Landing and Sale in the West Indies

Transcription

1 G U I D E T O R E A D I N G What happened to Africans after they crossed the Atlantic? What was seasoning and why was it used? How did masters treat enslaved Africans in the Americas? Why did the Atlantic slave trade end? K E Y T E R M S planters, p. 58 seasoning, p. 58 Creoles, p. 59 new Africans, p. 59 great gang, p. 60 drivers, p. 61 Guide to Reading/Key Terms For answers, see the Teacher s Resource Manual. Clarence J. Munford. The Black Ordeal of Slavery and Slave Trading in the French West Indies, Lewiston, NY: Mellen, Keith Albert Sandiford. The Cultural Politics of Sugar: Caribbean Slavery and Narratives of Colonialism. New York: Cambridge University Press, The Granger Collection, New 3 Section Landing and Sale in the West Indies The Selling of Africans As s l a v e s h i p s n e a r e d t h e i r We s t I n d i a n d e s t i n a t i o n s, t h e c r e w p r e- p a r e d t h e h u m a n c a r g o f o r l a n d i n g a n d s a l e. T h e y a l l o w e d t h e s l a v e s t o s h a v e, w a s h w i t h f r e s h w a t e r, a n d t a k e m o r e v i g o r o u s e x e r c i s e. T h o s e b o u n d f o r t h e l a r g e r C a r i b b e a n i s l a n d s o r f o r t h e B r i t i s h c o l o n i e s o f s o u t h e r n N o r t h A m e r i c a w e r e o f t e n g i v e n s o m e w e e k s t o r e s t i n t h e e a s t e r n m o s t i s l a n d s o f t h e We s t I n d i e s. F r e n c h s l a v e t r a d e r s t y p i c a l l y r e s t e d t h e i r s l a v e p a s s e n g e r s o n M a r t i n i q u e. T h e E n g l i s h p r e- f e r r e d B a r b a d o s. S a l e t o w h i t e p l a n t a t i o n o w n e r s f o l l o w e d, a n d t h e n b e g a n a p e r i o d o f w h a t t h e pl a n t e r s c a l l e d se a s o n i n g, a p e r i o d o f u p t o t w o y e a r s o f a c c u l t u r a t i n g s l a v e s a n d b r e a k i n g t h e m i n t o p l a n t a t i o n r o u t i n e s. The process of landing and sale that ended the middle passage was often as protracted as the events that began it in Africa. After anchoring at one of the Lesser Antilles Islands Barbados, St. Kitts, or Antigua E n g l i s h s l a v e r c a p t a i n s h a g g l e d w i t h t h e a g e n t s o f l o c a l p l a n t e r s o v e r n u m b e r s a n d p r i c e s. T h e y t h e n d e t e r m i n e d w h e t h e r t o s e l l a l l t h e i r slaves at their first port of call, sell some of them, sail to another island, o r s a i l t o s u c h N o r t h A m e r i c a n p o r t s a s C h a r l e s t o n, W i l l i a m s p o r t, o r B a l t i m o r e. I f t h e m a r k e t l o o k e d g o o d i n t h e f i r s t p o r t, t h e c a p t a i n m i g h t s t i l l t a k e a w e e k o r m o r e t o s e l l h i s c a r g o. T h e c a p t a i n o f t h e Ja m e s, w h o l a n d e d a t B a r b a d o s i n , j u s t a s t h e c u l t i v a t i o n o f c a n e sugar there was becoming extremely profitable, sold most of his slaves in three days. May Thursday 25th... sold 163 slaves. May Friday 26th. We sold 70 slaves. May Saturday 27th. Sold 110 slaves, he recorded in his journal. Often, captains and crew had to do more to prepare slaves for sale than allow them to clean themselves and exercise. The ravages of cruelty, confinement, and disease could not be easily remedied. According to legend, young African men and women arrived in the Americas with gray hair, and captains used dye to hide such indications of age before the slaves went to market. Slaves were also required to oil their bodies to conceal blemishes, rashes, and bruises. Ships surgeons used hemp with those suffering from dysentery in order to block the bloody discharge the disease caused. 58 Chapter 2

2 This nineteenth-century engraving suggests the humiliation Africans endured as they were subjected to physical inspections before being sold. The humiliation continued as the slaves went to market. Once again they suffered close physical inspection from potential buyers, which according to Equiano caused much dread and trembling among us and bitter cries. Unless a single purchaser agreed to buy an entire cargo of slaves, auctions took place either on deck or in sale yards on shore. However, some captains employed the scramble. In these barbaric spectacles, the captain established standard prices for men, women, and children, herded the Africans together in a corral, and then allowed buyers to rush pell-mell among them to grab and rope together the slaves they desired. Seasoning What happened to Africans after they crossed the Atlantic? Seasoning followed sale. On Barbados, Jamaica, and other Caribbean islands, planters divided slaves into three categories: C re o l e s ( s l a v e s born in the Americas), old Africans (those who had lived in the Americas for some time), and new Africans (those who had just survived the middle passage). For resale, Creole slaves were worth three times the value of unseasoned new Africans, whom planters and Creole slaves called salt-water Negroes or Guinea-birds. Seasoning was the beginning of the process of making new Africans more like Creoles. As ships neared their destinations, the crew s prepared the human cargo for sale. The crew then attempted to find the best price for their slave s. Once in the marke t p l a c e, s l aves were subjected to the humiliation of examination and sale. Teaching Notes Historian James Walvin estimates that one-third of the new Africans died during their first three years in the West Indies. African men died at a greater rate than African women, perhaps because they did the more arduous fieldwork. Barbara Bush. Slave Women in Caribbean Society, Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, The book contains an insightful discussion of African women, their introduction to slavery in the Americas, and their experience on sugar plantations. Edward Brathwaite. The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, New York: Oxford University Press, Middle Passage 59

3 60 Chapter 2 In the West Indies, this process involved not only an apprenticeship in the work routines of the sugar plantations on the islands. It was also a means of preparing many slaves for resale to North American planters, who preferred seasoned slaves to unbroken ones who came directly from Africa. In fact, most of the Africans who ended up in the British colonies of North America before 1720 had gone first to the West Indies. By that date, the demand for slave labor in the islands had become so great that they could spare fewer slaves for resale to the North American market. Thereafter, as a result, slave imports into the tobacco-, rice-, and later cotton-growing regions of the American South came directly from Africa and had to be seasoned by their American masters. In either case, seasoning was a disciplinary process intended to modify the behavior and attitude of slaves and make them effective laborers. As part of this process, the slaves new masters gave them new names: Christian names, generic African names, or names from classical Greece and Rome (such as Jupiter, Achilles, or Plato). Th e s e a s o n i n g p r o c e s s a l s o i n v o l v e d s l a v e s l e a r n i n g E u r o p e a n l a n- g u a g e s. M a s t e r s o n t h e S p a n i s h i s l a n d s o f t h e C a r i b b e a n w e r e e s p e c i a l l y t h o r o u g h i n t h i s r e g a r d. C o n s e q u e n t l y, t h e S p a n i s h o f A f r i c a n s l a v e s a n d t h e i r d e s c e n d a n t s, a l t h o u g h r e t a i n i n g s o m e A f r i c a n w o r d s, w a s e a s i l y u n d e r s t o o d b y a n y S p a n i s h - s p e a k i n g p e r s o n. I n t h e F r e n c h a n d E n g l i s h C a r i b b e a n i s l a n d s a n d i n p a r t s o f N o r t h A m e r i c a, h o w e v e r, s l a v e s o c i e t y p r o d u c e d C r e o l e d i a l e c t s t h a t i n g r a m m a r, v o c a b u l a ry, a n d i n t o n a t i o n h a d d i s t i n c t i v e A f r i c a n l i n g u i s t i c f e a t u r e s. T h e s e A f r i c a n i z e d v e r s i o n s o f F r e n ch a n d E n g l i s h i n c l u d i n g t h e G u l l a h d i a l e c t s t i l l p r e v a l e n t o n S o u t h C a r o l i n a s s e a i s l a n d s a n d t h e C r e o l e s p o k e n t o d a y b y m o s t H a i t i a n s w e r e d i f f i c u l t f o r t h o s e w h o s p o k e m o r e s t a n d a r d i z e d d i a l e c t s t o u n d e r s t a n d. Seasoning varied in length from place to place. Masters or overseers broke slaves into plantation work by assigning them to one of several work gangs. The strongest men joined the first gang, or g reat gang, which did the heavy fieldwork of planting and harvesting. The second gang, including women and older men, did lighter fieldwork, such as weeding. The third gang, composed of children, worked shorter hours and did such tasks as bringing food and water to the field gangs. Other slaves became domestic servants. New Africans served apprenticeships with old Africans from their same ethnic group or with Creoles. Some planters looked for cargoes of young people, anticipating that they might be more easily acculturated than older Africans. One We s t Indian master in 1792 recorded his hopes for a group of children: From the late Guinea sales, I have purchased altogether twenty boys and girls, from ten to thirteen years old. He emphasized that it is the practice, on bringing them to the estate, to distribute them in the huts of Creole blacks, under their direction and care, who are to feed them, train them to work, and teach them their new language. Pl a n t e r s h a d t o r e l y o n o l d A f r i c a n s a n d C r e o l e s t o t r a i n n e w r e c r u i t s b e c a u s e w h i t e p e o p l e w e r e a m i n o r i t y i n t h e C a r i b b e a n. L a t e r, a s i m i l a r d e m o g r a p h i c p a t t e r n d e v e l o p e d i n p a r t s o f t h e c o t t o n - p r o d u c i n g

4 A m e r i c a n S o u t h. A s a r e s u l t, i n b o t h r e g i o n s A f r i c a n c u s t o m s h a p e d t h e c o o p e r a t i v e l a b o r o f s l a v e s i n g a n g s. B u t t h e u s e o f o l d A f r i c a n s a n d C r e o l e s a s i n s t r u c t o r s a n d t h e a p p r o p r i a t i o n o f A f r i c a n s t y l e s o f l a b o r s h o u l d n o t s u g g e s t l e n i e n c y. A l t h o u g h t h e p l a n t a t i o n o v e r s e e r s, w h o r a n d a y - t o - d a y o p e r a t i o n s, c o u l d b e w h i t e, o f m i x e d r a c e, o r b l a c k, t h e y i n v a r i a b l y i m p o s e d s t r i c t d i s c i- p l i n e. Dr i v e r s, w h o d i r e c t e d t h e w o r k g a n g s, w e r e a l m o s t a l w a y s b l a c k, b u t t h e y c a r r i e d w h i p s a n d f r e q u e n t l y p u n i s h e d t h o s e w h o w o r k e d t o o s l o w l y o r s h o w e d d i s r e s p e c t. P l a n t e r s a s s i g n e d t h e m o r e d i f f i c u l t n e w A f r i c a n s t o t h e s t r i c t e s t o v e r s e e r s a n d d r i v e r s. Planters housed slaves undergoing seasoning with the old Africans and Creoles who were instructing them. The instructors regarded such additions to their households as economic opportunities. The new Africans provided extra labor on the small plots of land that West Indian planters often allocated to slaves. Slaves could sell surplus root vegetables, peas, and fruit from their gardens and save to purchase freedom for themselves or others. Additional workers helped produce larger surpluses to sell at local markets, thereby cutting the amount of time required to accumulate a purchase price. Ne w A f r i c a n s a l s o b e n e f i t e d f r o m t h i s a r r a n g e m e n t. T h e y l e a r n e d h o w t o b u i l d h o u s e s i n t h e i r n e w l a n d a n d t o c u l t i v a t e v e g e t a b l e s t o s u p p l e m e n t t h e f o o d t h e p l a n t e r p r o v i d e d. E v e n t h o u g h m a n y A f r i c a n s b r o u g h t b u i l d i n g s k i l l s a n d a g r i c u l t u r a l k n o w l e d g e w i t h t h e m t o t h e A m e r i c a s, o l d A f r i c a n s a n d C r e o l e s h e l p e d t e a c h t h e m h o w t o a d a p t w h a t t h e y k n e w t o a n e w c l i m a t e, t o p o g r a p h y, b u i l d i n g m a t e r i a l s, a n d s o c i a l o r g a n i z a t i o n. Slaves in this nineteenth-century painting are preparing a field for cultivation on the island of Antigua, a British possession in the West Indies. What was seasoning and why was it used? Masters and Slaves in the Americas By what criteria did planters assess the successful seasoning of new Africans? The first criterion was survival. Already weakened and traumatized by the middle passage, many Africans did not survive seasoning. A s e c o n d c r i t e r i o n w a s t h a t t h e A f r i c a n s h a d t o a d a p t t o n e w f o o d s a n d a n e w c l i m a t e. T h e f o o d s i n c l u d e d s a l t e d c o d f i s h t r a d e d t o t h e We s t I n d i e s b y N e w E n g l a n d m e r c h a n t s, I n d i a n c o r n ( m a i z e ), a n d v a r i e t i e s o f s q u a s h n o t a v a i l a b l e i n We s t A f r i c a. T h e C a r i b b e a n i s l a n d s l i k e We s t A f r i c a w e r e t r o p i c a l, b u t N o r t h A m e r i c a w a s m u c h c o o l e r. A t h i r d c r i t e r i o n w a s l e a r n i n g a n e w l a n g u a g e. P l a n t e r s d i d n o t r e q u i r e s l a v e s t o s p e a k t h e l o c a l l a n g u a g e, w h i c h c o u l d b e E n g l i s h, F r e n c h, S p a n i s h, D a n i s h, o r D u t c h, p e rf e c t l y. B u t s l a v e s h a d t o s p e a k a C r e o l e d i a l e c t w e l l e n o u g h t o o b e y c o m m a n d s. A f i n a l c r i t e r i o n w a s p s y- c h o l o g i c a l. W h e n n e w A f r i c a n s c e a s e d t o b e s u i c i d a l, p l a n t e r s a s s u m e d t h e y h a d a c c e p t e d t h e i r s t a t u s a n d t h e i r s e p a r a t i o n f r o m t h e i r h o m e l a n d. Seasoning was a disciplinary process designed to modify the behavior and attitude of slaves. Seasoning was meant to break connections with Africa. It was also designed, in the minds of slaveholders, to produce efficient and effective laborers. John Thornton. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, Thornton emphasizes the contributions of Africans, slave and free, to the economic and cultural development of the Atlantic world during the slave-trade centuries. Middle Passage 61

5 While there was some variation from master to master, all slaves could expect to face a constant, heavy workload. Fear of slave uprisings and the belief that Africans would only work hard under the threat of physical pain, spurred masters to use harsh and frequent punishments. Disgust at the cruelties associated with the trade contributed to its abolition. More import a n t, England gr ew less dependent on the plantation s y s t e m. T h u s, a combination of morals and economic self-interest led to the trade s abolition. Skills for Life For answe r s, see thei n s t ru c t o r s Resource Manual. Chapter 2 Teaching Summary Over more than three centuries, the Atlantic slave trade brought more than eleven million Africans to the Americas. Several millions more died in transit. Of those who survived, most came between 1701 and 1810, when more Africans then Europeans were reaching the New World. Most Africans went to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and Brazil. Only 500,000 reached the British colonies of North America, either directly or after seasoning in the West Indies. From them have come the more than thirty million African Americans alive today. This chapter has described the great forced migration across the Atlantic that brought Africans into slavery in the Americas. We still have much to learn about the origins of the trade, its relationship to the earlier trans-sahara trade, and its involvement with state formation in West and western Central Africa. Historians continue to debate just how cruel the trade was, the ability of transplanted Africans to preserve their cultural heritage, and why Britain abolished the trade in the early nineteenth century. We are fortunate that a few Africans, such as Olaudah Equiano, who experienced the middle passage, recorded their testimony. Otherwise, we would find its horror even more difficult to comprehend. But, just as important, Equiano, in overcoming his fears, in surviving the slave trade and ten years of enslavement, and in finally regaining his freedom, testifies to the human spirit that is at the center of the African-American experience. It would have suited the planters if their slaves had met all these criteria. Yet that would have required the Africans to have been thoroughly desocialized by the middle passage, and they were not. As traumatic as that voyage was, most of the Africans in the Americas had not been stripped of their memories or their culture. When their ties to their villages and families were broken, they created bonds with shipmates. Such bonds became the basis of new extended families. As this suggests, African slaves did not lose all their culture during the middle passage and seasoning in the Americas. Their value system never totally replicated that of the plantation. Despite their ordeal, the Africans who survived the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in the Americas were resilient. Seasoning did modify behavior, but it did not obliterate African Americans cultural roots. How did masters treat slaves in the Americas? The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade Th e c r u e l t i e s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e A t l a n t i c s l a v e t r a d e c o n t r i b u t e d t o i t s a b o l i t i o n i n t h e e a r l y n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u ry. D u r i n g t h e l a t e s, E n g l i s h a b o l i t i o n i s t s l e d b y T h o m a s C l a r k s o n, W i l l i a m W i l b e rf o r c e, a n d G r a n v i l l e S h a r p b e g a n a r e l i g i o u s l y o r i e n t e d m o r a l c r u s a d e a g a i n s t b o t h s l a v e ry a n d t h e s l a v e t r a d e. B e c a u s e t h e E n g l i s h h a d d o m i n a t e d t h e A t l a n t i c t r a d e s i n c e , B r i t a i n s g r o w i n g a n t i p a t h y b e c a m e c r u c i a l t o t h e t r a d e s d e s t r u c t i o n. B u t i t i s d e b a t a b l e w h e t h e r m o r a l o u t r a g e a l o n e p r o m p t e d t h i s h u m a n i t a r i a n e f f o r t. B y t h e l a t e s, E n g l a n d s e c o n- o m y w a s l e s s d e p e n d e n t o n t h e s l a v e t r a d e a n d t h e e n t i r e p l a n t a t i o n s y s- t e m t h a n i t h a d b e e n p r e v i o u s l y. To m a i n t a i n i t s p r o s p e r i t y, E n g l a n d n e e d e d r a w m a t e r i a l s a n d m a r k e t s f o r i t s m a n u f a c t u r e d g o o d s. S l o w l y b u t s u r e l y i t s i n d u s t r i a l i s t s r e a l i z e d i t w a s m o r e p r o f i t a b l e t o i n v e s t i n i n d u s t ry a n d o t h e r f o r m s o f t r a d e a n d t o l e a v e A f r i c a n s i n A f r i c a. So m o r a l s a n d e c o n o m i c s e l f - i n t e r e s t w e r e c o m b i n e d w h e n G r e a t B r i t a i n a b o l i s h e d t h e A t l a n t i c s l a v e t r a d e i n a n d t r i e d t o e n f o r c e t h a t a b o l i t i o n o n o t h e r n a t i o n s t h r o u g h a n a v a l p a t r o l o f f t h e c o a s t o f A f r i c a. T h e U. S. C o n g r e s s j o i n e d B r i t a i n i n o u t l a w i n g t h e A t l a n t i c t r a d e t h e f o l l o w i n g y e a r. A l t h o u g h A m e r i c a n, B r a z i l i a n, a n d S p a n i s h s l a v e r s c o n t i n u e d t o d e f y t h e s e p r o h i b i t i o n s f o r m a n y y e a r s, t h e f o r c e d m i g r a t i o n f r o m A f r i c a t o t h e A m e r i c a s d r o p p e d t o a t i n y p e r- c e n t a g e o f w h a t i t h a d b e e n a t i t s p e a k. I r o n i c a l l y, i t w a s t h e c o a s t a l k i n g d o m s o f G u i n e a a n d w e s t e r n C e n t r a l A f r i c a t h a t f o u g h t m o s t f i e r c e l y t o k e e p t h e t r a d e g o i n g b e c a u s e t h e i r e c o n o m i e s h a d b e c o m e d e p e n d e n t o n i t. T h i s p e r s i s t e n c e g a v e t h e E n g l i s h, F r e n c h, B e l g i a n s, a n d P o r t u g u e s e a n e x c u s e t o e s t a b l i s h c o l o n i a l e m p i r e s i n A f r i c a d u r- i n g t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u ry i n t h e n a m e o f s u p p r e s s i n g t h e s l a v e t r a d e. Why did the Atlantic slave trade end? 62 Chapter 2