THE MIDDLE PASSAGE --

TRANSPORT TO AMERICA

The Middle Passage was one leg of the Triangular Trade & Refers to the transport of slaves.

About 10-40 % died on the trip.

Africans had to endure on the slave ship:

HeatCrowding

IllnessNo Sanitation

TRANSPORTING TO AND ARRIVING IN AMERICA

Mutinies by Slaves did occur.

On Arrival:

Families were often separated.

Sold on the auction block.

African slaves were in a foreign culture and did not understand the language.

Slave Traders were heavily armed

SLAVERY IN COLONIAL AMERICA

Population:

By the Mid-1700’s 1 in 5 colonists were African Slaves

First Africans in America were Indentured Servants: Their children would be slaves.

South Carolina & Georgia: Majority

Plantations with 100+ slaves were common

Slaves were a minority elsewhere in the colonies

SLAVE LIFE

Rice & Indigo

Heat & Diseases

Little Contact with Whites

Preserved Culture

Virginia & Maryland Tobacco

Artisans & Laborers in towns

Encouraged to raise families but . . .

More Contact with Whites

South Carolina & Georgia

SLAVE LIFE

Middle & New England Colonies

Much Fewer slaves

House Servants, artisans, ship builders

Contributed to Atlantic economy

FREE BLACKS

Freeing SlavesLaws discouraged freeing slavesNeeded Legislative Permission to free a slaveHad to Leave the colonyFreedom could sometimes be purchased

TreatmentWorse conditions than slaves

Treated more poorly

Limited Rights -- No votes, could not marry whites, or testify vs. whites

LAWS AND PUNISHMENTS

Each Colony has own Slave Laws

Georgia barred slavery for a short period

Movement Restricted -- Passes needed

Laws

Punishments

Whipping

Banishment--West Indies

Death

REVOLTS AND RESISTANCE

Revolts were difficult to organize

When you make men slaves, you... compel them to livewith you in a state of war. - Olaudah Equiano, former slave

Stono Rebellion

Several dozen blacks attack and kill whites

Burned the land and march towards Florida, and a settlement for runaway slaves. Caught and killed.

Usually Resisted by:“Forgetting” or “Not understanding” orders

Faking Illness

Slave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave Resistance1. “SAMBO” pattern of behavior used

as a charade in front of whites [the innocent, laughing black man caricature – bulging eyes, thick lips, big smile, etc.].

Slave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave ResistanceSlave Resistance2. Refusal to work hard.

3. Isolated acts of sabotage.

4. Escape via the Underground Railroad.

Runaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave Ads

Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages

Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages

The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.

Slave Rebellions Throughout Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americasthe Americas

Slave Rebellions Throughout Slave Rebellions Throughout the Americasthe Americas

Slave Rebellions Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum Southin the Antebellum South

Slave Rebellions Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum Southin the Antebellum South

1822

Gabriel Prosser

1800

Slave Rebellions in the Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South:Antebellum South:

Nat Turner, Nat Turner, 18311831

Slave Rebellions in the Slave Rebellions in the Antebellum South:Antebellum South:

Nat Turner, Nat Turner, 18311831

The Culture of SlaveryThe Culture of SlaveryThe Culture of SlaveryThe Culture of Slavery1. Black Christianity [Baptists or

Methodists]: * more emotional worship services. * negro spirituals.

2. “Pidgin” or Gullah languages.

3. Nuclear family with extended kin links,where possible.

4. Importance of music in their lives. [esp. spirituals].

Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda

Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda

Why did the South become so reliant on cotton?

Why didn’t the South become industrialized like the North?