http://youtu.be/ukS_SyzTJ3k
Showing posts with label SLAVERY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SLAVERY. Show all posts
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Founding of Slavery 1600's
Excerpt from Article by Tavis Smiley //
. . . . . .This year marks the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Virginia - the first permanent English settlement in North America and where the first Africans set foot in America. While the slave trade in the 1700s is well documented, recent historical discoveries have shed light on the first Africans who arrived a century earlier.
Known as the site of the John Smith-Pocahontas legend, Jamestown has otherwise been overshadowed by stories of Pilgrims seeking religious freedom in Massachusetts' Plymouth Colony.
But many of the foundations of modern America, such as free enterprise, representative government and cultural diversity, began in Jamestown. Those first cultures included English settlers, Powatan Indians and the first Africans to set foot in America.
Historians had believed that the first Africans came from the West Indies on a Dutch warship. Now, new research has shown that the first documented Africans came from Angola and were not immediately enslaved. The Portuguese slave ship on which they traveled was raided by British pirates and arrived in Jamestown in 1619, where the Africans were traded for provisions.
While the institution of slavery did not yet exist in Virginia, White indentured servants from England were already common. Some of the first Africans worked side-by-side with English servants, clearing land, cutting trees and building houses.
Although the Africans' status was uncertain early on, and they were treated in a variety of ways, "there were some Africans that moved from indentured servant status to being free," says Dr. Rex Ellis, Vice President of the Historic Area at Colonial Williamsburg. During their indentured servitude, they were obligated to work for a master for 5-7 years and learned carpentry, blacksmithing or other skills. After that time, they became free and were usually given "freedom dues," such as a plot of land and supplies.
One Black man who gained his freedom was Anthony Johnson. His story is one of the only ones known about the first Africans in America. Called "Antonio the negro" in the 1625 Virginia census, he was brought to Jamestown in 1621 and worked on a plantation for a wealthy White family. He married, had four children and eventually became free. To proclaim his freedom, he changed his name to Anthony Johnson, because most servants did not have last names or used their master's name. Johnson soon owned land, cattle and even indentured servants from Africa.
In 1640, the same year Johnson bought his first property, one Black and two White indentured servants ran away from a farmer in Jamestown. When they were captured, the White men had their servitude extended four years. But John Punch, the Black man, was ordered to serve his master for life. He became the first documented slave.
Starting with John Punch, indentured servitude gradually evolved to lifetime slavery. By 1662, several Virginia laws were enacted that recognized slavery. One statute said that children would be born bonded or free depending on their mother's status, which began the transformation to slavery as we know it today.
. . . . . .This year marks the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Virginia - the first permanent English settlement in North America and where the first Africans set foot in America. While the slave trade in the 1700s is well documented, recent historical discoveries have shed light on the first Africans who arrived a century earlier.
Known as the site of the John Smith-Pocahontas legend, Jamestown has otherwise been overshadowed by stories of Pilgrims seeking religious freedom in Massachusetts' Plymouth Colony.
But many of the foundations of modern America, such as free enterprise, representative government and cultural diversity, began in Jamestown. Those first cultures included English settlers, Powatan Indians and the first Africans to set foot in America.
Historians had believed that the first Africans came from the West Indies on a Dutch warship. Now, new research has shown that the first documented Africans came from Angola and were not immediately enslaved. The Portuguese slave ship on which they traveled was raided by British pirates and arrived in Jamestown in 1619, where the Africans were traded for provisions.
While the institution of slavery did not yet exist in Virginia, White indentured servants from England were already common. Some of the first Africans worked side-by-side with English servants, clearing land, cutting trees and building houses.
Although the Africans' status was uncertain early on, and they were treated in a variety of ways, "there were some Africans that moved from indentured servant status to being free," says Dr. Rex Ellis, Vice President of the Historic Area at Colonial Williamsburg. During their indentured servitude, they were obligated to work for a master for 5-7 years and learned carpentry, blacksmithing or other skills. After that time, they became free and were usually given "freedom dues," such as a plot of land and supplies.
One Black man who gained his freedom was Anthony Johnson. His story is one of the only ones known about the first Africans in America. Called "Antonio the negro" in the 1625 Virginia census, he was brought to Jamestown in 1621 and worked on a plantation for a wealthy White family. He married, had four children and eventually became free. To proclaim his freedom, he changed his name to Anthony Johnson, because most servants did not have last names or used their master's name. Johnson soon owned land, cattle and even indentured servants from Africa.
In 1640, the same year Johnson bought his first property, one Black and two White indentured servants ran away from a farmer in Jamestown. When they were captured, the White men had their servitude extended four years. But John Punch, the Black man, was ordered to serve his master for life. He became the first documented slave.
Starting with John Punch, indentured servitude gradually evolved to lifetime slavery. By 1662, several Virginia laws were enacted that recognized slavery. One statute said that children would be born bonded or free depending on their mother's status, which began the transformation to slavery as we know it today.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
I think often about Lucinda and her parents.....
My name is Charity McAllister. My mother first b'longed to John Greene. She got in de family way by a white man. Dey sold my brother. He wus as white as you is.
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/narratives/nar_charity_mcallister.htm
I tell you, I was whupped durin' slavery time. Dey whupped us wid horse hair whips. Dey put a stick under our legs an' tied our hands and we could not do nuthin' but turn and twist. Dey would sure work on your back end. Every time you turned, dey would hit it. I been whupped dat way and scarred up.
Dey did not give us any holidays, [not even] Christmas in Harnett County. Dat wus 'ginst de rules. No prayer nor nuthin' on de plantation in our houses. Dey did not 'low us to go to de white folks' church. Dey did not 'low de slaves to hunt, so we did not have any wild meat. Dey did not 'low us any [garden] patches. No, sirree, we did not have any money.
We had no overseers on master's plantation, and no books and schools o' any kind for slaves. I cannot read and write. No, sir. I wish I could read and write.
Yes, sir. I seed de patterollers. Oh, oh, de Ku Klux, huh-huh. Reubin Matthew's slave, George Matthews, killed two Ku Klux. Dey double-teamed him and shot him, and he cut 'em wid de ax and dey died.
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/narratives/nar_charity_mcallister.htm
I tell you, I was whupped durin' slavery time. Dey whupped us wid horse hair whips. Dey put a stick under our legs an' tied our hands and we could not do nuthin' but turn and twist. Dey would sure work on your back end. Every time you turned, dey would hit it. I been whupped dat way and scarred up.
Dey did not give us any holidays, [not even] Christmas in Harnett County. Dat wus 'ginst de rules. No prayer nor nuthin' on de plantation in our houses. Dey did not 'low us to go to de white folks' church. Dey did not 'low de slaves to hunt, so we did not have any wild meat. Dey did not 'low us any [garden] patches. No, sirree, we did not have any money.
We had no overseers on master's plantation, and no books and schools o' any kind for slaves. I cannot read and write. No, sir. I wish I could read and write.
Yes, sir. I seed de patterollers. Oh, oh, de Ku Klux, huh-huh. Reubin Matthew's slave, George Matthews, killed two Ku Klux. Dey double-teamed him and shot him, and he cut 'em wid de ax and dey died.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
SLAVERY IN ARKANSAS
The first slaves entered what was to become Arkansas in about 1720, when settlers moved into the John Law colony on land given to them on the lower Arkansas River by the king of France. The Law colony failed within two years, but a small number of inhabitants, including African Americans who probably were slaves.... remained in the area for the rest of the French and Spanish territorial periods.
In the first official US census of Arkansas as the "District of Lousiana".. in 1810,the census takers found 136 slaves in the total population of 874 persons. The development of this area and its creation as Arkansas Terriroty in 1819 --- spurred a rapid growth in the slave population.
By the end of 1820, it had almost doubled to 1617. These trends continued thru the territorial period and up to the Civi War. By 1830 -- the slave populationreached 4576; then 19935 in 1840; 7100 in 1850; and 111,115 in 1860.
As the slave population grew, it also constituted a larger and larger portion of the total population, growing from eleven percent in 1820 to twenty -five percent by 1860.
Slaves lived in every county and in both rural and urban settings in antebellum AR. historian Orville Taylor estimated that roughly one in four white Arkansans either owned slaves or lived in families that did. many more probably benefited from slavery, however, as leasing slaves was not an uncommon practice. Although slavery clearly touched the lives of many white Arkansans, most slave owners possessed only a few slaves. The largest number of slaves were the property of the owners of large plantations in the state's lowlands, -- particularly in the rich valley and delta lands along the state's waterways. A relatively large slave holding would have been ten slaves, a workforce valued at about $9000 on the average in 1859 -- and amount equal to approximately to $200,000 in 2002.
By 1860, seventy-three percent of slaves were on plantations and farms of that size. They were owned, however by only about 26% of the state's slave owners. Elisha Worthington of Chicot County was the state's largest slave owner, holding more than 500 slaves on the eve of the Civil War.
In the first official US census of Arkansas as the "District of Lousiana".. in 1810,the census takers found 136 slaves in the total population of 874 persons. The development of this area and its creation as Arkansas Terriroty in 1819 --- spurred a rapid growth in the slave population.
By the end of 1820, it had almost doubled to 1617. These trends continued thru the territorial period and up to the Civi War. By 1830 -- the slave populationreached 4576; then 19935 in 1840; 7100 in 1850; and 111,115 in 1860.
As the slave population grew, it also constituted a larger and larger portion of the total population, growing from eleven percent in 1820 to twenty -five percent by 1860.
Slaves lived in every county and in both rural and urban settings in antebellum AR. historian Orville Taylor estimated that roughly one in four white Arkansans either owned slaves or lived in families that did. many more probably benefited from slavery, however, as leasing slaves was not an uncommon practice. Although slavery clearly touched the lives of many white Arkansans, most slave owners possessed only a few slaves. The largest number of slaves were the property of the owners of large plantations in the state's lowlands, -- particularly in the rich valley and delta lands along the state's waterways. A relatively large slave holding would have been ten slaves, a workforce valued at about $9000 on the average in 1859 -- and amount equal to approximately to $200,000 in 2002.
By 1860, seventy-three percent of slaves were on plantations and farms of that size. They were owned, however by only about 26% of the state's slave owners. Elisha Worthington of Chicot County was the state's largest slave owner, holding more than 500 slaves on the eve of the Civil War.
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