African Slavery in North America

Where and when slavery existed

Slavery existed in almost ALL parts of the world at one time or another

- Central and Western African Societies and Inca, Maya, Aztec Societies

Prisoners of War

Criminals

Debtors

- Europe into the Early Middle Ages

Particularly Ancient Rome and Greece

Mediterranean Coast in particular enslaved Africans but lesser in scope

Shifted to serfdom and servitude after collapse of Roman Empire and more so after Black Death and decline of populations and economic shifts

On trade with Africa

Beginnings -

Portugal Looking for Gold, Spices, Ivory, and Settler Colonies

Find Trade in Slaves More Lucrative Than Any of the Other Motivations

Concerning the trade on this Coast, we notified your Highness that nowadays the natives no longer occupy themselves with the search for gold, but rather make war on each other in order to furnish slaves. . . The Gold Coast has changed into a complete Slave Coast.

William De La Palma

Director, Dutch West India Co.

September 5, 1705

Slavery - Defined

Slavery, condition in which one human being was owned by another. A slave was considered by law as property, or chattel, and was deprived of most of the rights ordinarily held by free persons.

Africa

It is often misunderstood that Africa was a single ethnic group or entity. Much like Native Americans, there was no single "Pan-African" sense of belonging to one another. Tribal warfare existed, though it was limited and sporadic. Ethnic groups in Africa did not share a common sense of belonging based on skin color, but were loyal to their own ethnic group, tribal unit, or nation state. Africans DID enslave other Africans. But European involvement changed the idea of what slavery was and what it would mean to Africa. The constant hunger for more slaves encouraged tribal warfare, built tribal economies, and changed the demographics of African societies. See the Ted Ed video below for more specifics.

Once Europeans involved themselves in the slave trade, it changed to a highly lucrative business....

The trade in African slaves was very profitable to both the African traders and the European traders. Remember, Africans were also complicit in the trade and some African families and/or ethnic groups became very wealthy off the slave trade

New World Slavery

• Why necessary for "New World" labor demands?
• Native populations declined dramatically
• Labor intensive plantation style agriculture for world commerce
• Uniqueness of New World - Atlantic Slave Trade:
• Immense size and scope of traffic in slaves -
• becomes a major business enterprise in and of itself
• Slaves were considered dehumanized property
• Slaves held no rights in society and little hope to improve their status
• Existed in a society that based its ideals on equality and freedom
• Racial dimension - "blackness" of slaves
• -Central to economic viability of colonies
• Largely based on plantation agriculture

Uniqueness of New World Slavery

Why the Atlantic Slave Trade was different

- Immense size and scope of traffic in slaves -

becomes a major business enterprise in and of itself

- Central to economic viability of colonies

- Largely based on plantation agriculture

- Slaves were considered dehumanized property

- Slaves held no rights in society and little hope to improve their status

- Existed in a society that based its ideals on equality and freedom

- Racial dimension - "blackness" of slaves shifts from religious justifications

The Terrible Transformation

The Atlantic Slave Trade

The Atlantic Slave Trade and American slavery was not a new concept, but it was different than the forms of slavery that pre-existed the Slave Trade. For one, it became a commodity in itself. Slavery was never considered "for life" and slaves were not considered property until the institution of New World slavery. And the concept of "race based" slavery was a new concept. Christians had justified enslaving non-Christians, but once the Africans came to the New World, many pushed to Christianize them, but that also took away the justification of enslaving non-Christians. Over time, the justification shifted to that of race.

Where Africans are Taken From:

Visual of the one of the trade ships HERE

And more primary sources HERE

The Impact of the Slave Trade

From the perspective of the impact to Africa.....

A Visual of the Size and Scope

Note WHERE the majority of slaves are imported.... why might this be?

Timeline

Virginia:

1619: A Dutch ship (the White Lion) brings the first Africans to Jamestown. Africans are traded as indentured servants and are soon are put to work on tobacco plantations. Anthony Johnson is among these first Africans.

1635: Anthony Johnson completes his indentured servitude

1651: Anthony Johnson buys a large (250 acre) plot of land and purchases his own indentured servants including an African.

1663: A Virginia court decides that a child born to a slave mother is also a slave. (The Virginia Act XII)

1670 Anthony Johnson dies and his land is seized by the state of Virginia instead of passing to his children because he is a NEGRO and thus "not a citizen of the colony."

1705: The General Assembly declares imported servants who were not Christians in their native lands slaves, and all negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves property.

Massachusetts:

1641: Massachusetts becomes the first colony to recognize slavery as a legal institution.

The Middle Passage:

1680: The Royal African company transports 5000 African captives annually. By the 18th century, 45,000 Africans are transported annually on British ships.

South Carolina:

1700s: Almost half of the slaves coming to North America arrive in Charleston. Many stay in South Carolina to work on rice plantations.

1739: The Stono rebellion breaks out around Charleston; over 20 whites are killed by Jemmy and his band.

New York:

1741: Fires break out in New York City, which has the second-largest urban population of blacks. Numerous blacks are accused and executed in a witch-hunt atmosphere.

Georgia:

1750: Georgia is the last of the British North American colonies to legalize slavery.

20 and Odd

• August 1619
• White Lion
• 17 men and 3 women exchanged for provisions
• Likely from Angola traded to Portuguese traders
• Tobacco plantations
• Could have moved from slavery to freedom (before slavery took root)
• Likely indentured NOT slaves with no option for freedom

It is late summer. Out of a violent storm appears a Dutch ship. The ship's cargo hold is empty except for twenty or so Africans whom the captain and his crew have recently robbed from a Spanish ship. The captain exchanges the Africans for food, then sets sail.

It's not clear if the Africans are considered slaves or indentured servants. (An indentured servant would be required to work a set amount of time, then granted freedom.) Records of 1623 and 1624 list them as servants, and indeed later records show increasing numbers of free blacks, some of whom were assigned land. On the other hand, records from gatherings do not indicate the marital status of the Africans (Mr., Miss, etc.) and, unlike white servants, no year is associated with the names -- information vital in determining the end of a servant's term of bondage. Most likely some Africans were slaves and some were servants. At any rate, the status of people in bondage was very confusing, even to those who were living at the time.

Whatever the status of these first Africans to arrive at Jamestown, it is clear that by 1640, at least one African had been declared a slave. This African was ordered by the court "to serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life here or elsewhere."

The grounds for this harsh sentence presumabley lay in the fact that he was non-Christian rather than in the fact that he was physically dark. But religious beliefs could change, while skin color could not. Within a generation race, not religion, was being made the defining characteristic of enslaved Virginians, The terrible transformation to racial slavery was underway.

Source - PBS.org

Twenty and Odd

Beginnings in Jamestown - The White Lion lands in "Old Point Comfort" in 1619 ("20 and Odd"). These Africans were traded by the Portugese traders to the American colonists in Jamestown for food and supplies. They were considered slaves but not in the same context as slavery would become. Early slavery was much more equatable to indentured servitude, meaning they could and did earn their freedom after a their contracted services ended.

Anthony Johnson

Anthony Johnson was among these first Africans.

Interestingly, Johnson was released from his "servitude" and purchased land and own slaves of his own. However, by the time Johnson died, the idea of race meaning servitude had been cemented and Johnson's land was confiscated by the state rather than allowed to be given to his heirs.

African Americans Many Rivers to Cross on Anthony Johnson Episode 1 from 4:14 to 9:35)

Slavery in Virginia

• Took several decades to take root
• Initially used white indentured servants over African slaves
• Indentured Servants necessary often not available
• AND/OR would not commit to Long Periods of indentured servitude
• African slaves had no limits on servitude - for life and appeared to have unlimited availability

New Amsterdam (New York)

• First slaves brought 1625
• Help build roads and towns
• New Amsterdam - New York City
• 11 Slaves - Property of Company
• Dutch East India Company
• NOT INDIVIDUALLY OWNED
• Not clear if slave or indentured
• Bonds between indentured Europeans and African Slaves
• Bonded in Taverns "after work"
• More freedoms than plantation
• Could have free time
• Could earn wages
• BUT no clear terms to ear

First Slave Action - 1655

New Amsterdam, a town on the tip of Manhattan Island within the Dutch colony of New Netherland, saw a sudden influx of African slave labor in 1655. The Dutch had been involved with the African slave trade for some time, having seized Portugal's Elmina Castle along the West African coast about two decades earlier. Soon after gaining control of the slave factory they were shipping 2,500 slaves across the Atlantic each year. Many of these slaves were sent to Brazil, another territory the Dutch had seized from Portugal. But this control of Brazil was short-lived.

The Dutch were still active participants in the slave trade when they lost control of Brazil in 1654. Now they directed their attention to the colony of New Netherland. The colony already had black slaves; these had generally come by way of the Caribbean Islands. In 1655, the first large shipment of slaves directly from Africa arrived at New Amsterdam.

In 1664 the English seized New Netherland, including the town of New Amsterdam. They renamed the colony New York. At the time there were roughly 500 Dutch-speaking blacks in the colony.

Source - PBS.org

Slavery System Develops

Barbados was also a British colony, and as slavery develops as the labor system for cash crops in their North American colonies, a system of slavery with violent oppression develops using the model of Barbados.

Remember... slavery was EVERYWHERE in the North American colonies until the American Revolution. In fact, Massachusetts was the first to recognize slavery by law, and also the first to outright abolish slavery after the Revolution. Slave labor also helped to build the cities of Philadelphia and New York City. Slavery continued to exist beyond the Revolution in Pennsylvania, New York state, and New Jersey. New Jersey was the last of the original northern states to abolish slavery in 1804, but used gradual emancipation laws that continued to enslave for life anyone who was a slave in 1804, and in following the previous law about inheriting the status of slavery, anyone born to a slave mother after 1804 would remain an indentured servant until adulthood. In fact, slaves were emancipated in New Jersey as a result of the 13th Amendment ending slavery in the United States.

From PBS:

Slavery became a highly profitable system for white plantation owners in the colonial South. In South Carolina, successful slave owners, such as the Middleton family from Barbados, established a system of full-blown, Caribbean-style slavery. The Middletons settled on land near Charleston, Carolina's main port and slave-trading capital. They took advantage of the fact that at the end of the 17th century, some of the earliest African arrivals had shown English settlers how rice could be grown in the swampy coastal environment. With cheap and permanent workers available in the form of slaves, plantation owners realized this strange new crop could make them rich.

As rice boomed, land owners found the need to import more African slaves to clear the swamps where the rice was grown and to cultivate the crop. Many of the Africans knew how to grow and cultivate the crop, which was alien to Europeans. By 1710, scarcely 15 years after rice came to Carolina, Africans began to out-number Europeans in South Carolina.

Slavery was rapidly becoming an entrenched institution in American society, but it took brutal force to imposed this sort of mass exploitation upon once-free people. As Equiano wrote, white and black lived together "in a state of war." The more harshly whites enforced racial enslavement, the more they came to fear black uprisings. As they became more fearful, they responded by further tightening the screws of oppression.

Carolina authorities developed laws to keep the African American population under control. Whipping, branding, dismembering, castrating, or killing a slave were legal under many circumstances. Freedom of movement, to assemble at a funeral, to earn money, even to learn to read and write, became outlawed.

At times the cruelty seemed almost casual. A Virginia slaveowner's journal entry for April 17, 1709 reads: "Anaka was whipped yesterday for stealing the rum and filling the bottle up with water. I said my prayers and I danced my dance. Eugene was whipped again for pissing in bed and Jenny for concealing it."

Source - PBS.org

Caribbean Colonies

Sugar Islands

• Spanish, French, English, and Holland
• English Barbados
• Began using Irish Prisoners as Indentured Servants
• Shifted to African Slavery
• Cheaper (Irish paid a low salary)
• More readily available - Interchangeable machine parts

Between 1627 and 1807, more than 400,000 Africans to Barbados

• High Mortality Rates
• Intensive Labor and Severe Weather

Race Defines Servitude

Dark skin - no intelligence - lower life value

Labor Slave Code of 1661

Gave planters authority to chastise, whip, brand, lacerate, cripple, set slaves on fire, or murder slaves with no negative consequences

[N]egroes [are] an heathenish brutish and an unsertaine dangerous kinde of people…yett wee well know by the right rule of reason and order wee are not to leave them to the Arbitrary cruele and outragious wills of every evill disposed person but soo farr to protect them as wee doo many other goods and Chattles and alsoe somewhat farther as being created Men though without the Knowledge of God in the world.

Barbados Defines Slave Codes

Barbados first to legalize segregation/define status by race

Slave Codes followed

Jamaica

Antigua

Virginia

South Carolina

The Carolinas

From the Caribbean to the Carolinas

The Fundamental Constitution of Carolina 1669

Main purpose - avoid democracy

NO RIGHTS TO "SLAVES" AND OTHER BOUND PERSONS

Encouraged slavery from outset

Specifically FOR PROFIT COLONIES and intended to protect the nobility/planter classes

The Stono Rebellion

On the 9th of September last at Night a great Number of Negroes Arose in Rebellion, broke open a Store where they got arms, killed twenty one White Persons, and were marching the next morning in a Daring manner out of the Province, killing all they met and burning several Houses as they passed along the Road.

- Wm Bull

The Stono Rebellion

• Before Rice - slaves had some freedoms
• Gathered lumber
• Women worked in small vegetable fields
• (Colony for Colony - "holding")
• After Rice
• More restrictive
• Labored in rice fields ALL day
• No freedom of movement or free time
• COMBINED with the Spanish offer of freedom in St. Augustine
• Leads to rebellion

The Stono Rebellion

• Uprising in South Carolina backcountry
• Brutally violent
• Governor William Bull calls South Carolina Militia
• Subdue Rebels
• Africans beheaded and placed on mile markers on roadway
• Increases white fears of black uprisings
• Slave codes instituted
• Restrictions increased

The Stono Rebellion

White fears of the people they kept enslaved were entirely justified. On September 9, 1739, an African man named Jemmy, thought to be of Angolan origin, led a march from Stono near Charleston toward Florida and what he believed would be freedom on Spanish soil. Other slaves joined Jemmy and their numbers grew to nearly 100. Jemmy and his companions killed dozens of whites on their way, in what became known as the Stono Rebellion. White colonists caught up with the rebels and executed those whom they managed to capture. The severed heads of the rebels were left on mile posts on the side of the road as a warning to others.

White fear of blacks was also rampant in New York City, which had a density of slaves nearing that of Charleston. In 1741, fires were ignited all over New York, including one at the governor's mansion. In witch-hunt fashion, 160 blacks and at least a dozen working class whites were accused of conspiring against the City of New York. Thirty-one Africans were killed; 13 were burned at the stake. Four whites were hung.

Source - PBS.org

The Stono Rebellion Explained

South Carolina, September 9, 1739: A band of slaves march down the road, carrying banners that proclaim "Liberty!". They shout out the same word. Led by an Angolan named Jemmy, the men and women continue to walk south, recruiting more slaves along the way. By the time they stop to rest for the night, their numbers will have approached one hundred.

What exactly triggered the Stono Rebellion is not clear. Many slaves knew that small groups of runaways had made their way from South Carolina to Florida, where they had been given freedom and land. Looking to cause unrest within the English colonies, the Spanish had issued a proclamation stating that any slave who deserted to St Augustine would be given the same treatment. Certainly this influenced the potential rebels and made them willing to accept their situation. A fall epidemic had disrupted the colonial government in nearby Charlestown (Charleston), and word had just arrived that England and Spain were at war, raising hopes that the Spanish in St. Augustine would give a positive reception to slaves escaping from Carolina plantations. But what may have actually triggered the rebellion on September 9th was the soon-to-be-enacted Security Act.

In mid-August, a Charlestown newspaper announced the Security Act. A response to the white's fears of insurrection, the act required that all white men carry firearms to church on Sundays, a time when whites usually didn't carry weapons and slaves were allowed to work for themselves. Anyone who didn't comply with the new law by September 29 would be subjected to a fine.

Whatever triggered the Rebellion, early on the morning of the 9th, a Sunday, about twenty slaves gathered near the Stono River in St. Paul's Parish, less than twenty miles from Charlestown. The slaves went to a shop that sold firearms and ammunition, armed themselves, then killed the two shopkeepers who were manning the shop. From there the band walked to the house of a Mr. Godfrey, where they burned the house and killed Godfrey and his son and daughter. They headed south. It was not yet dawn when they reached Wallace's Tavern. Because the innkeeper at the tavern was kind to his slaves, his life was spared. The white inhabitants of the next six or so houses they reach were not so lucky -- all were killed. The slaves belonging to Thomas Rose successfully hid their master, but they were forced to join the rebellion. (They would later be rewarded. See Report re. Stono Rebellion Slave-Catchers.) Other slaves willingly joined the rebellion. By eleven in the morning, the group was about 50 strong. The few whites whom they now encountered were chased and killed, though one individual, Lieutenant Governor Bull, eluded the rebels and rode to spread the alarm.

The slaves stopped in a large field late that afternoon, just before reaching the Edisto River. They had marched over ten miles and killed between twenty and twenty-five whites.

Around four in the afternoon, somewhere between twenty and 100 whites had set out in armed pursuit. When they approached the rebels, the slaves fired two shots. The whites returned fire, bringing down fourteen of the slaves. By dusk, about thirty slaves were dead and at least thirty had escaped. Most were captured over the next month, then executed; the rest were captured over the following six months -- all except one who remained a fugitive for three years.

Uncomfortable with the increasing numbers of blacks for some time, the white colonists had been working on a Negro Act that would limit the privileges of slaves. This act was quickly finalized and approved after the Stono Rebellion. No longer would slaves be allowed to grow their own food, assemble in groups, earn their own money, or learn to read. Some of these restrictions had been in effect before the Negro Act, but had not been strictly enforced.

Source - PBS.org

Consequences of the Stono Rebellion

One of the unforeseen consequences of the rebellion is even more oppression for the slaves out of fear of rebellion, using violence to oppress any fears of violence.

Beginnings of the Slave Codes

As the importation of slaves increased, it was becoming apparent that the numbers of black populations were far greater to the number of white populations, especially in the South. Harsh laws that reiterated that slaves were property, not people, were instilled to keep rebellions at a low. In fact, one of the most vicious rebellions, the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, sparked South Carolina to tighten restrictions and install stricter "Slave Codes" mostly based on the most stringent ones in England's colony of Barbados.

Look at the population map to see how quickly the black slave populations increased:

South Carolina Slave Codes 1740

The Slave Code of South Carolinia

An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Other Slaves in this Province" or Slave Code of South Carolina, May 1740

Also known as "The Negro Act"

Identifies slaves as "chattel"

Presumes ALL "negroes" are slaves

Slaves must have "ticket" explaining their travel if they are not under direct supervision (like a hall pass)

Slaves are not permitted to gather without white supervision

Slaves can be murdered as punishment for "crimes"

Fugitive slaves should be apprehended

Slaves cannot own anything nor can they trade, sell, nor buy anything

Slaves cannot own or carry weapons

The Rebellion and the Codes

The Stono Rebellion

Carolina Slave Code

Bacon's Rebellion

What....

• 1676
• Virginia
• Nathaniel Bacon
• Rebellion due to relations with Indians
• "[We must defend ourselves] against all Indians in generall, for that they were all Enemies."
• Governor William Berkeley wanted to avoid all out war with ALL Indians
• Bacon took it upon himself to lead attack against Indians
• United Poor (black and white) who felt Governor did not hear their grievances
• Rebelled against Governor - set fire to Jamestown
• Both sides promised freedom to ALL slaves who joined his cause
• Bacon died of dysentery in October 1676 - Rebellion Fizzles

Importance of Bacon's Rebellion

Why?

Bacon mobilized BOTH poor white and poor black

Officials worried that common grievances united these two groups

Reactions:

• Britain gives Governor more power
• Citizens should have right to bear arms (especially for protection against Indians)
• The English decided to end the idea of indentured servants. They decided they wanted to strip certain groups of their rights and at the same time have free labor. Fears of blacks rising up against White populations (demographics)
• Often deemed the beginning of AFRICAN SLAVERY in English colonies

The Terrible Transformation

Perhaps in the middle of the 17th century, if you were one of several thousand Africans living in Virginia you certainly knew that your children would be free -- you might have that expectation. To suddenly find themselves involved in lifelong servitude, and then to realize that in fact their children might inherit the same status, that was a terrible blow, that was a terrible transformation.

- Peter Wood, historian

An article from Peter Wood

The History

One of the places we have the clearest views of that "terrible transformation" is the colony of Virginia. In the early years of the colony, many Africans and poor whites -- most of the laborers came from the English working class -- stood on the same ground. Black and white women worked side-by-side in the fields. Black and white men who broke their servant contract were equally punished.

All were indentured servants. During their time as servants, they were fed and housed. Afterwards, they would be given what were known as "freedom dues," which usually included a piece of land and supplies, including a gun. Black-skinned or white-skinned, they became free.

Historically, the English only enslaved non-Christians, and not, in particular, Africans. And the status of slave (Europeans had African slaves prior to the colonization of the Americas) was not one that was life-long. A slave could become free by converting to Christianity. The first Virginia colonists did not even think of themselves as "white" or use that word to describe themselves. They saw themselves as Christians or Englishmen, or in terms of their social class. They were nobility, gentry, artisans, or servants.

The Story of Anthony Johnson shows us that the first Africans were indentured, could be freed, own land and own their own slaves, but it also shows us how quickly things changed for Africans and their descendants in early America. Antonio, the Negro, is classified and identified by his race. That race will become enslaved for life, and that status of slavery will be passed down to future generations. This shift happens within Anthony Johnson's lifetime.......

The Terrible Transformation

1640 Virginia

3 Runaway Indentured Servants - Captured

Sentences handed out

Dutch - Finish out Indentured Term plus one year

Scotchman - Finish out indentured Term plus one year

African - Serve term of natural life

SLAVE FOR LIFE

Sentence as such NEVER previously been documented

LIFE - Never a term issued to a white indentured servant

Revisiting Anthony Johnson

The Story of Anthony Johnson shows us that the first Africans were indentured, could be freed, own land and own their own slaves, but it also shows us how quickly things changed for Africans and their descendants in early America. Antonio, the Negro, is classified and identified by his race. That race will become enslaved for life, and that status of slavery will be passed down to future generations. This shift happens within Anthony Johnson's lifetime.......

From Indentured Servitude to Slavery

One of the few recorded histories of an African in America that we can glean from early court records is that of "Antonio the negro," as he was named in the 1625 Virginia census. He was brought to the colony in 1621. At this time, English and Colonial law did not define racial slavery; the census calls him not a slave but a "servant." Later, Antonio changed his name to Anthony Johnson, married an African American servant named Mary, and they had four children. Mary and Anthony also became free, and he soon owned land and cattle and even indentured servants of his own. By 1650, Anthony was still one of only 400 Africans in the colony among nearly 19,000 settlers. In Johnson's own county, at least 20 African men and women were free, and 13 owned their own homes.

In 1640, the year Johnson purchased his first property, three servants fled a Virginia plantation. Caught and returned to their owner, two had their servitude extended four years. However, the third, a black man named John Punch, was sentenced to "serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life." He was made a slave.

Traditionally, Englishmen believed they had a right to enslave a non-Christian or a captive taken in a just war. Africans and Indians might fit one or both of these definitions. But what if they learned English and converted to the Protestant church? Should they be released from bondage and given "freedom dues?" What if, on the other hand, status were determined not by (changeable ) religious faith but by (unchangeable) skin color?

Also, the indentured servants, especially once freed, began to pose a threat to the property-owning elite. The colonial establishment had placed restrictions on available lands, creating unrest among newly freed indentured servants. In 1676, working class men burned down Jamestown, making indentured servitude look even less attractive to Virginia leaders. Also, servants moved on, forcing a need for costly replacements; slaves, especially ones you could identify by skin color, could not move on and become free competitors.

In 1641, Massachusetts became the first colony to legally recognize slavery. Other states, such as Virginia, followed. In 1662, Virginia decided all children born in the colony to a slave mother would be enslaved. Slavery was not only a life-long condition; now it could be passed, like skin color, from generation to generation.

In 1665, Anthony Johnson moved to Maryland and leased a 300-acre plantation, where he died five years later. But back in Virginia that same year, a jury decided the land Johnson left behind could be seized by the government because he was a "negroe and by consequence an alien." In 1705 Virginia declared that "All servants imported and brought in this County... who were not Christians in their Native Country... shall be slaves. A Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves ... shall be held to be real estate."

English suppliers responded to the increasing demand for slaves. In 1672, England officially got into the slave trade as the King of England chartered the Royal African Company, encouraging it to expand the British slave trade. In 1698, the English Parliament ruled that any British subject could trade in slaves. Over the first 50 years of the 18th century, the number of Africans brought to British colonies on British ships rose from 5,000 to 45,000 a year. England had passed Portugal and Spain as the number one trafficker of slaves in the world.

Source - PBS.org

The Terrible Transformation

Three servants working for a farmer named Hugh Gwyn ran away to Maryland. Two were white; one was black. They were captured in Maryland and returned to Jamestown, where the court sentenced all three to thirty lashes -- a severe punishment even by the standards of 17th-century Virginia. The two white men were sentenced toan additional four years of servitude -- one more year for Gwyn followed by three more for the colony. But, in addition to the whipping, the black man, a man named John Punch, was ordered to "serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural Life here or elsewhere." John Punch no longer had hope for freedom.

It wasn't until 1661 that a reference to slavery entered into Virginia law, and this law was directed at white servants -- at those who ran away with a black servant. The following year, the colony went one step further by stating that children born would be bonded or free according to the status of the mother.

The transformation had begun, but it wouldn't be until the Slave Codes of 1705 that the status of African Americans would be sealed.

Source - PBS.org

All servants imported and brought into the Country. . . who were not Christians in their native Country. . . shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion. . . shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master. . . correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction. . . the master shall be free of all punishment. . . as if such accident never happened.

- Virginia General Assembly declaration, 1705

All servants imported and brought into the Country. . . who were not Christians in their native Country. . . shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion. . . shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master. . . correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction. . . the master shall be free of all punishment. . . as if such accident never happened.

- Virginia General Assembly declaration, 1705

A Negro Hung Alive by the Ribs to the Gallows:

This disturbing image was created for a book entitled, Narrative of a Five-Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. The author, Englishman John Gabriel Stedman, was hired by the Dutch to help quell slave uprisings in their South American colony. In his "narrative" he describes the plants and animals he encountered, as well as how he and fellow soldiers tortured runaway slaves who had been recaptured.

A Negro Hung Alive by the Ribs to a Gallows is based on a crude sketch by Stedman, engraved by the famous English poet and artist, William Blake. Its graphic depiction of a slave in Surinam hanging by a single rib illustrates the general lack of compassion whites had when dealing with enslaved Africans throughout the world.

Image Credit: James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota

Source PBS.org

The Hunted Slaves, 1861

Two runaway slaves in a swamp, confronted by three vicious mastiffs, are the subject of this powerful painting by artist Richard Ansdell. The painting, entitled Hunted Slaves, was presented in 1861 at England's Royal Academy, where it was well-received by critics keenly aware of the Civil War taking place in the United States.

The literature accompanying the painting included an excerpt of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1842 anti-slavery poem, "The Dismal Swamp". . .

Source PBS.org

The Dismal Swamp

In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp

The hunted Negro lay;

He saw the fire of the midnight camp,

And heard at times a horse's tramp,

And a bloodhound's distant bay.

. . .

Where hardly a human foot could pass,

Or a human heart would dare,

On the quaking turf of the green morass

He crouched in the rank and tangled grass,

Like a wild beast in his lair.

For Consideration

How doe these pieces reflect representations of slavery? What are the messages? Are these pro or anti slavery depictions?