cruelty of the whites."

The

voyage was a nightmare; the hold a den of horrors. ^^

When

the boat docked in Barbados, a

new

series of horrors be-

gan

for Olaudah. Immediately the blacks were painstakingly examined by the eager merchants. Again, the haunting fear of the cannibalistic tendencies of the whites returned, and Olaudah asserted: "there was much dread and trembling among us, and .""^ nothing but bitter cries. This continued until some slaves came on board and explained that the Africans had been .

.

to the island to work for the whites. Taken off the ship and herded into a stockade, they were amazed by the brick houses of the whites and the horses they rode. The amazement turned to terror a few days later when the Africans were sold by the

brought

"shout" or "scramble." Olaudah described the spectacle in the following words:

We

were not many days

were sold

in the merchant's custody before

after their usual

given, (as the beat of a

manner, which

drum)

is

this:

On

we

a signal

the buyers rush at once into the

yard where the slaves are confined, and make choice of that parcel they like best. is

The

noise

and clamour with which

this

attended and the eagerness visible in the countenances of the

buyers serve not a terrified Africans.

relations

little

to increase the

... In

this

apprehensions of the

manner, without scruple, are

and friends separated, most

of

them never

to see each

other again. ^^

Most

of the Africans were sold in Barbados, but a small group,

including Olaudah, were taken to a Virginia plantation. Soon 19. Vassa, Narrative, 47, 49, 52.

20. Vassa, Narrative, 54.

21

.

Vassa, Narrative, 6 1

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

Figure

9.

19

Selecting Parcels

Olaudah was the only newly imported African leFt on the plan tation. He was mortified by his inability to converse with anyone: "I was now exceedingly miserable, and thought myself worse off than any of the rest of my companions; for they could talk to each other, but I had no person to speak to that I could understand. In this state I was constantly grieving and pining, and wishing for death, rather than anything else."^^ On the Virginia plantation he weeded grass and gathered stones for a few days. Then, called to the mansion to fan his master, Olaudah was terrified by the iron muzzle on the face of the black cook, mystified by the ticking of a clock, and convinced 22. Vassa, Narrative, 70-71.

20

The

Community

Slave

that a portrait

any of

report

on the wall watched

move and would

his every

who was

master

his transgressions to his

He

spent

and much dejected

state

Consequently, he performed his task "with great fear."

"some time

in this miserable, forlorn,

without having anyone until

to talk to,

asleep.

which made

my life

a burden,"

an English sea captain purchased him.^^

The

narrative of

Olaudah Equiano

details the process of en-

slavement and some elements of the cultural baggage Africans

brought with them these elements

to the

New

must be described

World. The general outline of in order to

ture of acculturation. Acculturation in the

understand the na-

United States involved

the mutual interaction between two cultures, with Europeans

and Africans borrowing from each other. When the African stepped on board a European ship he left all of the artifacts or physical objects of his culture behind him. In Africa, as in most societies, these objects

relationships,

The

were

far less

important than values, ideas,

and behavioral patterns. between many European and African cultural

similarities

elements enabled the slave

to

continue to engage in

tional activities or to create a synthesis of

pean forms serve African functions. gion.

whom

Most Africans believed

example of

made Eurothis

is

in a Creator, or all-powerful

one addressed directly through prayers, a

ported priests, sacred festivals, funeral

dirges

festivals expressing joy

rites,

reli-

God

sacrifices, rituals,

and dances. At the same time, they had gods each of whom governed one aspect of

songs,

dances and

tradi-

European and African

cultures. In the process of acculturation the slaves

An

many

panoply of

life.

lesser

Publicly sup-

and wakes,

and thanksgiving, sacred ob-

and images, and charms and amulets for protection against evil spirits were the usual elements found in traditional religions. Funerals were especially important to Africans, and often were expensive, drawn-out affairs involving a long period of mourning

jects

and the burial of personal objects with the deceased. All the 23. Vassa, Narrative, 71. At this point, Olaudah Equiano's story merges into EngHsh and West Indian history. He led an eventful life. Taken to England in 1757, he worked with Granville Sharp to free English slaves and, in 1788,

presented a petition to the

Queen

calling for the abolition of slavery.

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals friends

month

and

relatives of the deceased visited his

family for a

after his death, delivered their condolences,

drinking

to

much

and

periodi-

singing, dancing,

and

prevent the family from brooding over their

loss.

arranged great feasts with

cally

21

The merriment was

also indicative of the African belief that

upon dying one went "home."^^ Christian forms were so similar to African religious patterns that

was

it

relatively easy for the early slaves to incorporate

with their traditional practices and replaced the Creator, and Jesus, the

replaced the lesser gods.

The

them

In America Jehovah Holy Ghost, and the Saints

beliefs.

Africans preserved

many

of their

sacred ceremonies in the conventional Christian ritual and cere-

monies: songs, dances, prayers, images,

and

feasts, festivals,

priests.

funeral dirges, amulets,

After a few generations the slaves

by the Judeo-Christian some blacks completely forgot their gods. One group of Africans, for example, still remembered the names of their tribal deities fifty years after they were brought to Alabama. Whatever the name of the deity they worforgot the African deities represented

gods.

Still, it

was

a long time before

many facets of their many African elements.^^

shipped, in tained

The whole controversial

religious services the slaves re-

question of African survivals in slave culture

and

so limited

by inadequate research

that

is

so

one

must analyze the primary sources carefully in order to arrive at some tentative conclusions. The debate over this can only be approached by a comparison of African cultural forms with those 24. A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-S^eaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa (London, 1887), 9-22, 119-48, 222-43; G. T. Basden, Among the Ihos in Nigeria (London, 1966 [1921]), 112-34; David P. Gamble, The Wolof of

Senegamhia Together with Notes on the Lehu and the Serer (London, 1957), W. Thomas, Law and Custom of the Timme and Other Tribes (London, 1916), 29-40; M. J. Field, Religion and Medicine of the Ga People (London, 1937), 4-25. 25. Charles C. Jones, The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States (Savannah, 1842), 125; Charles A. Raymond, "The Religious Life of the Negro Slave," Har^per's Magazine XXVII (Oct. 1863), 676; Zora Neale Hurston, "Cudjo's Own Story of the Last African Slaver," ]ournal of Negro History XII (Oct. 1927), 648-63; Robin Horton, "African Conversion," AfricaXLI (April 1971), 85-108. 71-72, 102-3; Northcote

The

22

Slave

Community

Whenever

of the antebellum slaves.

culture

more

we can

be relatively certain that

this

we have

many

Because there arc so

vivals.

the elements of the slave's

closely resemble African than

Then,

many

patterns,

universals in culture, however,

procedure almost inevitably leads

the African survivals.

European

identified African sur-

an understatement of

to

too, since the slaves

had

to preserve

of the African elements in their master's language,

many

Africanisms will be missed because the European equivalents are too obscure for the

modern

On

ear to detect.

occasion the Afri-

canisms can be established because of the frequency of such

it

ele-

when compared to European culture. Several aspects of West African culture are so distinctive that is relatively easy to discover their presence or absence among

ments

in slave culture

Southern

Dances, folk

slaves.

tales,

music, magic, and language

patterns are susceptible to this kind of analysis.

African culture. Drums, guitars,

tral to

Music was cen-

flutes, piccolos, whistles,

and horns were the principal instruments and were played on

many

occasions. Fast changes in tone, intonation, pitch, timbre,

and impromptu Skilled

variations

instrumentalists

panied work in the

were

characteristic of African songs.

enjoyed a high

fields

and

set the

participation, improvisation, call plexity,

and percussions are constant

accompaniment

songs accom-

and response, rhythmic comin traditional African music.

Often hand clapping or stamping of the sion

status,

pace for rowers. Group

feet

supply the percus-

to songs.^^

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of traditional African

music

is its

rhythmic complexity. In

superior to the European. acteristically

or

more

this area the

While European music

African is

is

far

based char-

on one rhythm, African tunes often contain three

patterns.

An Englishman who

studied traditional Afri-

can music concluded: African rhythm for a

European

is

so complicated that

to analyse

it.

.

.

.

it is

exceedingly

difficult

Broadly speaking, the

dif-

26. J. H. K. Nketia, African Music in Ghana: A Survey of Traditional Forms (Accra, 1962); W. E. Ward, "Music in the Gold Coast," Gold Coast Review II (July-Dec. 1927), 199-223; Ellis, Tshi, 325-28; Basden, Ihos, 18593; Gamble, Wolof, 76-77.

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

23

ference between African and European rhythms is that whereas any piece of European music has at any one moment one rhythm in common, a piece of African music has always two From this point of or three, sometimes as many as four. .^^ vie\y European music is childishly simple. .

.

.

.

.

In traditional African dances there was

little

separation of

sacred and secular performances. Usually held in the open

air,

the dances were elaborate, exhausting affairs. African dances dif-

European dance between couples. Instead, women and men danced in separate lines, moving back and forth toward each other. Traditionally, the African dance was one of display, involving "seductive" and rapid movements, and leaping to the furious rhythm of the drum. Sometimes a large group of people would form a circle fered greatly from the traditional, stylized

On

around two dancers while clapping their hands. torso

other occa-

dance might involve sinuous movements of the upper

sions the

without moving the

feet.^^

European dances were generally unsuited terated African rhythm.

The uniqueness

most adul-

to the

of the traditional Afri-

can dances was indicated by an amazed Englishman among the Ibos

:

The

dancers range themselves and begin slow rhythmic move-

ments, unconsciously swaying their heads in time with the music. As the dance proceeds they appear intoxicated with the motion and the music, the speed increases, and the movements

The and bewildering. and springing movements exFor these perfect time, are wonderful to behold.

become more and more

intricate

.

.

.

twistings, turnings, contortions

ecuted in set

dances

.

.

.

.

the physical strength required

The body movements ably

One the folk 27.

kill a

is

.

tremendous.

and would prob-

are extremely difficult

European. 2^

of the most important cultural forms in tale.

.

Throughout the region

West

story-telling

Africa was

was an

art

form

Ward, "Music," 214.

28. Ellis,

Tshi,

222-43,

76-77. 29. Basden, Ihos, 131-32.

325-28;

Basden,

Ihos,

127-34;

Gamble, Wolof,

The

24

Slave

Community

including acting, singing, and gestures that served as the favorite

evening entertainment. In tales

were similar

to those

many ways

traditional African folk

found in early European

their attempts to explain natural

phenomena and

societies in

various animal

traits, giving animals the power of speech and containing gods and heroes, creation legends, magic, witches, and morals. Often accompanied by drums and responses from the aiidience. West

African tales showed that the people valued family

and knowledge.^^ Animal Africa.

The

stories are

trickster figures— the

ties,

children,

constant throughout

Nigerian

tortoise, the

West

Ghanaian

ananse or spider, and the rabbit— are ubiquitous. Congenitally weak, slow moving, or looked

down upon by

the stronger ani-

mals, the tortoise, spider, and rabbit are wise, patient, boastful,

mischievous, roguish, guileful, cunning, and they always outwit their stronger foes

and triumph over

evil.^^

Regardless of his previous culture, upon landing in the

World

New

the African-born slave had to learn the language of his

Taught by overseers or native-born slaves, the African acquired a few European words in a relatively casual and haphazard fashion. He began by recognizing his own name and that of his master in his "adopted" language. While they generally master.

had

to learn their master's

commands and

to

language in order

communicate with other

refused to accept a

new

to

understand his

slaves,

name.^^ For instance,

a

many

Africans

Georgia news-

paper described two recaptured fugitive slaves in these terms:

30. Elphistone Dayrell, Volk Stories

(London, 1910),

West African

vii-xvi, 1-6,

from Southern Nigeria, West Africa An Anthology of

20-38, 64-72; Alta Jablow, ed.,

Folklore (n.p., 1962), 29-39;

Ellis,

Tshi, 331-43.

William Owens, "Folklore of the Southern Negroes," Lifpincott's Magazine XX (Dec. 1877), 748-55; Basden, Ihos, 278-83; Northcote W. Thomas, The Iho-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria (4 vols., London, 191 3), I, 139-40; Amaury Talbot, Tribes of the Niger Delta (London, 1932), 336-44; G. T. Basden, Niger Ihos (London, 1966 [1938]), 424-36. 32. Allen Walker Read, "The Speech of Negroes in Colonial America," Journal of Negro History XXIV (July 1939), 247-58; William R. Bascom, "Acculturation Among the Gullah Negroes," American Anthropologist XLIII, n.s. (Jan. -March 1941), 43-50; "Eighteenth Century Slaves as Advertised by Their Masters," Journal of Negro History I (April 1916), 163-216. 31.

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

Run

aways.

them

.

.

two new negroe young fellows;

.

25

one of

computed eighteen years of age, of the Fallah counand calls himself Golaga, the name given him here Abel; the other a black fellow computed seventeen years^ of age, of the Suroga country, calls himself Abbrom, the name given him here Bennet.^^ try,

.

.

.

slim made,

.

.

.

While some remarkable Africans could converse in English months in the colonies, it took most of the older

after only eight

ones several years to add a few English words to their vocabulary.

Children and younger Africans acquired a knowledge of the language with relative ease.

One Maryland

new

native reported in

1822 that a group of African "boys have been three months only

among

the English and they

now

speak

it

better than most of the

blacks in these Southern states/'^^ If the African

had been "seathe South with

West Indies, he usually arrived in some knowledge of the English language. Some Africans consistently refused to abandon their linguistic tie with their homeland. Samuel Hall's mother, captured in Liberia, was typical of many stubborn and proud Africans: "The mother would never work after she was sold into slavery, but soned" in the

pined away, never even learning the language of the people of

When

newly imported Africans were on large plantations where they had little contact with whites and thus little need to use a European language, they were remarkably this country."^^

successful in retaining elements of their native language.^^ 33. Read, "Speech," 251. 34. P. J. Staudenraus, ed., "Victims of the African Slave Trade, ment," Journal of Negro History XLI (April 1956), 149.

A

Docu-

Samuel Hall, 47 Years a Slave (Washington, Iowa, 191 2), n.p. W. DuBose, "Recollections of the Plantations," Alabama Historical Quarterly I (Spring 1930), 66; Marcel (W. F. Allen), "Negro Dialect," Nation I (Dec. 14, 1865), 744-45; Marguerite B. Hamer, "A Century Before Manumission: Sidelights on Slavery in Mid-Eighteenth Century South Carolina," North Carolina Historical Review XVIII (July 1940), 232-36; Albert H. Stoddard, "Origin, Dialect, Beliefs, and Characteristics of the Negroes of the South Carolina and Georgia Coasts," Georgia Historical Quarterly XXVIII (Sept. 1944)^ 186-95; Sarah H. Torian, ed., "Ante-Bellum and War Memories of Mrs. Telfair Hodgson," Georgia Historical Quarterly XXVII (Dec. 1943)* 350-56; Samuel H. Chester, Pioneer Days in Arkansas (Richmond, 35.

36.

John

1927), 41-42.

The

26

The

Community

Slave

acquisition of

European languages was an extremely slow

process for the Africans, especially during the seventeenth

and

eighteenth centuries. ^^ Eighteenth-century travelers and clergy-

men

frequently observed that African-born slaves throughout the

American colonies did not understand English. The Reverend Bell of Virginia wrote in 1724 that there were *'A great

John

many Black me theirs.

.

.

.

understand not our language nor

infidels that

.

The same year the Reverend James among the Africans imported

." .

asserted that the adults

ginia

were "never

.

.

Falconer into Vir-

able either to speak or understand our

.

language perfectly."^^

As the number

of American-born slaves increased, a patois

containing English and African words developed in the quarters.

For example, the English traveler

J.

F.

D. Smyth

in 1773 de-

clared that in conversing with Virginia slaves he could not "un-

derstand

of them, as great numbers, being Africans, are in-

all

capable of acquiring our language, and at best imperfectly, all;

many

of the others speak a

mixed

dialect

if at

between the Guinea

and English."^^ In

many

Whites

century. tive

areas this pattern continued well into the nineteenth

Africans

in several states, for example,

who

often counted or prayed in their native lan-

guage and gave African names them.'*^

37.

Cobb

Joseph

William

S.

remembered na-

recalled

to

some of the

that

when

objects

African natives in

Perry, ed., Historical Collections Relating to the

Colonial Church (5

around

American

264, 280, 344, IV, 197, 222, 224, 305; James B. Lawrence, "Religious Education of the Negro in the Colony of Georgia," Georgia Historical Quarterly XIV (March 1930), 41-57; vols.,

Hartford, 1840),

I,

Marcus W. Jernegan, "Slavery and Conversion in the American Colonies," American Historical Review XXI (April 191 6), 518-19; Frederick Dalcho, An Historical Account of the Protestant E'piscopal Church, in South Carolina (Charleston, 1820), 105, 279; Mary F. Goodwin, "Christianizing and Educating the Negroes in Colonial Virginia," Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episco'pal Church I (Sept. 1932), 144; Edmond Gibson, Two Letters of the Lord Bishop of London (London, 1727), 5-6. .

38. Perry, Church, 39.

J.

Register

F.

VI

I,

.

.

282, 293.

D. Smyth, "Travels in Virginia in 1773," Virginia Historical

(April 1853), 82. 40. Joseph Le Conte, The Autohiografhy of Joseph Le Conte (New York, 1903), 28-30; Henry W. Ravenel, "Recollections of Southern Plantation

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

27

Georgia became excited in the 1820s "they would involuntarily slide into the dialect, or rather lingo of their native country.

." .

.

Around 1830 in Maryland, Frederick Douglass found one group of slaves whose language was a patois which was "a mixture of Guinea and everything else you please there were slaves .

there

who "had been

.

.

brought from the coast of Africa. ...

could scarcely understand them, so broken was their speech.

The

two of the

survivors of

United

States, the

I

"^^

ships to land in the

last slave

Wanderer (1858) and

the Clotide (1859),

demonstrated the longevity of African languages in the black

When

community.

the anthropologist Charles

terviewed the survivors of the

Wanderer

a clear portrait of the Africa they lier. Still

had

using their African names,

recalled the

names

Montgomery inhim

in 1895, they gave

left thirty-seven years ear-

many

of their villages, chiefs,

of the former slaves

and spoke

''fluently

and remember much of the life of Africa." From seven Georgia and South Carolina informants, Montgomery recorded the African equivalents of Ninety-one English their native language,

words.

One hundred

numerals, and Twenty-nine sentences.

The

words included zola (love), gooba (peanut), mano (teeth), doky

mauna (baby), and nlilly (cloth). Among the sentences were ''Ukola?"— ''How do you do?"; Quer quenda?'— "Where are you going?"; and "Vo vonda ngondo"— "Kill that alligator." The (devil),

came to be known and the twentieth-century survivors were often interviewed. Nine of the Africans resided in an area near Mobile, Alabama, in 191 3 when they talked with Emma Langdon Roche. Insisting that Roche use their African names when refer1

16 Africans imported in the Clotide in 1859

as "Tarkars,"

ring to them, the survivors of the Clotide

still

retained

many

of

Review XXV (June 1936), 775-77; "Reminiscences of Charles Seton Hardee," Georgia Historical Quarterly XII (June 1928), 158-76. 41. Joseph Cobb, Mississip'pi Scenes (Philadelphia, 185 1), 175; Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Vreedom (New York, 1968, [1855]), 76-77;

Life," Yale

Chester, Pioneer Days, 41-42;

XXI

J.

Ralph Jones,

"Portraits of Georgia Slaves,"

(Spring 1967), 130; George P. Rawick, ed.. The American Slave: A Composite Autohiogra-phy (31 vols., Westport, Conn., 1972-77), II, pt. 1:30; (Supplement) III, 261, 322, XII, 268-69; New Orleans Picayune, Georgia Review

Aug. 28, 1840, April

8,

1842.

Figures

i

o, ii

.

Survivors of the Slave Yacht "Wanderer'

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

their African

"Among

customs and,

29

themselves they speak the

Tarkar language/'^^

The

center

of

African

hnguistic

survival

was along the

Georgia-South Carolina sea coast, where the slaves had tact

with whites. John

W.

DuBose,

little

con-

a planter in the 1850s, de-

clared that "These low country South Carolina negroes, living

through generations of small contact with whites have hardly learned to speak intelligibly. he, she or

them."*^

it

to

be found?

The South

A

.

.

.

'Wha um

pronoun

d?'

or a sex

means where is

unknown

is

to

Carolina clergyman and editor William P.

Harrison reported that in 1855 there were hundreds of slaves in 42. Charles J. Montgomery, "Survivors from the Cargo of the Negro Slave Yacht Wanderer," American Anthropologist, n.s. X (Oct. 1908), 611-23; Emma Langdon Roche, Historic Sketches of the South (New York, 1914), 125; Appendix II; Tom H, Wells, The Slave Ship Wanderer (Athens, Ga.,

1968); Hurston "Cudjo," 648-63. 43.

DuBose, "Recollections," 66.

The

Slave

the state

who

30

Community ''still

jabbered unintelligibly in their Gullah and

other African dialects."^

During the twentieth century, Lorenzo Turner, a brilliant found in his fifteen-year investigation of the Gullah dialect used by Negroes on the Georgia-South Carolina sea coast linguist,

that the language patterns of the blacks

were African in nature.

African equivalents were substituted for such English words as "tooth,''

"pregnancy," "alcohol,'' "partridge," "sweet potato," and

coundess others. the

word order

ricans, the

The

pronunciation of

many

English words and

of sentences were often African. Like

many

Gullahs frequently employed groups of words

Af-

form

to

nouns, ^erbs, adverbs, and adjectives. Thus, they used day clean

"dawn," a-h eat-on-iron

for for

"flatter."

As

late

for "mechanic,"

as the

and

to

sweet mouth

1940s the Gullah blacks

all

had

African personal names and used more than 4000 words from the languages of

more than twenty-one African

tribes.^^

In most areas of the South traces of African languages

dis-

appeared after two or three generations. As long as fresh Africans

were imported during the eighteenth century, however, some African linguistic patterns were retained by blacks even they spoke English. last

The end

when

of the African slave trade in the

quarter of the eighteenth and early years of the nineteenth

century ended the African-English patois in the quarters— after

1830 in most places.

Other African cultural forms were somewhat more to

change than language patterns, especially

verge gready from English forms.

While most

if

resistant

they did not

di-

of the nineteenth-

century slaves were born in the United States, they maintained contact with Africa in various ways.

A

number had

relatives

who

had been born in Africa and told them stories of their homeland. Samuel Hall, Charles Ball, and Jacob Stroyer learned much of African customs and languages from their African-born relatives.

44.

William

P. Harrison,

The Gospel Among

the Slaves (Nashville, 1893),

306. 45. Lorenzo D. Turner, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect (Chicago, 1949).

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

31

Others sometimes saw freshly imported Africans in the South

and 505.*^ Clearly one of the general means by which Africans resisted bondage was by retaining their link with their past. Rather than accept the slaveholder's view of his place in society, the African in the 1840s

onto the African cultural determinants of his status.

tried to hold

who saw many African-born slaves on his plantamany attempts of this nature. Mohammedan slaves

Charles Ball, tion, reported

continued

pray

to

memories of

to Allah,

their religions

a priest supported seer required to

him

by to

and other Africans and customs. One

tried to

slave

keep alive

who had been

his tribe in Africa did everything the over-

do but according

African custom refused

to

help his wife in any way. Like other Africans, this slave be-

lieved that the spirit of

returned to Africa. a small canoe,

hair with the

an African who died in the United States

When

bow and

body

his son died, the former priest buried

arrows, meal, a paddle,

on

to aid the child's spirit

its

Maintaining their native concept of beauty, cans never

lost their

venge on the whites sometimes sang their the

amusement

a lock of his

journey

many

to Africa.

of the Afri-

revulsion for white skin and longed for refor their enslavement. African-born slaves tribal

songs and performed tribal dances for

of their masters

and fellow

such practices was the survival of in the

and

many

slaves.

The

result of

African cultural forms

South throughout the antebellum period.^^

One

of the African forms most resistant to

was the

folk

tale.

An

European culture

overwhelming majority of the

tales

of

Southern slaves retained the structure and motif of their African

46. Jacob Stroyer,

My

Life in the South (Salem, 1890), 9-20; Charles Ball,

Slavery in the United States:

A

Narrative of the Life and Adventures of

Charles Ball (Lewiston, Pa., 1836), 1-13; John Brown, Slave Life in Georgia (London, 1855), 171-200; Austin Steward, Twenty-two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman (Rochester, N.Y., 1861), 32-51; Douglass, Bondage, 76, 90-91.

47. Stroyer, 58; Robert

Eng., 181

1

My

Life, 44-49; Ball, Adventures,

Sutcliff, ),

Travels in

Some

Parts of

1-13,

204; Basil Hall, Travels in North America.

delphia, 1829),

II,

112-56, 168-205, 245-

North America.

...

.

.

.

(York,

(3 vols., Phila184; "Reminiscences of Charles Hardee," 158-76.

The

32

Anthropologists,

prototypes.

found

Community

Slave

so

many

Southern slaves that there

many

have

folklorists

identical tales

black folk tales were African in origin. In

have traced

and

Africanists,

among Africans and can be no doubt that many Southern

and

parallels

fact,

African scholars

Ghana,

of the slave's folk tales direcdy to

Senegal, and Mauritius, and the lore of such African peoples as

Ewe, Wolof, Hausa, Temne, Ashanti, and Ibo.^^ While many of these tales were brought over to the South,

the

African element appears most clearly in the animal

Southern slaves such African animals

the

Among

tales.

as lions, elephants,

and

monkeys were retained in folk tales which often included songs and gestures. One Louisiana tale, "Nelephant avec Baleine," is almost identical to a Senegalese story recorded in 1828 describing

how

the rabbit outwitted the elephant and the whale.

The most

notable of the African tales imported with few changes are those of the tortoise story of

"Why

and the hare and the tar-baby the

Hare Runs Away,"

basic element of the tar-baby tale.

story .^^

The Ewe

for instance, contains the

When

the hare tricked the

other animals and stole their water they set a trap for

making an "image" and covering

The

hare came.

.

.

.

hare saluted the image.

'Take 48. Daniel

Quarterly

J.

He

it

with bird lime:

approached the image.

The image

care," said the hare, "or

Crowley,

I

1962), 65-71; A. B. Prototypes of the Uncle

West African Monthly XLVIII (Nov. 1895),

.

.

.

The

said nothing. will give

"Negro Folklore:

V (Autumn

him by

An

Ellis,

you

a slap."

Africanist's

View," Texas

"Evolution in Folklore:

Remus

Stories,"

Popular

Some

Science

93-104; A. J. Gerber, "Uncle Remus Traced Old World," journal of American folklore VI (Oct.-Dec. 1963), 245-77; William D. Pierson, "An African Background for American Negro Folktales," journal of American Folklore LXXXIV (April-June 1971), 204-14; D. J. M. Muffett, "Uncle Remus Was a HausaMan?" Southern Folklore Quarterly XXXIX (June 1975), 151-66. 49. Alcee Fortier, Louisiana FolkTales (Boston, 1895); Elizabeth Pringle, Chronicles of Chicora Wood (Boston, 1940), 53-55; J. Marion Sims, The Story of My Life (New York, 1884), 69-70; Le Conte, Autobiography, 28-30; Ravenel, "Recollections," 750; Cobb, Mississippi, ly^-yS; for commentaries from informants themselves about the African origin of the slave tales, see A. M. F. Christensen, Afro-American Folk Lore; Told Round Cabin Fires on the Sea Islands of South Carolina (Boston, 1892). to the

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

He

gave a

slap,

He

bird-Hme.

and

his right

slapped with his

33

hand remained fixed in the hand, and that remained

left

fixed also.

"Oh!

He

oh!," cried he, "let us kick

kicked with his

feet.

hare could not get away.

The

with our feet

feet."

remained

fixed,

and the

.^^ .

.

Another good example of the transfer of African forms spiritual.

Although European words were used

many

songs,

of

in

the

is

plantation

them contained African elements. After review-

ing a collection of slave songs published in 1867, anthropologist

John F. Szwed concluded: 'The church songs and spirituals of the Negroes in the Southern United States closely resemble

West African song response patterns. "^^

style,

An

particularly in their strong call-and-

earlier student not

only compared the

slave songs with African ones, she compared her notes with

cent arrivals from the continent in the

former

slaves.

1890s,

and talked

reto

She wrote:

During mv childhood m\ observations were centered upon a few very old negroes who came directly from Africa, and upon many others whose parents were African born, and I early came to the conclusion, based upon negro authority, that the greater part of their music, their methods, their scale, their type of

thought, their dancing, their patting of feet, their clapping of

hands, their grimaces and pantomime, and their gross superstitions

According

lum

came

to

straight

from Africa. ^^

one old former

slave,

when

she attended antebel-

religious services:

jump up dar and den and holler and shout and sing and pat, and dey would all cotch de words and I'd sing it to some old I'd

50. A.

B.

Ellis,

The Ewe-S-peaking

Peoples of the Slave Coast of

West

Africa (Nethedands, 1966 [1890]), 276-77.

John F. Szwed, "Musical Adaptation Among Afro- Americans," ]ournal American Folklore LXXII (xApril-June 1969), 115; see also, Alan Lomax, "The Homogeneity of African-Afro-American Musical Style," in John F. Szwed and Norman Whitten, eds., AfroAmerican Anthropology (New York, 51.

of

1970), 181-201. 52. Jeanette R. Murphy, "The Survival of African Music in America," Popular Science Monthly LV (Sept. 1899), 660-61.

34

The

Slave

Community

shout song rd heard 'em sing from Africa, and dey'd

all

up and keep

would be

at

it,

and keep a-addin

to

it,

and den

it

take

it

a spiritual.^^

On

rare occasions, African

The

songs.

writer Lafcadio

words were retained in the slave

Hearn

transcribed one of these he

heard in 1880 from an old African-born slave in

New

Orleans

which contained the Congolese (Fiot) word "Ouendai" "ouende," meaning ''to go, to continue, to go on."

or

Ouende ouende, macayal

Mo pas barrasse,

macayal

Ouende ouende, macayal

Mo bois bon

divin,

macayal

Ouende ouende, macayal Mo mange bon poulet, macayal Ouende ouende, macayal

Mo pas barrasse,

macayal

Ouende ouende, macayal Macayal^"^

The

significance of the continuing debate over African sur-

vivals in black

music

is

not whether African or European patterns

predominate or whether the environment of the plantation was the primary determinant of the debate

is

its

character.

The

very existence of

important in any discussion of acculturation for

proves that there

is

at least a

were some survivals of African forms

in slave culture.

The

mary 53.

54.

so-

and

phisticated research of ethno-musicologists, anthropologists, folklorists,

coupled with the evidence in a large number of

sources, suggests that African culture

was much more

Murphy, "Survival," 662. Henry E. Krehbiel, Afro- American Folksong (New York, 1914),

Hearn's translation:

Go

on! go on! eat enormously I

I ain't

Go I

Go I

one

bit

ashamed— eat outrageously

on! go on! eat prodigiously!

drink good wine!— eat ferociouslyl on! go on! eat unceasingly! eat

good chicken— gorging myself!

Go

it

reasonable possibility that there

on! go on! etc.

prire-

39-40-

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

35

bludgeon that was slavery than historians have

sistant to the

Sometimes retention was

hitherto suspected.^^

facilitated

by the

adoption of a hands-ofF policy by planters with African-born slaves.

For example, a Florida planter recalled in 1829 that

About Johns

twenty-five years ago,

river, in Florida,

many

of

whom

were mostly numbers.

I

fine

I

setded a plantation on

with about

fifty

new

St.

African negroes,

brought from the coast of Africa myself. They

young men and women, and nearly

in equal

never interfered with their connubial concerns, nor

I

them regulate these after their own manner. I taught them nothing but what was useful. ... I encouraged as much as possible dancing, merriment and dress, ... I never allowed them to visit for fear of bad example, but domestic

affairs,

but

let

encouraged the decent neighboring people their

In

weekly

many

festivity.

.

areas, of course, the

music,

it

is

participate

in

master tried to prevent the reten-

which he

tion of those African cultural forms

However much

to his existence.

to

.^^

.

scholars

felt

may

were dangerous

argue about slave

obvious that the slaveholders recognized

its

revolu-

tionary potential. Clerics rushed forward to teach the psalms to

the slaves in an effort to stamp out "heathen" survivals,

and

masters tried to restrict the slaves' musical activities to prevent

Somewhat more sagacious than American counterparts. Southern planters tried to prevent the slaves from using musical instruments to signal slave the articulation of discontent.

their Latin

uprisings.

South Carolinians, recalling that during the Stono

rebellion of 1739 the rebels

blacks to join

them

had used

drum

a

to

signal other

in killing whites, prohibited slaves

from beat-

ing drums. Similarly, the Georgia slave code provided, since

it

was 'absolutely necessary to the safety of this province, that slaves be prohibited from using and carrying mischievous and 55.

For an excellent illustration of the problems involved in the search for

African survivals see Melville

J.

(New 56.

A

Z. Kingsley,

Society as

It

Exists

.

.

The Myth of the Negro Past The Negro in the United States

Herskovits,.

1958), and E. Franklin Frazier, York, 1949).

(Boston,

Treatise on the Patriarchal, .

Under

the

Name

Or

of Slavery

Co-Oferative System of

C^i.-p.,

1829), 14.

The

36

Slave

Community

dangerous weapons, or using and keeping drums, horns, or other loud instruments, which to

one another of

their

may

call

together or give sign or notice

wicked designs and intentions.

."^"^ .

.

In spite of all the restrictions, the slaves were able to draw upon their African heritage to build a strong musical tradition. There is overwhelming evidence of the survival of African song and dance forms in the United States in the nineteenth century. The heyday of African cultural influence on Negro slaves, however, was during the eighteenth century. American clergymen and English missionaries were especially horrified at the "idolatrous dances and revels" of the slaves.^^ Alexander Hewatt described

the general pattern

when he wrote

1779 that in

in

Georgia and South Carolina the Negroes of that country, a

few only excepted, are to this and as much under the influence of Pagan darkness, idolatry and superstition, as they were at their first arrival from Africa. Holidays there are days of idleness, riot, wantonness and excess: in which the day as great strangers

to Christianity,

.

.

.

slaves assemble together in alarming crowds, for the purposes

of dancing, feasting,

and merriment.^^

There were probably more African survivals in the music and dances in Louisiana than in any other area. Apparently Louisianians encouraged

Orleans

this, for in

18 17 the City Council of

set aside a special place for

slaves certainly took

New

the slaves to dance. Louisiana

advantage of

opportunity and often

this

New

performed African dances.^^ While in

Orleans in 1808,

Christian Schultz found 57.

William A. Hotchkiss, comp.,

A

Codification of the Statute

Law

of

(Savannah, 1845), 813; Howell M. Henry, The Police Control of the Slave in South Carolina (Emory,

Georgia, Including the English Statutes in Force

.

.

.

Va., 1914), 150.

Frank J. Klingberg, An A'ppraisal of the Negro in Colonial South A Study of Americanization (Washington, D.C., 1941), 12-18; S. C. Bolton, "South Carolina and the Reverend Francis Le Jau: Southern Society and the Conscience of an Anglican Missionary," Historical Magazine of the 58.

Carolina:

Protestant Episcopal

Church

59.

Hewatt, AccowMt,

60.

Timothy

II,

XL (March

1971), 74.

100, 103.

Flint, Recollections of the Last

Ten

Years

.

.

.

(New

York,

1968 [1826]), 140; Henry C. Knight, Letters from the South and West (Bos-

Enslavement Acculturation and African Survivals y

.

.

37

^

twenty different dancing groups of the wretched Africans,

.

collected together to perform their worshi'p after the

They have

their country.

their

own

manner

of

national music, consisting

most part of a long kind of narrow drum of various

for the sizes,

from two

make

a band.

to eight feet in length, three or four of

The

principal dancers or leaders are dressed in a

variety of wild

and savage

number

of the smaller wild animals.

of

tails

ments continue

fashions, always

sunset,

until

show themselves with

patrole

which

when one

ornamented with .

.

or

their cutlasses,

a

These amusetwo of the city and the crowds .

immediatelv disperse.^^

The

best description of the African dances in

New

Orleans

appears in the diary oF Benjamin Latrobe, the famous architect.

On

February 21, 18

Latrobe saw about 500 slaves assembled

19,

dancing in groups around old

in a square,

men

beating cylindrical

and calabashes. The men and

drums, stringed instruments,

women danced

in separate groups while singing a response to

their leaders. In

one group

A man

which I was not French, & the women screamed a detestable burthen on one single note. The allowed amusements of Sunday have, it seems, perpetuated sung

an uncouth song

[sic]

to

the dancing

suppose was in some African language, for

^^

here those of Africa.

Contrary

.

to the pattern

vailed in Louisiana right

Helene Allain reported ton,

1824),

127;

Georges

it

.

.

elsewhere,

down

many

African customs pre-

the eve of the Civil

to

War.

that she saw^ performances in the 1850s

J.

Joyaux,

FAmerique en 1831," Louisiana

'Torest's

Historical

Voyage aux Etats-Unis de

Quarterly

XXXIX

(Oct.

1956),

457-72. 61. Christian

York,

1

810),

II,

Schultz,

Travels on an Inland Voyage

... (2

197; for earlier views, see: Pierre C. Laussat,

vie -pendant les

vols.,

Memoire

New

sur

ma

annees 1803 et suivantes a la Louisiane (Pau, 1831), 395; Fortescue Cuming, Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country (Pittsburgh, 1 810), 333-36; Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane ... (2

vols., Paris,

1758),

.

I,

.

.

352.

Benjamin Latrobe, Impressions Respecting Sketches, 1818-1820 (New York, 1950), 46-51. 62.

New

Orleans:

Diary and

The

38

Slave Com-munity

almost identical to those described by Schultz and Latrobe in

New new

More than

Orleans.^^

Yes,

thirty years later, Lafcadio

Hearn, a

New Orleans, wrote of the former slaves:

arrival in

have seen them dance; but they danced the Congo and

I

sang a purely African song

box beaten with

sticks or

accompaniment of

to the

a drygoods

bones and a drum made by stretching

That

accompaniment and that precisely similar to what a score of travellers have described. There are no harmoniesonly a furious contretemps. As for the dance— in which the women do not take their feet off the ground— it is as lascivious a skin over a flour barrel.

sort of

as

music you know

leaping in the

As

very differently, like savages,

.

.

restricted to the

on the plantations

it is

.^"^

air.

persistent as African customs

were not Isaac

sort of

about;

The men dance

possible.

is

all

in Mississippi

Holmes reported

were

in

New

Orleans, they

They were

Crescent City.

also prevalent

and Louisiana. For example,

in 1821

In Louisiana, and the state of Mississippi, the slaves have Sun-

day for

dance eral

a

day of recreation, and upon many plantations they

for several hours

movement

is

during the afternoon.

what they

in

call

the

Congo

.

.

The

.

gen-

dance; but their

music often consists of nothing more than an excavated piece of

wood

.

.

.

one end of which

covers the hollow part on or vociferation of those

is

a piece of

which they

who

parchment which

beat; this,

are dancing,

round the dancers, constitute the whole of

and

and the singing

of those

African dances and songs were also recorded in areas of the antebellum South. called that the Africans

sing their native songs"

A

who

sur-

their harmony.^^

many

other

North Carolina overseer

re-

he supervised in 1800 'would begin to their work ended. In 1805 a South

when

Helene

Allain, Souvenirs d'Amerique et de Prance (Paris, 1883), 171James R. Creecy, Scenes in the South (Philadelphia, i860), 2021, and William Wells Brown, My Southern Home (Boston, 1880), 121-24.

63.

72; see also:

64.

Quoted

don,

1823),

vols., Paris,

in Krehbiel, Folksong, 38.

Holmes,

65. Isaac

An

(LonAccount of the United States of America Theodore Pavie, Souvenirs Atlantiques ... (2

332; see also:

1833),

II,

319-20.

.

.

.

Enslavement, Acciilturation, and African Survixmls

Carolina tutor observed a group of ''native Africans

& amusements

gave us a specimen of the sports

&

benighted .

.

.

.

.

.

39

[who]

with which the

uncivihzed children of nature divert themselves.

Clapping

their

hands was

their

music and distorting their

frames into the most unnatural figures and emiting the most hideous noises in their dancing.

.

.

."A

Florida planter reported

that his fifty slaves continued their native dances for several years after

he brought them from Africa around 1804.^^

In a

number

of instances, the slaves used musical instruments

similar to those used in Africa.

made

Drums,

of a hollowed-out piece of

stretched over

it.

While

for example,

were often

wood with an animal

skin

the decorative arts degenerated in the

South, the slaves continued to carve figures on top of their

was the traditional practice in Africa. A instruments used by the slaves were clearly African

stringed instruments, as

number

of

in origin. In the latter half of the eighteenth century, Virginia slaves played a three-stringed banjo-like instrument

and

a "qua-

qua" or drum which resembled the African "molo" (banjo) and

Benjamin Latrobe made several sketches of the instruments used by the slaves in New Orleans. Two of them are African drums while the others are very similar to the gourd rattles and mandolins found the Yoruba drum, the "gudugudu." Fortunately,

in

many

African

There were, of

tribes.^^

course, several other distinctly African features

of the slave's culture. riod,

for

canes,

Throughout much

of the antebellum pe-

instance, blacks modelled their mats,

and baskets on African

patterns.

rugs,

walking

They sometimes

built

thatched roofs for their cabins as they had done in Africa. Slaves generally retained their taste for such African foods as peanuts,

benne (sesame

seeds), yams, rice,

and sorghum. The

social struc-

ture of the quarters also reflected African influences: the

most

revered slaves were native Africans and aged blacks. Joseph

Cobb

66.

John

S.

Bassett,

Slavery in the State of North Carolina (Baltimore,

1899), 93; Dena J. Epstein, "African Music in British and French America," Music Quarterly LIX (Jan. 1973), 85-86; Kingsley, Treatise, 14. 67. Basil

The African Genius (Boston, 1969), 167; Latrobe, Smyth, "Travels," 85; Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State

Davidson,

Im'pressions, 50;

of Virginia CBoston, 1832), 147.

40

The

Slave

Community

Figure 12 African Drum

from Virginia, c-

1753

acknowledged

this

when he

reported that the Africans on one

Georgia plantation 'were treated with marked respect by

all

the

other negroes for miles and miles around." Often the oldest blacks constituted a council of elders settle disputes in the quarters.

The

who were

called

upon

to

slaves also retained the Afri-

can's worship of nature. Blacks in South Carolina, for example,

believed that each spring or fountain of water was inhabited by a

guardian

The among

spirit,

strength

"Cymbee."^^

and longevity of conjurism and voodooism

the blacks illustrate clearly the African element in their

culture. In regard to the conjurer,

W.

E. B.

Du

Bois concluded

that in spite of slavery

some

traces

were retained of the former group life, and the was the priest or medicine man. He

chief remaining institution

68. Cobb, Mississippi, 173; Ravenel, "Recollections," 775-77; "Reminiscences of Charles Hardee," 165-66; Pringle, Chronicles, 53-54; Montgomery,

"Survivors," 611-23.

Enslavement, Acculturation, and African Survivals

on the plantation and found

early appeared

41

his function as the

unknown, the comsupernatural avenger of wrong and

healer of the sick, the interpreter of the forter of the sorrowing, the

the one

who

rudely, but picturesquely,

and resentment

ing, disappointment

expressed the long-

of a stolen

and oppressed

people.^^

many

In the United States, into

one— voodoo. From

African religious

rites

were fused

the whole panoply of African deities,

the slaves chose the snake god of the

Whydah, Fom, and Ewe.

Symbolic of the umbilical cord and the rainbow, the snake embodied the dynamic, changing quality of

life.

was good and

In Africa

it

fertility and the determiner of Only by worshipping the god could one invoke his protective spirit. There were many w^orshippers of the snake god Damballa among both slaves and whites in nineteenth-century

sometimes the god of

ill

fortune.

Louisiana. to

The voodoo

make masters

priests

kind, to

heal the sick, had

many

and

priestesses,

harm enemies,

claiming the ability

to insure love,

and

to

devotees and frequently led the allegedly

wild orgies of the snake worshippers in their ceremonies on the shores of

New

Orleans' Lake Pontchartrain throughout the nine-

teenth century. Although elements of Catholicism were sometimes grafted onto the ancient

rites,

the basic ingredients of

voodoo worship were traceable directlv

to

the African snake

cults.^^

The

was an African custom much more widespread than voodoo. Because of labor requirements on the plantation, a

funeral

rite

deceased slave w^as often buried at night with the

being held weeks

later.

The

similarity to African practices

mistakable. For example, Mrs. Telfair

Hodgson reported

rites

is

that

un-

on

her father's Georgia plantation in the 1850s: 69.

W.

E. B.

Du

Bois,

"The Religion

of the

American Negro,"

New World

IX (Dec. 1900), 618. 70. Lyle Saxon, Fabulous

New

Orleans

Werner A. Wegner, "Negro Slavery

in

(New

New

York, 1928), 233-46, 309-22; Orleans" (M.A. thesis, Tulane

University, 1935), 83-85; Napier Bartlett, Stories of the Crescent City (New 1869), 100-102; New Orleans Times, Oct. 27, 1875; Zora Neale

Orleans,

Hurston, "Hoodoo in America," Journal of American Polk-Lore

Dec. 193O, 317-417-

XLIV

(Oct.-

Figures 13, 14 Slave Musical Instruments and African Prototypes

i 365-88; Thomas H. Patten, Jr., The Foreman: Forgotten Man of Management (n.p., 1968), 17-33, 106-8, 123-47; Alan Fox, A Sociology of Work in Industry (London, 1971), 84-89; David Dunkerley, The Foreman: Aspects of Task and Structure (London, 1975), 28-39, 53-58, 85-87, 120-29; Samuel A. 13. Leslie

121-35;

:

259

Plantation Realities

evidence from the blacks themselves contradicts this portrait. Since most plantations were small, slave owners did not employ enough drivers for them to represent significant personages

community of the slaves. ^^ Called whipping man^ overlooker, whipping boss, foreman, and overseer by the slaves, the driver was generally described by bondsmen as being as "mean as the devil." Significantly, the more sympathetic (or neutral) assessments of the drivers come from the drivers themselves, their in the

relatives, or their

hand

owners. Rare indeed

that drivers tried in

any way

is

the testimony of a field

to protect the

hide their indiscretions from owners.

^^

The

bondsmen

slaves

instead of the driver's sexual exploitation of black alacrity in

meting out punishment, and

or

complained

women,

his

his favoritism in giving

rewards. In slave interviews and autobiographies, the driver ap-

embodiment

pears as the sippi

of cruelty.

Henry Cheatam

gave a typical description

Old Miss had

a nigger overseer

and dat was de meanest

dat ever lived on de Lord's green earth. I

growed up dat

thing

StouflFer et

al.,

I

promise myself

devil

when

if it was de last him beat my mammy, seen him beat my auntie who was big with a I

was

a-goin' to kill dat nigger

ever done. Lots of times Lse seen

I

and one day

I

The American

Princeton, 1949), 14.

of Missis-

I,

Soldier:

Adjustment During Army Life (4

vols.,

401-10.

Even when one discounts the comments

of those too

young

to

remember

much

about slavery, the driver is an extremely rare figure compared with the ubiquitous overseer in the interviews.

WPA

15.

498,

John 640;

W.

Blassingame, ed., Slave Testimony (Baton Rouge, 1977), 405, Randall Miller, ed., "Dear Master": Letters of a Slave Family

Owens, Species, 121-35; Genovese, Roll, Jordan, George P. Rawick, The American Slave: A Com'posite Autobiog-

(Ithaca, N.Y., 1978), 139-82; Roll, 365-88;

raphy (31 vols., Westport, Conn., 1972-77), VI (Alabama), 63, 426, (Indiana), 199, VII (Oklahoma), 67-70, 98-101, 124, 129, 227, 251-53, 288, 292, 303 (Mississippi), 69, 78, VII, pt. 1:301, pt.

4:298,

X

IX

155,

169,

192, 224, pt.

3:139,

5:35, 120, 339, pt. 6:49, 82; (Supplement), I, 87, 156-59, 167, 305, 450, II, II, 106, IV, 471, XII, 13, 82, III, 361; Charles L. Perdue

et ah, eds..

pt.

Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves (Char-

1976), 26-27, no, 290; Ronnie C. Tyler and Lawrence R. Murphy, eds.. The Slave Narratives of Texas (Austin, 1974), 63; Orland K. Armstrong, ed.. Old Massa's People: The Old Slaves Tell Their Story (Indianapolis, 1 931), 98-99, 217-19. lottesville,

The

260

Community

Slave

and dat man dug a round hole in de ground and put her it, and beat and beat her for a half hour straight till de baby come out right dere in de hole. Mistis allow such treatment only 'cause a heap of times she didn't know nothin' about it, and de slaves better not tell her, 'cause dat overseer whip 'em if he finds out dat dey done gone and told. When de slaves would try to run away our overseer would put chains on deir legs with big long spikes between child,

stomach in

.

.

.

deir feets, so dey couldn't get away.^^

The key

to the slaves*

assessment of the driver was whether or

not he had the power to flog them.

When

masters prohibited

work out a number of compromises in order to get slaves to labor. Without the whip, the driver spurred his fellows on by example and threats to tell the drivers from flogging, they

master

when

had

to

they did not labor conscientiously.

of the plantation, the

number

Though

the size

of slaves, the crop, the presence or

absence of owners, managerial style of masters, and the resort to the task system or gang labor

all

affected the role of the driver in

a variety of ways, the presence or absence of the

hands largely determined

whip

in his

his relationship with other slaves

and

his standing in the quarters.

While

the drivers provided part of the coercion necessary to

keep the plantation machinery humming, the domestic servants often represented an extension of the master's eyes and ears: the plantation's

secret

police.

Flattered

and materially rewarded,

the domestic servant kept the master informed of activities in the slave quarters.

Trained

to

speak of his good treatment to North-

ern visitors and sometimes forced to spy on his fellows, the domestic servant was a valuable adjunct to the slaveholder's security

and public

relations staff.

Ritual deference and obedience to plantation rules could only 1

6.

Norman

R. Yetman, ed., Voices from Slavery

(New

York, 1970), 55;

see also: Blassingame, Slave Testimony, 65-73, 219-20, 277-79, 359, 524, 586;

Rawick, American Slave, VI (Alabama),

2,

52, 66, 158, 181, 212, 224, 416,

(Indiana), 156, 199-200, VII (Oklahoma), 21, 50-51, 77-78, 216, 233, 296 (Mississippi), 4, 13, VIII, pt. 1:34, IX, pt. 4:85; (Supplement), I, 89-92, III,

261, XII, 29, 37, 142, 369; Perdue, Weevils, 156, 266-67, 274; Tyler and Narratives, 53-55; Armstrong, Old Massa's People, 218.

Murphy, Slave

261

Plantation Realities

be enforced by most planters by constant floggings. William

Wells Brown spoke plantation the

many

for

when he

slaves

wrote that on his

whip was used 'Very frequently and

and

freely,

small offence on the part of a slave furnished an occasion for use."^^

The

away and

were flogged most frequently

slaves

for failure to

for visiting their mates, learning to

working too slowly,

read, arguing or fighting with whites,

with other

ing, fighting or quarreling

punished

impudence, asking

for

steal-

drunkenness, or for

slaves,

They were

trying to prevent the sale of their relatives. ally

its

running

complete the tasks assigned them. Slave-

them

holders often punished

for

a

occasion-

their masters to sell

claiming they were free men, breaking household

them,

articles, or for

giving sexual favors to persons other than their masters.

^^

Nowhere does the irrationality of slavery appear as clearly as in the way that slaves were punished. While generally speaking a slaveholder had no desire to punish his slave so severely as to

endanger

men,

was only

his life, the master

a

man, subject, like most and to drink. When

to miscalculations, to anger, to sadism,

angry, masters frequently kicked, slapped, cuffed, or boxed the ears of domestic servants,

and often punished recover. ^^

Many

sometimes flogged pregnant women,

slaves so cruelly that

it

took

them weeks

to

slaves reported that they were flogged severely,

had iron weights with

bells

on them' placed on

their necks, or

and were treated more cruelly by exasperated planters than were any other blacks. Moses Roper, an incorrigible runaway, regularly received 100 to 200 lashes from his owner. Once his master poured tar on his head and set it afire. On another occasion, after Roper had were shackled. Recalcitrant

more

slaves received

stripes

escaped from leg irons, his master had the nails of his fingers

and

toes beaten off. Since every

17.

W. W.

18.

Ball,

Thomas J.

Brown, Narrative,

Slavery,

Jones,

Brown, Slave 19.

160-68,

Who Was

New

man

considered himself

15.

372-480;

Thomas

Jones,

The

Ex'perience

of

a Slave for Forty-three Years (Boston, 1850), 16-20;

Life, 21-30, 62-68, 127-36.

Steward, Twenty-two Years, 22-30;

Clarke, Sufferings, 14-20; 9-10;

white

J.

Brown, Slave

Loguen, Freedman, 78-98;

New

Orleans Daily Delta, Sept. 28, Oct.

W. W. Life,

Brown, Narrative, 37-41;

127-36; Watkins, Narrative,

Orleans True Delta, Dec. 7,

7,

1858, Jan. 14, April 20, 1859.

1845;

262

The

Slave

Community

the slave's policeman, the black also suffered at the hands oF non-

Henson,

slaveholders. Josiah

man who later broke

of

for

example, accidentally pushed

arm and shoulder blades.^^ Uncompromisingly harsh, the portrait which the slaves drew cruel masters was filled with brutality and horror. On the

a white

his

plantations of these masters, strong black

men

suffered

from

overwork, abuse, and starvation; and the overseer's horn usually

sounded before sleep could chase the fatigue of the Characteristically, stocks closed

labor.

last day's

women and

on hapless

children, mothers cried for the infants torn cruelly from their

arms, and whimpering black

women

fought vainly

their virtue in the face of the lash or pleaded for

blood flowed from their bare buttocks.

A

to

preserve

mercy while

cacophony of horren-

dous sounds constantly reverberated throughout such plantations:

nauseated black

men vomited

while strung up over slowly

men

burning tobacco

leaves, vicious dogs tore black flesh, black

moaned

were hung up by the thumbs with the whip

raising

as they

deep welts on their backs and

barrels or tied

down

broke

blisters

on

name

in vain

their

as

stroke or as they

to stakes

as they

were bent over

while paddles with holes in them

rumps. Frequently, blacks called God's

they fainted from their master's hundredth

had

their brains

blown

out.

The

slaves described

masters of this stripe as besotted, vicious, deceitful, coarse, licenheardess, and hypocritical Christians

tious,

bloodthirsty,

were

pitiless fiends.^^

The

first

impulse of the historian

as too harsh.

There

is,

is

who

to reject the slave's portrait

however, a great deal of evidence in ante-

bellum court records, newspapers, memoirs, and plantation aries is

which suggests

that this

is

not the case.

denied by Southern romantics, there were

who were

moral degenerates and

sadists.

However much

many

diit

slaveholders

Quite frequently, even

the most cultured of planters were so inured to brutality that

they thought

little

about the punishment meted out

to slaves.

20. W. W. Brown, Narrative, 21-30; J. Brown, Slave Life, 21-30, 82-109; Loguen, Preedman, 122-36; Clarke, Sufferings, 22-30; Henson, Life, 15-18.

21. W. W. Brown, Narrative, 21-26; Clarke, Twenty-two Years, 91-93; Henson, Life, 15-18.

Sufferings,

11-12; Steward,

Plantation Realities

263

Floggings of 50 to 75 lashes were not uncommon. On numerous occasions, planters branded, stabbed, tarred and feathered,

burned, shackled, tortured, maimed, crippled, mutilated, and castrated their slaves.

Thousands

of slaves

were flogged

so se-

verely that they were permanently scarred. In Mississippi a fiendish planter

once administered 1000 lashes

to a slave.^^

At the opposite extreme from the fiend was Dr. James Green Carson of Mississippi. Carson, although he inherited 200 slaves, early in life expressed an abhorrence of slavery on religious grounds. Unable to free his slaves because of Mississippi law, Carson felt a moral responsibility to treat them humanely. Consequently, he hired a plantation physician, paid white missionaries to

preach

to

his slaves every

Sunday, conducted prayer

meetings in the quarters during the week, purchased labor-saving

machinery

to lighten the slaves'

being discourteous

to

blacks,

work, punished his children for

and never used the

lash.

James

man among Southern planters. Still, there were many others who were enough like him to be described as generally kind and humane in their treatment of slaves.^ According to antebellum whites, there were many planters who dealt with their slaves in a humane fashion. Walter Peterson, Carson was a rare

for

example, recalled that in Alabama "many slaveholders were

kind masters. "^^ Philip H. Jones of Louisiana asserted that

"Many owners were humane and kind and provided well them [slaves]. "^^ According to Amanda Washington, among planters "Noblesse ohlige felt

bound

to treat

for

the

was recognized everywhere, and we

kindly the class dependent on

'26

us."'

22. Charles S. Sydnor, Slavery in Mississi'p^i (Baton Rouge, 1966), 86-94;

Kenneth Stampp, The Peculiar 23. Fletcher

M. Green,

ed.,

Institution (New York, 1956), 171-91. Ferry Hill Plantation Journal, January 4, 1838-

January 15, 1839 (Chapel Hill, 1961), vii-xxi; Osborne, "Plantation," 277-88; Anderson, "Carson," 243-67; Mary W. Highsaw, "A History of Zion Comin Maury County, 1 806-1 860," Tennessee Historical Quarterly V (June 1946), in-40. 24. Walter F. Peterson, "Slavery in the 1850's: Recollections of an Alabama

munity

Alabama Historical Quarterly XXX (Fall and Winter 1968), 221. Phihp H. Jones, "Reminiscences of Philip H. Jones," 4, Southern HisCollection, University of North Carolina. Amanda Washington, How Beauty Was Saved (New York, 1907), 64.

Unionist," 25. torical

26.

The

264

The

Slave

Community

testimony of the white witnesses

former

A

slaves.

two masters

is

borne out by that of

majority of the slaves, at one time, had one or

whom

Henson

they considered kindly men. Josiah

described his master as a "kind-hearted, liberal, and jovial" man.

Grimes

felt that

humane man

Dr. Collock of Savannah "was the best and most ever lived with, or worked under."

I

Sam

Aleck-

South Carolina master was "kind and generous." Isaac

son's

ferson recalled that his master, lar stripe:

Thomas

"Old master [was] kind

was of

Jefferson,

Jef-

a simi-

Elijah Marrs

to servants."

"Our master was not hard on us." The slaveholders earned these encomiums in various ways. Sparing use of the lash, provision of adequate shelter, clothing, and food, and maintedeclared:

nance of the family unit ters as

all

led the slaves to think of their mas-

kindly men.^^

However kind

had no guarantee of benevThe kindest masters were sometimes crotchety, often wreaking their anger on their slaves.^^ Austin Steward reported that his owner "was not a very hard master; but generally was kind and pleasant. Indulgent when in good humor, but like his master, the slave

olent treatment.

many

of the southerners, terrible

when

master was of the same temperament.

in a passion." Grimes's

He

was, according to

when

Grimes, "a very kind master, but exceedingly severe

an-

gry.'-

Most masters were relationships

with

neither pitiless fiends nor saints in their

slaves.

physicians for slaves

when

Whenever they were

possible, ill,

hired

planters

gave them what the

planter defined as "adequate" food, clothing, and shelter, and flogged

them

merous other

for lying, stealing, fighting,

"offenses."

While ready

breaking

tools,

to give the slave

50 lashes for most offenses, the typical planter preferred slaves in other

ways (withholding

Henson,

Life, 2; Grimes, Life, 36-48; Aleckson,

1

means

Union, 35; Isaac

son, Life of Isaac Jefferson of Petersburg, Virginia, Blacksmith ville,

to

to

punish

passes, demotion, extra work,

humiliation, solitary confinement, etc.). Less violent 27.

and nu-

from lo

of

JefFer-

(Charlottes-

951), 23; Elijah P. Marrs, Life and History (Louisville, 1885), 11.

Leonard Black, The Life and Sufferings of Leonard Black, a Fugitive from Slavery (New Bedford, 1847), 11; Pennington, Blackmith, 9. 29. Steward, Twenty-two Years, 33; Grimes, Life, 33. 28.

265

Plantation Realities

punishment were preferred because they were not morally rehensible, involved

were often more

no physical harm

valuable property, and

to

preserving discipline than

effective in

rep-

flog-

gings.^^

In spite of the institutionally defined roles, the treatment of slaves varied

from plantation

to plantation.

and

childhood experiences,

life,

Differences in family

religious

beliefs

caused the

planters to treat their slaves in a great variety of ways.

A

few

masters were so brutal and sadistic that they could crush the

every manly instinct. Others were too humane, too lazy,

slave's

or too stupid to

make

child-like

the normal planter extracted blacks, there

the

dependents of their all

to

While

were several conflicting forces which made him

same time callous toward the

him

slaves.

of the labor he could from

slaves' sufferings

at

and impelled

recognize their humanity.

One

of the most important institutions

which influenced the

was the white family. The white which stressed formalized courtship,

planter's treatment of the slave

grew up

child

romanticized

in a society

women

as angelic,

frowned on public displays of

made

affection,

bearing, and promoted early marriages. patriarchal, deeply religious, religious sive,

and moral lessons

and

a fetish of the family,

encouraged

The

planter's family

filio-pietistic.

as well as

prolific child-

was

Males were given

being taught

to

be aggres-

proud, independent, courteous, courageous, chivalrous, hon-

orable,

and

intelligent.^^

Although fathers were venerated and children were frequently isolation sometimes

dependent on them until adulthood, rural

promoted spontaneous and affectionate family 30.

J.

New Davis, A and

Carlyle Sitterson,

"The McCollams:

A

relations.

Disci-

Planter Family of the Old

South," Journal of Southern History VI (Aug. 1940), 347-67; Noah Narrative of the Life of Rev. Noah Davis, a Colored Man (Balti-

more, 1859), 1-14. 31.

Susan Dabney Smedes, Memorials of a Southern Planter (Baltimore,

1887), 29, 108-15, 135-38; Edmund S. Morgan, Virginians at Home (Williamsburg, 1952), 5-8, 36, 45-48; JuHa Cherry Spruill, Women's Life and Work in the Southern Colonies (Chapel Hill, 1938), 43-50; Rosser H. Taylor,

Ante-Bellum South Carolina: A Social History (Chapel Hill, 1942), 59-73; Arthur W. Calhoun, A Social History of the American Family (New York, i960),

II,

311-55-

266

The

Slave

Community

was unsystematic, and parents overindulged their children. In spite of this, the formahzed manners often miHtated against parents displaying deep affection for their children. Susan Dabney Smedes, for example, reported that her father "did not readpline

ily

express his affections for his children

mother were hedged

tions with his

in

."^^ .

.

by

The

child's rela-

his almost religious

veneration of her as a genteel, delicate, saintly being. His father's

circumspection in his contacts with white

The

women

reinforced the

was complicated even more by the frequent remarriages of widows and widowers and the subsequent strains on their children. picture of her as an untouchable.

One

and

security. It

mammy

to

whom he frequently turned mammy who often ran

was the black

household, interceded with his parents

him

was

of the key figures in the white child's socialization

the ubiquitous black love

situation

for misbehavior,

to protect

nursed him, rocked him

for

the

him, punished

to sleep, told

him

more attentive, more loving mother. The mammy's influence on her white charge's thought, behavior, language, and personality is inestimable.^^ One Englishman wrote that in the Carolinas: "Each child has its Momma, whose gestures and accent it will necessarily copy, for children, we all know, are imitative beings. fascinating stories,

It is

and

in general served as his second,

not unusual to hear an elegant lady say, Richard always

grieves him."^"^

when Quasheehan is whiffed, because she suckled Often the child formed a deep and abiding love for his

mammy and as an adult deferred

to

her demands and wishes.

Black childhood playmates had only a the white child than the

mammy. As

little less

a result of

influence on

enduring friend-

ships formed during their impressionable childhood,

many white

youngsters intervened to prevent the punishment or sale of their

them far less conformity to the preferred the company of slaves to that of their

black favorites, slave role, or

demanded

of

Smedes, Memorials, 11^. Smedes, Memorials, 20, 32-33, 116; Virginia Clay-Clopton, A Belle of the fifties (New York, 1905), 4; Taylor, South Carolina, 22-34; Morgan, 32.

33.

Virginians, 63-65; Calhoun, Family, 34.

Quoted

in Spruill,

Women,

II,

56.

311-55.

267

Plantation Realities

white neighbors.^^ William Wells Brown's master held Brown's father in such high esteem that he refused to sell the boy to

New

Orleans even after he had tried

Wil-

to escape. Similarly,

liam Green's mother prevented his separation from her by appealing to his young master

whom

wrote that one intemperate white

she had nursed. Jacob Stroyer

man

terrorized his white neigh-

bors but never abused his forty slaves because of the control his

old

mammy

dren.

The

ened

to

exercised over him. Rarely could a planter punish a

impunity

slave with

if

he were the

favorite of his wife

and

chil-

son of John Thompson's master, for instance, threat-

shoot an overseer for flogging the slave fiddler.

Andrew Jackson was

gard in which

The

re-

held by his master's sons

where he went when he escaped from Kentucky. Even if the slave were not a favorite, a member of the master's family might prevent unusu-

was

so great that they refused to tell their father

ally cruel treatment.^^

The early mammy, had

association with blacks, a

and

especially his black

profound influence on the white Southerner. His

constant exposure to the cruelties perpetrated upon slaves led to a sense of

detachment which conflicted with

slaves

all

re-

of

toward his parents and his parents' insistence that he

demand deference from thority.

and demeanor

his love

spect for his close black associates. Similarly, the

He

blacks taught the child to exercise au-

soon observed that his

strict

moral code conflicted

with the apparendy more desirable loose morality, irresponsibility,

and happiness of

his black associates.

He

envied the slave his

apparent freedom from social restraints and projected

own

desires to break

Often he internalized the love later learned that

tion with the tacts

among

all

of his

through these restraints onto the black. ideal of the black

mammy

but

she was a hated, black thing. His intimate rela-

mammy,

his observation of the casual sexual con-

slaves, the idealization of

white

women and

35.

Smedes, Memorials, 116, 162; Taylor, South Carolina, 22-34.

36.

Henry Box Brown, Narrative

of

the pur-

Henry Box Brown (Boston, 1851),

Samuel Hall, 47 Years a Slave (Washington, Iowa, 191 2), n.p.; Monroe F. Jamison, Autohiograyhy and Work of Bishof M. F. Jamison, D.D. (Nashville, 191 2), 17-23; Andrew Jackson, Narrative and Writings of Andrew 1-21, 23-38;

Jackson (Syracuse, N.Y., 1847), 20-23.

268

The

Community

Slave

suit of black

women by

white males, convinced him that sexual

The

joy lay in the arms of a black paramour.

white male

fre-

quently resolved his love-hate complex by pursuing the allegedly

woman. At

passionate black

the same time, he exaggerated the

sexual prowess and desire of the black male for liaisons with angelic white

women and

reacted with extreme cruelty to any

challenge to his monopoly of white women.^^

The

slaveholder's sadistic impulses

by the

fear of public disapproval.

vented the cruel punishment of

were frequently restrained

Sympathetic whites often preslaves.

An

innkeeper once pre-

One

of

him because he wanted

to

vented Moses Roper's drunken master from flogging him. CharJes

Ball's

masters never flogged

retain his public reputation as a benevolent slaveholder.

Memphis

embarrassment,

to his

city officials

Much

upbraided Louis

Hughes's master when his overseer almost flogged a slave

to

death. ^^ Frederick Douglass felt that public opinion was "an unfailing restraint seers,

them

and .

One

upon

r^'

.

of the strongest forces operating against cruel treatment

of slaves

was

how many

Although

religion.

number

ciples in their relations is

it

is

impossible to determine

slaveholders were deeply religious,

the sources that a

ever,

and barbarity of masters, overwhenever and wherever it can reach

the cruelty

slave-drivers,

of

with

them

tried to

slaves.

One example

obvious from

important thing, how-

reminded masters of

that ministers continually

duties to their slaves.

The

it is

apply Christian prin-

their

of the interest in this subject

was the response to an essay contest sponsored by the Baptist State Convention in Alabama. In 1849 forty men submitted essays on "The Duties of Christian Masters" in an effort to win the $200 prize the convention offered. Some of the essays went through several editions.

The

relationship of the minister to the planter

37. Grimes, Life, Ball, Slavery,

15;

Watson, Narrative,

a

complex

Loguen, Vreedman, 19-25;

238-300.

38. Ball, Slavery, 23-40;

W. W.

39. Frederick Douglass,

My

[1855]), 61.

$-17;

was

Brown, Narrative, 21-26. Bondage and My Freedom

(New

York, 1968

269

Plantation Realities

one. Frequently dependent on wealthy planters for his

liveli-

hood, the white minister almost never questioned the morality of the master-slave relationship. In fact, a majority of the minis-

on

ters insisted

be obedient

slavery's divine origin

to their masters.

Even

and encouraged

so, in spite

slaves to

of the role the min-

played in preserving the peculiar institution and his refusal

ister

to castigate the planters for their

treatment of slaves, he often

preached about an ideal master-slave relationship and the duties

and

responsibilities planters

The

had toward

their slaves.

duty of the Christian master was

first

to recognize the

humanity. This recognition entailed a respect for the

slave's

ings of the slave. Southern divines argued that the slave

created in God's image.

The Reverend

J.

feel-

was

H. Thornwell

also

testified

that the

Negro

we

as

is

of one blood with ourselves— that he has sinned

have, and that he has an equal interest with us in the

great redemption. Science, falsely so called,

clude

him from

may

the brotherhood of humanity

stinctive impulses of

.

attempt to ex.

.

but the

in-

our nature, combined with the plainest

declarations of the word of God, lead us to recognize in his form and lineaments— his moral, religious and intellectual nature—the same humanity in which we glory as the image of

God.

While

We are not ashamed to call him our brother.^^

the Reverend George

W. Freeman

was not as certain of was more insistent on the feelings. Freeman exhorted

the link between master and slave, he necessity of respecting the black's

masters, in their relations with slaves, 'never forget that, as low as they are in the scale of

and have the

feelings of

of them, as delicate

mand

to

and

humanity, they are yet

human

human

heings,

fceings— feelings too with

sensitive as your

many

own, and which de-

be respected, and carefully preserved from outrage."^^

Ministers quoted the Bible freely to prove the obligations masters 40.

had

They reminded them

that Paul

had ad-

H. Thornwell, The Rights and Duties of Masters, A Sermon Dedication of a Church (Charleston, 1850), 11. George W. Freeman, The Rights and Duties of Slave-Holders (CharlesJ.

Preached 41.

to their slaves.

at the

ton, 1837), 27.

The

270

Slave

Community

vised masters to forbear threatening slaves

Master

also

is

in

Heaven; neither

is

"knowing

that your

there respect of persons with

him" (Ephesians 6:9). The most frequently quoted Biblical admonition was Colossians 4:1: "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." How was the master to determine justice and equity? Most Southern divines translated the terms into the Golden

The Reverend T.

Rule.

when he

A. Holmes

summed up

the general view

observed: "Equity pleads the right of humanity.

...

and, in the conscientious discharge of duty, prompts the master to

such treatment of his servant as would be desired on his part,

were

their positions

reversed. "^^ Ministers asserted that cruel

treatment of slaves would lead to Divine censure. The Reverend H. N. McTyeire of New Orleans declared, "As you treat your servants on earth, so will your Master in heaven treat you."^^ The Reverend T. A. Holmes was more direct. He cautioned slaveholders that "the exercise of right and authority on the part of the master, with reference only to his interest, uninfluenced

by kindness with

whom

to his servant,

there

According

must incur the displeasure of

no respect of persons.

is

Christian masters had several du-

to the ministers.

ties to their slaves.

They had

Him

"^"^

to

maintain the slaves properly, care

no more than a reasonable amount them adequate leisure time, and respect their humanity. Many ministers repeated the question John Wesley asked slaveholders in 1774: "Have you tried what mildfor

them

in old age, require

of labor from them, give

ness

and gentleness would do?" Holmes

told planters that "the

master should be the friend of his servant, and the servant should

know

it.

Friendship implies good

welfare of insistent

42.

him

for

whom

it is

on mild treatment.

H. N. McTyeire

et ah,

will.

Kindness, a desire for the

entertained."

He

Freeman was

declared: "It

is

just as

the duty of mas-

Duties of Masters of Servants: Three

Premium

Essays (Charleston, 1851), 136. 43.

H. N. McTyeire, Duties

125-26. 44.

McTyeire

et ah, Essays, 133.

of

Christian

Masters

(Nashville,

1859),

Plantation Realities ters

271

not only to be merciful to their servants, but to do every-

thing in their power to

put forth

make

and to them contented and

their situation comfortable,

reasonable effort to render

all

happy."^^

In addition to several personal and social forces which pre-

vented planters from practicing the kind of cruelty necessary for the systematic extinction of every trace of there

manhood

in the slave,

were certain features of the plantation that militated

against abject docility on the part of the slaves. Although legally

the planter had absolute authority over the slave, there were

many

restraints

on

his use of that authority.

Dependent on the

labor for his economic survival, the planter ordinarily

slave's

could not afford to starve, torture, or work him to death.

What-

ever the regimen on the plantation, the planter never had a super-

which was large enough to extract the kind of labor in a few months. Consequently, in spite of the constant labor, there was an absolute limit beyond which

visory staff that killed slave's

men

The most

he was not pushed.

was the

important factor in this limitation

most plantations and the consequent insurance of

size of

a low level of surveillance of many of the slave's activities. Since more than half of the slaves in i860 lived on plantations containing twenty or more slaves, it is obvious that only a small minority

of planters could personally supervise every detail of the work. Besides,

many

masters were too lazy, too stupid, or

away

too

summer to maintain a strict surThe editor of the Southern Quarterly when he wrote that as a result of "the

often visiting spas during the veillance over their slaves.

Review recognized

this

apathy of the master; his love of repose; his absence from his estates

.

.

.

the slave

sires all inconsistent

ety,

and

all

.

.

.

acquires a thousand habits and de-

with subordination, labour, decency, sobri-

virtues of regularity, humility

Seeking

to

and temperance."*^

ensure regular labor and humility, most planters

45. McTyeire, Duties, 84;

McTyeire

et ah, Essays,

143; Freeman, Rights,

25.

46. N.P.B.,

"The Treatment

Quarterly Review

XXI

of Slaves in the Southern States," Southern

(Jan. 1852), 212.

272

The

Slave

Community

hired overseers to

was unbehevably

manage

their slaves.

difficult.^^

One

The

job of the overseer

overseer indicated this plainly

when he complained: If there

mean and down be found. ... If there

ever was or ever will be a calling in

life as

contemptible as that of an overseer— I would be right glad to

know what

it is,

and where

to

be ... a favorable crop, the master makes

any circumstances be unpropitious and an

a splendid crop;

inferior crop

is

if

made,

is the overseers fault, and if he flogs [the slaves] to keep them at home, or locked up ... he is a brute and a tyrant. If no meat is made, the overseer would plant too much cotton. ... If hogs are taken good care of the overseer is wasting corn, and "the most careless and thriftless creature alive." If he does not "turn out" hands in time, he is lazy; if he "rousts" them out .^^ as your dad and mine had to do, why he is a brute.

it

.

Planters insisted that the overseer spend plantation, especially

if

the

George Washington was

all

.

of his time

owner himself did not

on the

reside there.

characteristic in this regard.

He

in-

formed one of his overseers: I

at

do

in explicit terms, enjoin

home, unless called

off

it

upon you

to

remain constantly

by unavoidable business, or

to attend

divine worship, and to be constantly with your people

when

no other sure way of getting work well done, and quietly, by negroes; for when an overlooker's back is turned, the most of them will slight their work, or be idle altogether; in which case correction cannot retrieve either, but often produces evils which are worse than the disease. Nor is there any other mode than this to prevent thieving and other there.

There

disorders, the

47.

John E. Moore,

is

consequence of opportunities.^^ ed.,

of the Vicksburg Region,

"Two Documents 1

Relating to Plantation Overseers

831-1832," Journal of

Mississi'p'pi

History

XVI

1954), 31-36; Lucille Griffith, ed., "The Plantation Record Book of Brookdale Farm, Amite County, 1856-57," Journal of Mississippi History VII (Jan.

(Jan. 1945), 25-31.

James C. Bonner, "The Plantation Overseer and Southern Nationalism Revealed in the Career of Garland D. Harmon," Agricultural History XIX

48. as

(Jan. 1945), 49.

2.

William K. Scarborough, The Overseer (Baton Rouge, 1966), 73.

273

Plantation Realities

While constant surveillance of management, this was one

ful

One

seer's duties.

work was

have not been

eat or sleep.

I

Oct[.]

The

.

.

.

was mandatory

truth

is

for success-

of the most onerous of the over-

May

overseer complained in

consuming

so time

slaves

1858 that his

that "I don't get time scarcely to off the plantation since the 3rd of

no man can begin

to

attend to such a

business with any set of negros, without the strictest vigilance

on

his part."^^

The

disciplining of slaves

was the major

or failure of an overseer. Expected to

guarding the welfare of the conflict

with the planter.

If

factor in the success

make

a large crop

slaves, the overseer often

On

planter might dismiss

the other hand,

him

came

into

the overseer used unusual force in

owner

driving the slaves, he incurred the wrath of the

aging his property.

while

for

if

making

for

dam-

he were easygoing, the a small crop.

In

fact,

planters often dismissed overseers for cruelty, drunkenness, ab-

senteeism, and lax discipline.

In order for the overseer to retain his job he had to be adept at

managing

slaves.

There were many

pitfalls in the

endeavor.

on the one hand the overseer became too familiar with the or

had sexual

if

relations with the black

from him and did

tracted favors

litde

women,

On

work.

If

slaves

the slaves ex-

the other hand,

the overseer was too cruel and hard driving, the slaves did

everything they could to discredit him.

It Vv'as

often impossible

happy medium between these two extremes. Whenever the slaves were dissatisfied with the overseer, they informed the owner of his transgressions, or ran away to escape heavy work or to avoid punishment. Often the slaves refused to return to w^ork until they had spoken to their masters for the overseer to find a

One harried when he complained

about their treatment.

overseer indicated the impact

of this tactic

that

negro on the place they run away

somehow managed

to please the

''if

I

donte please every

rite strate."^^

If

the overseer

master and the slaves, he was

guaranteed a long tenure on the plantation. For example, John 50.

Quoted

51.

John

in Scarborough, Overseer, 46.

S.

Bassett,

Mass., 1925), 64.

The Southern

Plantation

Overseer

(Northampton,

h.y

i

1

i

^

^ 'h

\ ^

r\''4 £\

Figures 47, 48, 49, 50. Cotton Plantation

W mx

"--^'"^^

n

''^Jr\

#

A

u,.

The

276

Community

Slave

Lamar wrote

B.

1844 that he was anxious hke him too."^^

in

to retain his over-

seer because ''the negroes

As the

visible

symbol of authority, the overseer was the most

frequent target of rebellious slaves disgruntled over their work load, food allotment, or

punishment. According

''An over-seer has to plan

groes

all

the time.

The

one observer,

negroes have great spite and hatred

wards them and frequently

fight

them,

when

whip them. The negroes think

tends to

to

the business and be with the ne-

all

as

to-

the over-seer pre-

meanly of the poor

white people, as the rich white people do themselves and think

anybody that

Hundreds

is

so poor as to

be an overseer mean enough. "^^

were beaten, poisoned, stabbed, and shot

of overseers

by rebellious slaves.^

The

was the weakest link in the chain of plantation management. Whatever his character, it was impossible for the overseer to supervise every detail of the slave's life. Most men overseer

were unwilling

kind of solitary

to lead the

life

management demanded. Consequently, most plantations periodically at night or find

some recreation

that plantation

overseers left the

on the weekends

for themselves.

in order to

Overwhelmed by

a multi-

tude of duties, the overseer could not be everywhere at once and

consequently could not keep the slaves under constant surveillance. If

he happened

to

be

lazy, the level of surveillance

was

even lower.^^

As

a result of the differences in the characters of overseers

masters,

many

plantations deviated strikingly from the ideal out-

lined in the rules of

H. Herbemont

of ers

management. According

52. Ulrich B.

53.

I,

to the investigations

of South Carolina, "there are very few plant-

who have anything

1910),

and

Phillips,

like a regular

ed.,

system for either the moral

Plantation and Frontier (2

vols.,

Cleveland,

170.

Martha Van

Briesen, ed.,

The

Letters of Elijah Pletcher (Charlottes-

1965), 23. 54. Herbert Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts

ville,

(New

York, 1943);

Phillips, Plantation, II, 117-25.

"A Slave Owner and His Overseers," North CaroReview XIV (Jan. 1937), 31-38.

55. Charles S. Sydnor, lina Historical

277

Plantation Realities or physical

government of "There is

Farmer agreed

ment

:

their slaves."

A

in fact little or

writer in the

no

American

manageand unman-

'system^' of

in regard to our slaves— they are insubordinate

ageable."^^

Even when attempts were made

to

govern the slaves in some

systematic fashion, the planters realized that since the slaves

not internalized their ideals they had to

make

several

had

compro-

mises in order to maintain the facade of absolute control.^^ First, they recognized that their slaves differed in temperament and intelligence.

For instance, one planter asserted: "In every serv-

ants' quarters there are the strong

and the weak, the sagacious

much

in charac-

be treated in the same manner.

The most

and the simple." Second, since they differed ter, all

slaves could not

and shrewdest

strong-willed

so

slaves received better treatment than

most others and were given positions of power in the plantation hierarchy.

The

intractable slave

lested. Planters spotted

him

was either

sold or never

mo-

quickly, and, inevitably, they were

many

forced by

him

who were

cautious with slaves like Louis Manigault's Jack Sav-

age.

to

According

our possession

my

burning

to

be wary. There were certainly

masters

Manigault, Jack "was the only negro ever in

who

I

considered capable of murdering

me

or

dwelling at night or capable of committing any

act."^«

Planters often maintained the appearance of strict obedience

by making

relatively easy for the slave to obey. Regardless of

it

most masters realized that the

their desires,

slaves, like soldiers,

the slaves decided

how much

labor they were going to perform, they refused to

work any

were adept harder.

at "goldbricking."

One

Once

slaveholder observed:

"Experience has long since

taught masters, that every attempt to force a slave beyond the limits that 56.

fixes as a sufficient

amount

Southern Agriculturalist IX (Feb.

(March 57.

he

J.

1836),

of labor to render his 71;

American Farmer,

II

1821), 402. Brown, Slave Life, 82-109; William Green, Narrative of Events in

16,

Green (Springfield, O., 1863), 13. DeBow's Review XXIX (Sept. i860), 362; Manigault quoted

the Life of William 58.

South Carolina,

1

77.

in Taylor,

Figures 51, 52, 53, 54. Sugar Plantation

W-

\'

\

i

f-

>

*

^S"

vij«:'»

V ^~*

r^-*^'

The

280

Slave

Community

master, instead of extorting

more work, only tends to make him and a curse. "^^

unprofitable, unmanageable, a vexation

was primarily because the planters recognized that slaves voluntarily limited their work that many of them set the standard of labor so low that every slave could meet it. Even when It

every allowance is

is

made

for different strains of certain crops,

it

impossible to explain the variations in labor performed from

plantation to plantation without recognition of the slave's role in

amount Between 1825 and i860 slaves in Mississippi generally picked between 130 and 150 pounds of cotton per day. On Charles Whitmore's delta plantation, however, few slaves picked more than 100 pounds of cotton daily. The slave's limitation on the labor he performed appears clearly in the results of races arranged by planters. In a race on a Mississippi plantation in 1830 fourteen slaves picked an average of 323 pounds of cotton, twice their normal average.^^ Many planters gave prizes to the best cotton pickers in an effort to speed restricting his output.

Examine,

of cotton picked per day

up

the work.

While

this

for instance, the average

by an adult

was often

slave.

effective,

many

slaves

still re-

fused to exert themselves.^^

The

slaveholder also kept

by refusing effect,

to take

the pretense of absolute control

each planter had to learn to be selectively inattentive

rules infractions.

vice

up

note of every deviation from the rules. In

on

A

"Negroes lack the motive of

this point:

make them

careful

patience in the

to

group of Alabama planters gave sound ad-

and

diligent,

management

self interest to

hence the necessity of great

of them.

Do

not, therefore, notice

many small omissions of duty."^^ The personal relations between master and

too

slave

Rarely did their interests coincide. Because of 59.

"Negro Slavery

at the

were

this,

strained.

the master

South," DeBow's Review VII (Sept. 1849), 220.

Mark Swearingen, "Thirty Years of a Mississippi Plantation: Charles Whitmore of Montpelier," Journal of Southern History I (May 1935), 19860.

211; Davis, "Barrow," 431-46; Kathryn T. Abbey, ed., to El

"Documents Relating

Destino and Chemonie Plantations, Middle Florida,

Vll (Jan. 1929), 179-213. 61. American Farmer VII (Jan. 13, 1826), 338. 62. DeBow's Review XVlll (June 1855), 718.

Historical Quarterly

1

828-1 868," Florida

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SD >-
XLV (April 1944). 80-98 Swisshelm, Jane Grey, Half a Century (Chicago, 1880) Torian, Sarah H., ed., "Ante-Bellum and

Hodgson,"

Georgia

350-56 Washington, Amanda,

Historical

How

Beauty

War

Memories of Mrs. Telfair

Quarterly

Was

Saved

XXVII

(New

(Dec.

1943),

York, 1907)

Wilkinson, Eliza, Letters of Eliza Wilkinson (New York, 1839) Wood, Norman B., The White Side of a Black Subject (Chicago, 1899)

E. Travel Accounts

"A

St.

Joseph Diary of 1839," Florida Historical Quarterly XVII (Oct.

1938), 132-51

1

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833) Anburey, Thomas, Travels Through the Interior Parts of America (London, 1789) Arfwedson, Carl D.,

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et ah,

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XL

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XLI

XXXIX

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1

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Many Thousand Gone Our

Oraison, Marc, Being Together:

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(Baton Rouge, 1 9 5 1 Proshansky, Harold, and Bernard Seidenberg, cial

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Rousset, David,

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1965)

The Other Kingdom (New

Ruitenbeek, Hendrik,

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York,

Approaches, Contexts, and Problems in Social

Psychology (Englewood

Cliffs, N.J., 1964) Medicine and Slavery (Urbana, 1978) Scarborough, William K., The Overseer (Baton Rouge, 1966) Schutz, William C, The Interpersonal Underworld (Palo Alto, Cal.,

Savitt,

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L.,

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.

Stampp, Kenneth, The Peculiar Institution Stein,

Stanley

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.

.

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Reli-

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Vassouras:

A

Brazilian

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Army

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The American

Life (4 vols., Princeton, 1949)

Soldier:

Adjustment Dur-

1

400

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Sydnor, Charles

S.,

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Slavery in Mississippi

Tannenbaum, Frank, Slave and

Citizen

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Abel, Theodore,

XXX

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Adler,

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XXX (Dec.

1967), 393-403

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Arc, M.,

try

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XXV

(Dec. 1962), 321-35

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Change

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Bauer,

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Raymond

XXVI (March

Consensus

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1953), 102-1

A. and Alice H. Bauer, "Day to

Day

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Negro History XXVII (Oct. 1942), 388-419 Bendix, Reinhard, "Compliant Behavior and Individual Personality," American Journal of Sociology LVIII (Nov. 1952), 290-303 Bettelheim, Bruno, "Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations," Journal of Abnormal Psychology XXXVIII (Oct. 1943), Slavery," Journal of

417-52

"The Personality of Inmates of Concentration Camps," American Journal of Sociology LII (Jan. 1947), 335-41 Bluhm, H. O., "How Did They Survive?" American Journal of PsychoBloch, Herbert A.,

therapy \\ (Jan. 1948), 3-32 Bondy, Curt, "Problems of Internment Camps," Journal of Abnormal Psychology XXXVIII (Oct. 1943), 453-75

Howard, and Everett Wilson, "Characteristics of Military American Journal of Sociology II (March 1946), 371-75

Brotz,

Corlew, Robert

E.,

"Some Aspects

nessee Historical Quarterly

X

Society,"

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Ten-

(Sept. 1931), 224-48

Coser, Rose Laub, "Insulation from Observability and Types of Social

Conformity," American Sociological Review

28-39

XXVI

(Feb,

1969),

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Couch, Carl tion,"

and John

J.,

Sociometry

S.

Murray, "Significant Others and Evalua-

XXVII (Dec. 1964), 502-9

"The Soldier's Language," American Journal (March 1946), 414-22

Elkin, Frederick,

ogy

II

401

Elkin, Henry, "Aggressive

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in

Army

of Sociol-

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Ameri-

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American Journal of Psychiatry

CV

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Sociometry

Hayner, Norman

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XXV

and

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Ellis

American Sociological Reivew V (Aug. 1940), 577-83 Hollingshead, August B., "Adjustment to Military Life," American Jour-

(March 1946), 439-47 Development of the Negro in Virginia i860," Journal of Negro History XVI (April 1931),

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Jackson, Luther P., "Religious

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Wyatt

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Choctaw and Chickasaw Negro History XXXIII (Jan. 1948), 24-37 Jernegan, Marcus W., "Slavery and Conversion in the American Colonies," American Historical Review (April 1916), 504-27 Johnson, Hosmer H., "Some Effects of Discrepancy Level on Responses to Negative Information About One's Self," Sociometry XXIX (March 1966), 52-66 Johnson, Hosmer H., and Ivan D. Steiner, "The Effects of Source on Responses to Negative Information About One's Self," Journal of Jeltz,

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LXXIV

T.,

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XIX

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63 Knoff, William

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CCXCin (May 1954), 88-98 V. A., "Psychiatric Observations under Severe Chronic Stress,"

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American Journal of Psychiatry CVIII (Sept. 195 1), 185-92 Lederer, Wolfgang, "Persecutions and Compensation," Archives of General Psychiatry XII (May 1965), 464-74

Meaders, Daniel, "South Carolina Fugitives as Viewed Through Local

2

402

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1

725-1 775,"

American Speech XII (April 1937), 93-99 Rose, Arnold, "The Social Structure of the Army," American Journal of Sociology LI (March 1946), 361-64 Scott, Douglass, "The Negro and the Enlisted Man: An Analogy," Harper's Magazine CCXXV (Oct. 1962), 19, 21 Sides,

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XX

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New Southall,

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Eugene P., "Negroes in Florida Prior to the Negro History XIX (Jan. 1934), 77-86

Civil

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Spindler, G. Dearborn, "American Character as Revealed in the Mili-

XI (Aug. 1948), 275-81 Harry Stack, "Toward a Psychiatry of Peoples," Psychiatry XI

tary," Psychiatry

Sullivan,

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Gresham M., "Men, Merchants, and Toughs: A Study of Reaction to Imprisonment," Social Problems IV (Oct. 1956), 130-38 Thorpe, Earle, "Chattel Slavery and Concentration Camps," Negro HisSykes,

tory Bulletin

Vibert, Faith, Parts:

XXV (May

"The

Its

1962), 171-76

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign

Work

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Negroes

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Journal of Negro History XVIII (April 1933), 1 71-21 Weinberg, S. Kirson, "Aspects of the Prison's Social Structure," Ameri-

can Journal of Sociology XL VII (March 1942), 717-26 White, Alice P., "The Plantation Experience of Joseph and Lavinia Erwin, 1 807-1 836," Louisiana Historical Quarterly XXVII (April 1944), 343-478 Whittington, G. P., "Dr. John Sibley of Nachitoches, 1 757-1 837," Louisiana Historical Quarterly X (Oct. 1927), 468-521

::

:

:

Index

repression, 317; verbal, 127-30,

Abolitionists: literature barred

mob

from mails, 234;

violence against, 234;

reli-

gion and, 75-82; Southern writers and,

374 210

Virginia,

Allah, 31

of black slaves, 20; church and, 65;

determinants

of,

America and U.S., 65; of slaves, 61-63, 65 Adams, Robert, 51-52, 62

1

78; interracial,

G. W., 368 American Statistical Association, 342 Anderson, John, 164, 372 1

54-

among slaves, 152-53, 162170; among whites, 154-57

Anderson, Robert, 108, 126, 134, 29 iff, 374 Arada, 5 Arkansas, 338

Africa: culture, 5-6;

37

Allport,

Adultery:

and church,

Allain, Helene,

Allen, Richard, 293, 372 Allen, William F., 145

49; in Latin

white

63,

62

Algiers, 50,

Acculturation

56;

Albert, Octavia, 375

Aleckson, Sam, 184, 186, 255, 264,

229-30

Abraham, 213 Accomac County,

315 Alabama, 338

5,

20-24; origins of slaves,

reminiscences

sexual attitudes in, 161-62; slave trade and, 5-13

compared

to plantation, 289-90; as

total institution,

African survivals:

Ashanti,

courtship, 157-58; dance, 23, 3639; factors affecting, 47; familial roles,

Armstrong, Orland Kay, 375

Army:

of, 13-17;

177-78; folktales, 23-24,

31-33; language, 24-27, 29-30, 98100; music, 22-23, 33"39; names,

181-83; proverbs, 114; religion, 20-21, 40-41, 71-75; in U.S.

5,

289-90, 324-26

32

Assignation black

men and white women, 1 56; men and black women,

white

154-55, 267-68

Autobiography fictional,

372-73; use, 367-78

and

Latin America, 47-48, 65 Africanization agricultural practice, 1

i

oi

;

crafts,

01; food, 103; friendship, 104;

labor,

1

01; language, 98-100;

white children, loo-ioi Aggression, slave: patterns of, 314-20; projection, 314;

Bacon, Thomas, 85

Bakongo,

5

Ball, Charles, 30, 31, 133-34, 178,

186, 191, 254, 257, 268, 29off,

308, 372

Bambara,

5

403

1

:

404

1

:

:

Index

Baptist State Convention, Alabama,

268 Baptists, 167,

337

Brown, John, 159, i99ff, 235, 254, 303 Brown, William Wells, 113, 141,

Barbados, 18

154, 186, 191, 261, 267, 296ff,

Barnby, H. G., 381 Barrow, Bennet, 340

371, 374

Bates, Ernest S.,

Brownlow, William G., 83

368

Bruce,

Bayley, Solomon, 371, 372 Beebe, J. A., 91 personality, 288; of planters,

254-71; slave, factors affecting,

Bell,

290-319 John, 26

Benin, 15 Bentley, George, 133

no,

135-36,

Abandoned Lands, 341 Burton, Annie L., 254 Burwell, Letitia, 377

Calhoun, John C, 80 Call and response

Berbice, 245

Bettelheim, Bruno, 327ff, 370-71 Biafada, 5 Bibb, Henry,

Clay,

374

Bruner, Clarence, 97 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and

Behavior

and

Henry

29off,

in African songs, 22; in slave

music, 138

no,

112, 154-55, 164,

Campbell,

309

Israel,

171, 173, 199, 293-94, 306, 371,

Carson, James Green, 263

374

Cartwright, Samuel A., 227

Hosea, 177 Bilingualism of slaves, 24-30

Castration of slaves, 233

Bidell,

Church and Indians, 66;

Catholic

Bishop of London, 71 Blassingame, John, 376 Blau, Peter, 286ff

role in slave life, 65-70

Blues:

African origins

Catterall, of,

in Latin America,

65-70; materialism of, 67, 68;

121; celebration

and, 123-24; freedom and, 122;

Helen

T., 195

Cervantes, Miguel de, 62

Chapman, Amy, 374

love songs, 124-25; sex and, 124;

Charleston Presbytery, 174

slave attitudes and, 122-23; slave

Cheatham, Henry, 259-60

treatment, 122-23;

work

songs,

122-23

Bluhm, Hilde, 329 Boggs, Susan, 299-300

Bonner, James C., 381 Bowser, Frederick, 382 Bray's Associates, 71 Brazil: literary stereotypes of slaves, 228-

29; sex ratio of slaves, 149-50

Breckinridge, Robert

J., 76 Bremer, Fredrika, 380 Brewer, John Mason, 127

Broad River Baptist Association, 171 Brown, Henry Box, 171, 187, 371,

374

Chickasaws, 21 Child, Lydia Maria, 373, 378

Childhood: of planters, 265-67; racial equality

during, 183-84; of slaves, 179-

191 Children, slave: infant mortality of, 181 masters, 185, 256;

186-91; socialization,

unaware of

status,

1

1

parents,

81-91;

183-85

Children, white: acculturation,

and

;

and

00-101

Choctaws, 2 1 Christian, Ella, 138

Christian Examiner, 228

:

::

:

5

:

Index

109-10, 113; and slave resistance,

Christian masters:

269-71

duties, 269; ministers and,

Church,

slave:

desire for freedom, 133-35, 137-47;

no, 113 Conrad, Robert, 150 Corn songs, 11 7- 18 109,

preachers, 130-33; secrecy in,

Corsica, 50

133, 145-46; theology, 130-34

Cotton plantation

Church, white:

cultivation, 250; labor require-

ments, 279

christianization of slaves, 72; in

Latin America and U.S., 69-72;

and planter

guilt, 77-80; restricts

Courtship

tion of slave families, 170-71,

156-61

slaves,

Cowley, Malcolm, 10

Wilham and

174-75; slave marriages, 162-63,

Craft,

167-70

Creeks, 211

Clarke, Lewis, 251, 296, 313, 371-72

Cresswell, Nicholas,

Clarke, Milton, 372

Cuba: church

Clay, Cassius M., 78-79

Clayton, Virginia, 378 Clissold, Stephen,

381

self-esteem, 292; slave,

251-54

Cyprus, 50

Cobb, Joseph, 26-27, 39-4o CoDock, Dr., 264 Comettant, Oscar, 380

Dahomey,

Community,

Damballa, 41

slave:

and

self-esteem, 105-6

5

African, 23-24, 36-39, 108-9; slave,

37-39f 108-9; white responses

self-esteem, 307-14; slave

driver and, 258-60; spirituals

and, 145; socialization, 181-91

Compliance and coercion, 260-63,

20-24; elements of

and

Dance

14-15, 127-29;

quarters and, 315-16; rules, 31617;

Davies, Samuel, 90 Davis, Daniel Webster,

2,93-97;

^nd

1

60

Davis, David B., 228

Hugh, 153

Davis,

291-93; and surveillance, 286

Davis, Keith E., 243 Davis, Noah, 179, 306, 372

Concentration camp: in,

327-29; compared to

plantation, 289-90, 293, 330-31; factors

promoting psychological

survival in, 329-30; infantilism in,

327-28; resistance

in,

328-29;

as total institution, 289-90, 327-

DeBow, J. B., 342 DeBow's Review, 239

De

Brisson, M., 53 Decoration of graves, 41-45 Deference personality, 285-89; ritual,

256-58, 260-61; slave, 293-305,

African roots, 40-41; effect on whites, 113; impact

Dean, Warren, 382

and

30 Conjurer:

to,

23

identification with masters, 286,

behavior

149

slave behavior, 105-6;

5,

slave, 105;

Clotide, 27, 29

1

68-70; rebellion in, 214-

on

effect of,

African,

folktales and,

1 1

Culture:

Clothing:

and

in,

Ellen, 371

15; sex ratio of slaves in,

C, 378

J.

among

African roots, 157-58;

planter cruelty, 269-71; separa-

Clinkscales,

405

on

slaves,

109-10, 113; role on plantation,

308-9; white slaves and, 56 Delaney, Lucy Ann, 312 De Las Casas, Bartholomew, 66

:

406

:

:

5

:

Index Enslavement:

Delaware, 338 Deslondes, Charles, 216

of Indians, 4-5;

Discontentment manifestations statistics

7-1 of,

1

;

Middle Passage,

process of, 3-13, 15; re-

actions of Africans to, 5, 7-20;

16-17, 192-96;

reactions of whites to, 53-63

on, 195-96

Enslavement, of whites:

Dissembling, slave:

and behavior, 313-14; and personality,

1

by Arabs,

200-202

by West Africans,

50;

51-52

Divorce, 152

Episcopal Church, 167, 178, 336,

Docility:

337-38 Equiano, Olaudah,

in concentration camps, 290, 32729; fear and, 286-90; personality

and, 285-89; punishment and,

5-20, 46-47,

74

Escape of slaves: mass attempts, 206-8; methods

of,

286-88, 293-303; sham, 288,

313-14 Domestic servants

sons for, 196

whites, 304-5; role in controlling

304-5; work Dominance:

Ewe,

5,

382

32-33, 4i» ii4> 157

Ezell, Lorenzo,

182

"Sambo," 225,

of,

250-51 Falconer, James, 26

in interpersonal relations

and

sonality, 285-89; in slave family,

Fan, 177 Family, African, 13, 15-16, 177-78

178-79

Family, planter:

Don Quixote

per-

(Cervantes), 62

Douglass, Frederick, 27, 116, 138-39, 142, 154, 180, 184, 193, 198, 199, 268, 293fF, 374

Drew, Benjamin, 375 role in controlling slaves, 258-60;

role in protecting slaves, 3 1 6; slaves' view Drunkenness

of,

258-60

masters' abuse of slaves and, 261;

of slaves, 315 Bois,

W.

E. B., 40

DuBose, John W., 29 Dupuis, Mr., 62

Durham,

"mammy"

and, 266; treatment of

slaves and, 265-68

Family, slave: children, 179-91; courtship, 156-61;

marriage, 164-70; planters and, 151-53; role of men, 172-73,

Drivers

Du

196-201; obstacles, 197-200; reaEtzioni, Amitai,

aiding other slaves, 316; loyalty to slaves, 261; as

1

Exter, 166-67

178-79; role of

women,

179-81;

separation, 170-71, 173-77; sex ratio,

149-50

Faux, Wilham,

1 1

Favor, Lewis, 132 Fears:

of slaves, 295-98; of whites, 230-32,

267-68 Fedric, Francis, 373 Feldstein, Stanley,

380

Felton, Rebecca,

377 Fhnt, Timothy, 380 Flogging:

Eakin, Sue, 373 Edwards, Paul, 374 Elkins, Stanley, 231, 380, 38] Ellis,

Harrison W., 132-33

England, 50

and

insanity, 300-302; internaliza-

tion and, 293-98, 302-3; Parlia-

mentary resolution and, 340; resistance to, 317-19; slave be-

havior and, 296

1

:

Index Florida,

Hall, Basil, 380

338

Flournoy, John Jacobus, 23

Hall, Samuel, 25, 30, 297fF

Folkes, Minnie, 163

Hallucinations: separations and,

Folklore:

African, 23-24, 31-33; aggression in,

127-30; slave,

1

14-15; social-

Hammond,

J.

297

H., 236

Haring, Clarence, 69

ization and, 127-30; tar-baby tale,

Harrison,

Wilham

32-33; world view of slaves, 127-

Hausa,

32, 99, 161

30 Fom, 41 Food allotment, 251-54 France, 50

Freedmen's Bureau, 1 75 Freeman, George W., 269 Fremont, John

407

C, 194

5,

29-30

P.,

Hawley, Francis, 300 Heard, William H., 317 Hearn, Lafcadio, 34, 38 Henson, Josiah, 193, 254, 262, 265, 296fF

Herbemont, H., 276 Herndon, Tempie, 166

Fulani, 5

Hewatt, Alexander, 36 Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 137

Funeral

Hildreth, Richard, 372

Freyre, Gilberto, 381

rites:

African, 20-21; slave, 41, 45

Hodgson, Mrs. Telfair, 41-42 Holland, Edwdn C., 235-36 Holmes, David, 182-83

Genovese, Eugene, 380

Holmes, Isaac, 36 Holmes, T. A., 270

Georgia, 338 Gergen, Kenneth, 243 Ghana, 32, 114

Housing, 254-56 Houston, Mathilda, 380

Gibbs, Miflin, 374 Glennie, Alexander, 85, 94 Goffman, Erving, 288, 382

Gooch, G. W., 316 Grandy, Moses, 165 Gray,

Thomas

R., 217!?

Holsey, Lucius, 154, 187, 292fF

Howard, Nancy, 302 Howe, S. G., 375 Hughes, Louis, 195, 254, 268, 292!?,

374 Humboldt, Alexander, 149 Hunger, 251-54

Grayson, William, 118

Hurston, Zora Neale,

Greece, 50

Hutson, Charles, 378

1

29

Green, William, 179, 199, 254-55, 267, 319

Greenleaf, Richard, 382

Grimes, William, 146, 185, 198, 264, 29ofF, 309-10

Ibo, 5, 15, 16-17, 23, 32,

Gullah:

Iceland, 50

African languages and, 30; slavewhite interaction and, 29-30

Gutman, Herbert, 341, 380

Ibibio, 5

Ichheiser, Gustav,

99

226

Identification with masters:

behavior and, 291; domestic servants and, 303-5; factors in,

290-93 Improvisation Haile, Jesse, 75-76 Haiti,

214

in African music, 22; in slave

music, 120

:

:

:

:

:

Index

408

Indians:

and

disease, 4-5;

enslavement

of,

enslavement of blacks, 211;

4-5;

Kemble, Frances, 229-30 Kennerley, Samuel, 204 Killion, Ronald,

376

intermarriage with slaves, 211;

Kirk, James, 78

maroons and, 211-14

Knight, Franklin W., 381-82 Knight, Henry, 45

Infantilism in concentration camps, 289-90;

327-28; factors contributing

to,

289-90

Kom,

5

Koran, 56 Kom, Richard, 326-27

Insanity

and

slave treatment, 298-302;

statistics for,

342

Lamar, John

Insurrection. See Rebellion

Internalization

contributing factors, 285-86; factors -

preventing, 288-89; slaves and,

291-304

282

Lane, Lunsford, 184, 186, 192, 314 Langston, John Mercer, 155, 292

Language

Ireland, 50

African survivals, 47-48; Catholic

Islam black slaves and, 73; white slaves and, 57, 59-61

50

Italy,

B., 273, 276,

Lane, Ann, 380 Lane, Isaac J., 91

Gullah, 30; patois, 26-27, 3o Lanier, Sidney, 125

Lanman,

Charles, 380

Latin America:

African survivals, 47-48; Catholic Jackson,

Jackson,

Andrew (General), 212 Andrew (slave), 254, 267,

371, 372 Jackson,

Edmund, 234

F.,

Jefferson, Isaac, Jefferson,

Lee, Charles, 373

Lewis, George, 380

no, 155

Lewis,

264

Thomas,

77,

264

Lindgren, Henry Clay, 382

C,

73, 133, 138, 174,

E.,

243

Edward

Jones, Philip H., 263, 378 Jones,

Thomas,

185, 294ff,

309

Juba, 125 judicial Cases

Concerning American

Slavery and the Negro (Catterall),

S., 381 Logsdon, Joseph, 373 Loguen, Jermain, 155, 186, 257,

297ff, 371, 374 Long, John Dixon, 78, 116, 231-32

Louisiana: Africanisms, 36-38; voodoo, 41 Lyell, Charles, 282,

380

195

Keckley, Elizabeth, 181, 257, 318,

374

of,

Link, Arthur

313, 316 Jones,

Vance, 184, 185

168

Thomas, 213, 214

Jones, Charles

J.

Lexington, Kentucky, Presbytery

Jehovah's Witnesses, 330 Jesup,

149-50

Levine, Lawrence, 380

Jacobs, Harriet, 373

M.

rebellions, 214-

15; slave trade, 47-48; sex ratio,

Latrobe, Benjamin, 37, 38, 39 Lee, Arthur, 232

Jackson, Martin, 375 Jacobins, 232, 236

Jamison,

Church, 65-70;

McCall, George, 289 McCorkle, Lloyd, 326-27

McKaye, James, 375

1

:

;

:

Index

409

Macmillan, Harry, 163-64 McTyeire, H. N., 270 Mallard, Robert Q., 378 Mandingo, 5, 99

struction of black ministers, 9 1

Manigault, Louis, 277 Mannix, Daniel, 10 Manumission

separation of slave families and,

promote slave obedience, 84-86, 1

174-75; slave

life

and, 77, 81-86;

slave marriage and, 162-63, 167-

religion and, 77-80; slave loyalty

71

Minor, William

and, 292

J.,

152

Miscegenation

Maroons: attack plantations, 208-10; charac-

slave family and, 154-56; slave

208-11; in Seminole wars,

ter of,

morality and, 154-57; slave

211-14

154-56, 172-73; white

ceremony, 165, 167-70; Christian, 167-70; encouraged by masters, 151-53; legal status, 151; length,

176-77; number, 169-70; post-

and, 156 Mississippi,

strictions on, 165; slave respect

171-72;

statistics for,

defense of slavery,

S.,

1

30;

promote

130

Mobile, Alabama, 27 Charles, 27 Moore, George W., loi Murder, of whites by slaves, 195 Murphy, Lawrence R., 376 Music, African, 22-23

381

Music, slave:

Mauritius, 32 J.

slave obedience,

Mohamet, 59 Montgomery,

341

Marrs, Elijah, 108, 187, 195, 264 Mars, James, 190, 295ff, 319

Maryland, 338 Mason, Isaac, 146 Mathews, Donald

338

Missionaries:

nuptial ceremony, 166-67; re-

Meacham,

men and, women

traders and, 155; white

Marriage, slave:

for,

32.-33; religious instruction of

slaves, 84-89, 92-98, 130-33;

African instruments, 39; African

Lloyd, 382

Meaders, Daniel, 378 Medical attention for

survivals in, 22-23, 33-39; origins slaves,

263

of>

Meredith, Samuel, 282

33'39; role in slave Hfe,

1

15-

27; secular, 115-26; spirituals,

Merton, Robert K., 244

137-46. See also Blues

Mutinies:

Methodists, 167, 337 Middle Passage:

during Mid-Passage, lo-ii; on Mississippi River, 206

mortality, 7; reaction of Africans to, 7-1

Milburn,

Wilham

Militia, 215,

H., 174

"Nat" stereotype:

232

fears of whites, 231-33; relation to

Miller, Randall,

376 Miner, Valentine, 177

dominant

Ministers, slave: desire for

34;

freedom and, 133-34;

slave personality, 233-

"Sambo"

stereotype and,

2.30-33; slave behavior and, 230-

sermons, 130-33; services, 92,

37

130-35, 137; white ministers

Neilson, Peter, 372

and, 91-92

New

defense of slavery, 83, 132-33; denunciation of slavery, 75-77;

on duties of masters, 268-71;

Orleans:

African music

Ministers, white:

in-

in, 34,

New

36-38; voodoo

41 Orleans Delta, 203-4

in,

Nichols, Charles, 380

:: :

:

410

:

:

:

Index

Nichols, Christopher, 300-301

Planter expectations:

Thomas, 380

Nichols,

behavior of slave, 238; overseer and, 273-76; stereotypes and, 238

Nigeria, 15, 161

Northup, Solomon, 125, 126, 155,

Planters:

absenteeism, 271; characterized

194, 319, 373ff

Nupe, 161

slaves, 262, 264;

by

concern for

slaves, 263-64; family life, 265-

68; guilt of, 77-80; miscegena-

Occupation of slaves influence on self-esteem, 311-12; influence on treatment, 250-51

tion, 154-56, 172-73; overseers

and, 273; protecting slave health,

263-64; public opinion and, 268;

on power, 265-71;

OTerrall, S. A., 380

restrictions

Offley,

G. W., 371 Olmsted, Frederick Law, 380

rules for controlling slaves, 238-

Omens, 114

inattention toward slaves, 280-83;

Osceola,-2i3

separation of slave families,

Overseer

74, 175-77; use of labor incen-

duties, 271-76; slaves,

48;

and reaction of

tives,

273-76; and surveillance

Leslie

Pollard,

Howard, 380

selective

1

73-

239

Edward

Polygamy,

of slaves, 271-76

Owens,

runaways and, 196;

A., 99-100,

313

13, 171

Poor whites literary stereotypes, 229-30; rela-

Page,

tions with slaves, 306-7; slave contempt for, 276, 306-7

Anne Meade, 79-80

Paranoia of whites, 231-33

Portugal, 50

Parker, Allen, 317

Posey, Walter B., 381

Presbyterian Church, 132, 167, 338

Parliament:

and conditions of

slavery, 340;

and

floggings,

340 368 Patrick, Rembert W., 381 Paulding, James K., 380 Paxton, John, 76 Pellow, Thomas, 59 Pennington, James W. C, 371

Pascal, Roy,

Perception in interpersonal relations, 226-27;

stereotypes and, 226-27; 2.28

Perdue, Charles, 376 Personality

Price, David, 53, 55

Pringle, Elizabeth,

378

Prison

behavior

in,

289-90; as total institu-

tion, 289-90,

326-27

Prosser, Gabriel, 221

Prostitution, 154-55

Protestant Church:

and Latin American Catholic Church, 70-71; proselytization in,

71-72

Proverbs, 114; African, 177 Pulszky, Francis and Theresa, 380

slave, 319-22; stereotypes and, 226-

28; theories of, 284-85

Peterson, Walter, 263, 377 Phillips,

Ulrich

B.,

378, 380

Quarles, Ralph, 155

Pike, Frederick, 382

Plantation

churches on, 130-33; labor routine, 250-51

Raboteau, Albert J., 380 Randolph, Peter, 196, 254

:

:

:

:

:

Index Rape

women,

of slave

Rawick, George

P.,

slave behavior and, 242-48, 276;

153-54, "^7^-73

slave role and, 242-43; stereo-

375-76, 380

types and, 238

Rebellion

Army

Runaways:

and, 232; defined, 215-16;

group ers,

411

character of, 198-206; rebellious,

identification, 222; lead-

221-22; Louisiana, 216-17;

militia and, 215;

217-21;

New

205-6;

Nat Turner's,

York City, 216;

Sambo, 203-5;

statistics

on, 200, 202 Russell,

Marion

195

J.,

Stono, 206-7; topography and,

214-15; U.S. and Latin America,

214-15

St.

modation

of,

Lucia, 245

"Sambo"

Recalcitrant slaves, masters' accom-

predominant among house

Recreation activities, 106-9; attitudes of

ters

personality:

cruel treatment and, 293-98, 302-3;

277-79, 319-20

mas-

toward, 107-8; frequency

106-7; role in slave

life,

of,

105-9

ser-

vants, 304-5

"Sambo"

stereotype:

dominant

slave personality and,

Redpath, James, 375

224-30; fugitives, 203-5; percep-

Religion

tion of outsiders, 226-27; projections of whites, 226; rebelhous

defiance of masters and, 147;

slaves, 230-38; relation to other

docility and, 132-33; slave atti-

tudes toward, 130-37; slave practice,

of,

227-28; similarity to stereo-

treatment of slaves and, 268-71;

types of serf

white missionaries,

228-30

1

30

San Juan de

Rewards: as

slave stereotypes, 233-38; roots

131-37; spirituals, 137-48;

means

of control, 239; slave

labor and, 238-48; slave recreation,

106-7

Rhythm: 125; in slave music, 122, 125,

126-27

Remedios, 149

Sardinia, 50

Seabrook, Whitemarsh, 315-16 Selective inattention, 280-83

Ring shout, 134-35 Robinson, Lucy, 177

W.

H., 172, 188, 193,

293fF, 318-19

Emma

concept

of,

284-85; as factor in

personality

and childhood, 285

Self-esteem

Riley, James, 51

Roche,

slave,

Self:

in African music, 22-23; in Juba,

Robinson,

los

and Brazilian

Langdon, 27

Roles: overseers, 240, 242; planters, 238-

40; relation to personality, 242-

44; slaves, 242-43 Role theory, 242-44 Roper, Moses, 155, 156, 261, 268,

29off

Ruitenbeek, Hendrik M., 382 Rules of plantation management

personality factors promoting, 285; slave, 308-14; slave occupation and, 31 1-12

Self-fulfilling

prophecy, and rebel-

235 James B., 381

lions,

Sellers,

Seminoles:

maroons and, 211-14; wars, 211-14 Senegal, 32

Separation of slave families:

church and, 170-71, 174-75; extent of,

173-74, 175-77; fear

of,

173-

74; insanity and, 298-300; laws

prohibiting,

1

74; psychological

impact, 297-98

:

412

:

Index

Serer, 5

Sex

Slaves

African-born, 3-42; branding, 263;

ratios

family

life

and, 149-50; U.S. and

Latin America, 149-50

clothing, 251-54; court decisions

Schultz, Christian, 36-37 Sicily,

regarding, 195-96; courtship,

156-61; culture, 105-48; family

50

Significant others:

life,

behavior and, 284-86; conjurers 109-10, 113; parents

as,

as,

151,

149-91; holidays, 106-7;

housing, 254-55; influence on

white family, 266-68; labor

of,

186-88, 190-91; several on plan-

250-51; marriages, 164-70; min-

tation, 305, 310-11; Sullivan and, 284-85

number imported,

Simmons,

J. L.,

isters,

289

130-33; names, 181-83; 47;

and other

labor conditions, 255-56; parents,

Slave behavior:

151, 186-88,

1

90-9 1 punish;

ments, 245-46, 260-62; religion,

belief in inferiority, 302-3; con-

tentment, 291-92; courtship, 156-

130-47; religious instruction, 91-

61; cruelty, 261-63; culture, 105-

94, 98; separations, 173-77;

7; desire for

freedom, 192-201;

dissembling, 313-14; escapes,

192-208; fear of whites, 295-98; solidarity, 315-17; insanity,

298-

302; kindly treatment, 263-64; literacy,

stereotypes, 223-38;

acculturation, 61-63, 65; alcohol

and, 61; Arab treatment 65;

and

tempts

management and, 239-48;

61; in

rebelself-

of, 62;

North

number

of,

49-

Christianity, 53; con-

version of, 57-61; escape

312; loyalty, 291-92,

206-21; religion, 47;

154-

Slaves, white:

304; overseers, 273-76; plantation

lion,

women,

56, 179-81, 191

fighting masters, 317-18; group

at-

and Islam,

57, 59-

Africa, 50-51, 52;

of, 50; rebellions,

62;

320; stereotypes and, 223-38;

shock of enslavement, 53, 55; thievery and, 6 1 in West Africa,

submissiveness, 295-303

51-52;

hatred, 302-3; significant other,

;

African origins and, 4-5; coercion, 246, 261-63; culture and, 105-6; parental models, 186-88, 190-91; rebellions, 215-22; roles, 242-48;

stereotypes, 223-38; variety in,

F. D.,

26

1

81-91; of whites, 98-

104, 265-68

Society for Promoting Christian

Knowledge, 71

volume, 47

Society for the Propagation of the

Slave traders:

miscegenation and, 155; rebellious slaves sold to,

J.

of slaves,

African reactions, 7-12; character, ;

Smith, Shelton, 381 Smith, Venture, 13, 15 Socialization:

Slave trade:

1

377-78 Smith, Amanda, 185 Smith, Julia Floyd, 380

Smyth,

246-48, 286-322

Slave Songs of the United States (Allen), 145

5-1

women, 56

Smedes, Susan Dabney, 266, 282,

Slave personality:

Slave

castration, 263; children, 179-91;

277

women:

control of, 248; role in family, 55, 179-81, 191

1

54-

Gospel in Foreign South Carolina, 338

Southampton County, 217

Parts, 71

Virginia, 206,

Southern Evangelical Messenger,

1

00

:

:

:

1

:

Index Southern Quarterly Review, lyi

Suicides:

among

Southern writers: Brazilian writers and, 228-29; de-

fense of slavery, 229-30; stereotypes of poor whites, 229-30;

Africans, 4, 7-9; separations

and, 197

Harry Stack, 284-85, 289,

Sullivan,

382 Superstition:

stereotypes of slaves, 228-31

slave, 109-10,

Spain, 50

Spaulding, H. G., 134

Surinam, 214

Spindler, Dearborn, 325

Surveillance:

African origins, 33-34; imagery, 138-46; as

means

of

communicafreedom,

141-44; satire in, 120-22; world

340; and Bureau of Refugees,

Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 341; denominational

380

margin of error, 339; problems affecting, 336-43; and U.S. census, 342-43; use of, 336-43 Stein, Stanley, 149, 381

comparative, 224-38; factors affecting, 226-29; Jack, 224-25; liter-

224-38; Nat, 224-25, 230-

33; poor whites, 229-30; relation-

ship to personality, 226-27; roles,

238; Sambo, 224-26, 227-30; and leaders,

234

194, 195, 254, 257, 264, 296ff,

372, 374

Samuel, 325

Stroyer, Jacob, 30, 140, 155, 190,

i93> 267, 313, 374

Submissiveness:

Tannenbaum, Frank, 381 Taylor, Orville, 202, 214, 380 Taylor, Zachary, 214

Temne, 32 Tennant, Thomas, 76 Thompson, John, 267 Thorn well, J. H., 269 Tilmon, Levin, 372 Tonga, 177 Total institutions: coercive

power

in,

230-31, 289-90,

323-24; compared, 323-31; de-

289-90 Travis, Joseph, 219

Turner, Benjamin, 217 Turner, Henry McNeal, 91 Turner, Lorenzo, 30 Turner, Nat:

per-

sonality and, 285-88; slave, 295-

304; white slave, 53, 55

33

Trinidad, 245 Trinidad Gazette, 246

Stone, Kate, 79

power and, 286-87;

F.,

fined, 289-90; plantation and,

Steward, Austin, 108, 172, 187, 190,

coercive

20-21, 40-41, 134-35

Szwed, John

Texas, 338

Stereotypes

Southern

music, 22-23, 33'39; ^^ religion,

rec-

ords, 336-39;

Stouffer,

ters, 3 10- 1

in language, 24-30, 98-100; in

British Parliamentary reports,

ary,

and, 271; obedience and,

286; overseers and, 273; in quar-

Syncretism

376

Statistics

and

ters

Swisshelm, Jane, 378 Sydnor, Charles, 380

Stampp, Kenneth, 380 Starling, Marion W., 380 Starobin, Robert,

camps, 327-28;

internalization and, 285-86; mas-

Sutcliff, Robert,

view, 137-48

3-14; white, 113

1 1

in concentration

Spirituals

tion, 139; references to

413

issue in Virginia legislature, 237;

rebelhon, 144, 217-21 Tyler, Ronnie

C, 376

414

Index

Vassa, Gustavus, 15-20,

37^

West

Africa:

and Southern periodicals, 378-79; and white slaves, 51-52

Vassouras, 149 Virey, Julien, 228

West

Virginia,

339 Voodoo, 41

Indies:

slave treatment in,

340 Whitehead, Margaret, 220 Whitmore, Charles, 280 Whittier, John Greenleaf, 372

Wacamaw, South

Carolina, 94

Whydah, 41

Wall, Bennett, 381

Wigmore, John H., 368

Waller, Charles, 376

Williams, James, 372

Wanderer, 27, 29 Ware, Nathaniel, 255-56 Washington, Amanda, 263

Wolof,

Washington, Booker T., 181 Washington, George, 272 Watkins, James, 190, 254, 303!? Watson, Henry, 156, 255, 257, 295-

Work

96 Watts Hymnal, 90

Webb, William,

107,

no,

32

songs:

in Africa, 22;

Works

among

slaves,

1

17-18

Progress Administration, 374-

76

Yetman, Norman 130, 146-

47, 187, 193, 194, 314-15

Weld, Theodore, 378 Wesley, John, 270

5,

Wood, Norman, 378 Wood, Peter, 381

Yoruba,

5,

R.,

376

39

Znaniecki, Florian, 243

From

the reviews

.

.

.

doubly welcome, both for its intrinsic worth in describing it must have been tor those inside and for its meaning for scholarship. Blassingame is realistic. He is in complete command, and has written a book all American historians could read with profit." —The Journal of American History "It

is

slavery as

.

"A

,

.

sober and sane treatment of an aspect of Negro slavery which

has usually been neglected or distorted."

—The "A broad

interdisciplinary approach

Journal of Southern History

.

.

thoroughly researched,

.

skillfully written, well organized, effectively illustrated

.

.

.

should

be read by everyone interested in slavery in the antebellum South."

—The "A

reliable

and beautiful book of

a bitter era in

—The Negro "A good account is

of the

human

side of slavery

rich with the complexities of the

human

Georgia Review

American

life."

Educational Review

.

.

.

the final product

experience."

—American History

Illustrated

The Author John W. Blassingame

He

is

co-editor

is

Professor of History at Yale University.

with Louis

Harlan of

The Autobiographical

Writings of Booker T. Washington, editor of New Perspectives on Black Studies, and co-editor of In Search of America. He is author of Black

he

is

New

Orleans and editor of Slave Testimony. Currently,

editing the Frederick Douglass Papers.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRESS, New York

ISBN

0-19-502563-6