How Did Slavery Start in America?

Introduction:

After looking into the Confessions of Nat Turner by Thomas Grey it made me wonder, how did slavery start in America? I wanted to look into this topic because Nat Turner is an African American slave who led a revolt against the white community in Southampton, but also slavery is a topic that is taught very differently throughout a student’s educational life. To answer this question I want to break up its history into different sections. The first section is how African slavery started, it was then followed by how did these slaves reach America. Finally the last section was on racial slavery in America. Using these three sections I am able to connect the information back to the main question on how  slavery started in America.

Source 1: What is the origin of African slavery?

https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/africans-atlantic-slave

Brown, Audrey and Ericka Hill. 2006 African American – Heritage and Ethnography: A

Self-Paced Training Resource, Ethnography Program, National Park Service, Washington, DC. https://www.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/intro.htm. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.

• Provide the full title of the source and the larger work it is a part of (a single web-page on a website, a story in a book, a song on an album, etc.). It’s best to write the title in accordance with the citation style you will use (MLA for this paper). The source is called “Africans before the Atlantic Slave Trade” and it is a chapter from African American – Heritage and Ethnography: A Self-Paced Training Resource, Ethnography Program. However, this source is published in an online encyclopedia about world history.
• Describe the author/creator, starting with the full name. If it was created collaboratively, try to include all of the people who contributed in a significant way to the creation of the source. For each significant contributor, Include birth and (if relevant) death dates, country of origin, and noteworthy bits of biography. Then explain how these things matter. The main contributor of this source is Audrey Brown. Brown was born in Kliptown, South Africa.  She is a senior journalist for BBC News:Africa, and is currently stationed in Zimbawade.. Brown received her bachelor’s degree for journalism and African history in Rhodes University. This is important because he focuses on covering stories about African culture and its history. Even though Brown is a journalist she still has a degree for African history so she knows a lot about her culture making her a reliable source when it comes to understanding the history of Africa.
• What do you think the purpose of this source was when it was first published? If the source was translated or edited for a later publication, you might also comment on the purpose of the source at that time. On the about us page the excerpt stated, “This online textbook is designed for grade 8 and up and covers all of North Carolina history, from the arrival of the first people some 12,000 years ago to the 21st century. The textbook is organized into eleven chapters, presented chronologically and thematically, and includes secondary source readings, primary sources and multimedia. The resource is designed to model historical inquiry and help students build critical thinking and literacy skills”. With this statement the source is open about wanting to help students understand historical events and provide many resources including articles from other media. Because this source focuses on students, I know the information is accurate and it is meant for teaching and research.

Notes:

• In early African history the culture focused on trade to gain resources. Running through Africa is the Niger River which was a place “where local farmers, herders, and fishers brought produce to exchange with one another. Over time, the location became an interregional trade center”(Brown).
• In the 1400s the Portuguese explored Western Africa along the coastline, where they found African societies to be highly evolved. From there they wanted to establish international trade routes going through the country.
• “ Europeans did not introduce slavery to Africa. As African rulers rose and fell, their political opponents, people of high social status, and their families were sold to promote internal political stability”(Brown). Europe did not invade Africa capturing these people through a slave hunt but instead Africans traded prisoners in their region with European men to maintain stable relations, so if they ever need help they can rely on European support.
• There would not have been a market for African slaves if there wasn’t a demand for African slave labor in the American colonies.
• Most slaves that were traded with the Europeans were prisoners of war, because during this time there were many wars and raids going on throughout the country. Because of these wars the slave trade grew, and as the slave trade expanded more wars broke out in the country.
• “A slave purchased for 100 gallons of rum worth only £10 could be sold for £20 to £50 in seventeenth-century America. The low cost of slaves greatly encouraged the slave trade” (Brown). For the 18th century slaves were considered cheap for the Europeans. Due to the unstable economy during this time many people partake in the slave trade for the cheap labor. It was said that slaves were cheaper than raising a child to the age of 14.

• To trade for a slave instead of trading money, there were trades for iron, gallons of brandy, muskets, and pounds of sterling. Due to these trades the African community became reliant on European resources such as gunpowder and metal to help win wars, and the effect was more slaves were traded, loss of African culture, and more wars fighting over the participation of the slave trade.

Summary: I found this source was really reliable when researching my overarching question on how slavery reached America. The information provided shed some light on who these slaves were and how Europeans got their hands on them. The fact that these men did not have to take a single step in the country but instead they were handed slaves and in return they provided war resources. And the source really worked well as a branching off point since it talked a lot about trading. The next question I want to figure out is how these slaves reach America, since I now know the history of African slavery.

Source 2: How did slaves reach America?

Battle, Marry. “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.” African Passages, Lowcountry Adaptations,

LDHI, 2013, https://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanticworld/trans_atlantic_slave_trade. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.

• Provide the full title of the source and the larger work it is a part of (a single web-page on a website, a story in a book, a song on an album, etc.). It’s best to write the title in accordance with the citation style you will use (MLA for this paper). The title of the source is the “Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade” and is is a part of “African Passages, Lowcountry Adaptations” which is an online exhibition on slavery in the Atlantic World.
• Describe the author/creator, starting with the full name. If it was created collaboratively, try to include all of the people who contributed in a significant way to the creation of the source. For each significant contributor, Include birth and (if relevant) death dates, country of origin, and noteworthy bits of biography. Then explain how these things matter. Mary Battle is an author and historian for the Avery Research center for African American History and Culture, but she also is part of Ralph Appelbaum Associates which is the lead group to develop museum exhibitions. She got her degree from Emory University and her main focus is the change of slavery representation throughout Charleston. Based on her work experience it shows that she specializes in slave culture and has developed many museum exhibitions on slavery. She has done research on this topic making sure the information in her exhibitions are accurate, and she always cites the sources she uses for her own research, for further information.
• Describe the publisher, starting with the name of the publisher. Is this a company selling stories? An academic press? An individual who has self-published on the Internet? A company more interested in selling a product other than the source? What does the publisher tell you about the quality of the information presented in the source? Does the publisher make you think this source is appropriate for your project? The publisher of my source is the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI) which is a history project developed in 2013. It is hosted by Lowcountry Digital Library, and has earned grants from the Humanities Council of South Carolina, and Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundations. Based on the recognition by the State of South Carolina and that the website is under a library I think the source is appropriate, since I’m looking at history and libraries is a good search engine for finding accurate information.
• What do you think the purpose of this source was when it was first published? If the source was translated or edited for a later publication, you might also comment on the purpose of the source at that time. The purpose of the source is a scholarly editorial resource, and the website states that they encourage projects focusing on African American history. I believe this fully supports my research on slavery because racial slavery is a big part of history and the digital library has many other articles/chapters on the history of the African American community.

Notes:

• The trans-Atlantic slave trade is the largest  slave trade recorded. It ran from the 16th to the late 19th century. It was estimated that around 12 million African men, women, and children were transported throughout these routes and brought mainly to America.
• “European traders then held the enslaved Africans who survived in fortified slave castles…before forcing them into ships for the Middle Passage across the Atlantic Ocean” (Battle). The slaves who were handed to the Europeans were held these castles on the coasts of Africa while waiting for ships to transport these people to America and any other country participating in the slave trade.
• During the Middle Passage, it was estimated that around 19% of the millions of slaves transported died because of the rough conditions such as: crowding, diseases, and the unsanitary conditions.
•  “Those who arrived at various ports in the Americas were then sold in public auctions or smaller trading venues to plantation owners, merchants, small farmers, prosperous tradesmen, and other slave traders”(Battle). The ones who were bought by other slave traders, were then transported further out to the Caribbean islands, and/or more into the North America interior.
• The main reason why Eurpoeans brought slaves was to provide labor, especially with agriculture. They mainly worked with cash crops where the master would then trade and earn more money to then buy more slaves.
• Because these slaveholder kept expanding it created a cycle of expanding their land, needing more slaves, and buying more slaves. This cycle is the reason why the trans-Atlantic slave trade lasted for centuries.
• In the 19th century various European countries and new American nations officially ceased participation in the slave trade, however people still transported slaves across the Atlantic even though it was now consider illegal.

Summary: Overall the main reason why there were a high population of African slaves in America is the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The slave trade was able to transport many people because of the high demand of slaves. America established an economy through cash crops; they needed cheap labor to keep up with the demand. Since from the last source it stated that slaves were considered cheap many European men relied on these people for labor. Resulting in more slaves being transported from Africa to America, and explains why the slave population was so large in America during the colonial times. However not all labor was done by African slaves but there were also European slaves during this time. This now leads to the final part of how slavery in America was based on race.

Source 3: How did slavery start in America?

Sicker, Ted. Africans In America. The Terrible Transformation, WGBH, 1998,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aljUGMM-Yk. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.

• Provide the full title of the source and the larger work it is a part of (a single web-page on a website, a story in a book, a song on an album, etc.). It’s best to write the title in accordance with the citation style you will use (MLA for this paper). My main source is episode one called “The Terrible Transformation ” and it is one episode out of a four part documentary series “African in America”.
• Describe the genre of this source. What is it (play, story in a collection, article on a website, article in a peer-reviewed journal) and how does that matter? The genre of my source is a documentary. Because it is a documentary it provided reenactments of the historic events, but also provides interviews from experts on racial slavery.
• Describe the author/creator, starting with the full name. If it was created collaboratively, try to include all of the people who contributed in a significant way to the creation of the source. For each significant contributor, Include birth and (if relevant) death dates, country of origin, and noteworthy bits of biography. Then explain how these things matter. For the contributors in this documentary Orlando Bagwell was the producer. He is an award winning documentary filmmaker. He focuses on Civil Rights and Slavery movements. Then when it comes to the interviews there is a list of history’s professors from many universities. They have been listed: Chinua Achebe, T.H. Breen, Thomas J. Davis, Thelma Foote, Norrece T. Jones Jr, Charles Joyner, Frances Latimer, Barry Unsworth, Margaret Washington, and Peter Woods. This all matters because both the production and the experts involved in the documentary focuses on history for the African American community.
• When and where was this source originally published/produced and who do you think it was produced for? Was this the original publication date or has it been republished for a new audience? How does this publication history matter? The program originally aired in October 1998. It may sound outdated but I believe the production is really useful for educators teaching American History.
• What do you think the purpose of this source was when it was first published? If the source was translated or edited for a later publication, you might also comment on the purpose of the source at that time. I think the purpose of the source was originally to be a nighttime special like 60 Seconds, but after it aired many educators and/or students have been using it for information and research.

Notes:

• (7:46) After the deadly winter in Jamestown the first ship containing around 20 Africasns were brought to Jamestown on an unidentified ship. It ended up being a ship that landed at Jamestown by pure coincidence. The captain of the ship was in need of supplies. She ended up trading the Africans for food and these were the first Africans that reached America.
• (8:02) Before in early colonial America they relied on Christian values and the most important one was no one can be enslaved for their whole life, and was employed to work for a limited amount of years.
• (9:01) After the winter settlers discover the value of tobacco, and to keep up with tobacco they need labor. Before, many relied on white indigenous servants for labor. They were people who wanted a new land. So they went to Virgian, they would serve under a master for a set amount of time. Usually after the time they were set free and then given freedom but also a portion of land as well.
• (12:30) Anthony Johnson was one of the first African men to settle in America and during his time it was before racial slavery, there were only servants. Due to this after time he was able to earn his freedom and gain some privileges a white man would have which include owning land, employing slaves, and having rights.
• (16:20) The catalyst to racial inequality was when three servants were caught after trying to  escape in 1640. After trial the punishment for the two white men were a whipping and a year extension to their indentures. While for the African servant he was punished with a whipping and to serve his master for life.
• (17:14) There was an established change from servants to slavery. They wanted to create a distinction between people. The definition of those who can be enslaved changed from those who were not Christian to those who were not white.
• (17:30) 1641 was when colonies in America started to legalize slavery starting with Massahcutes, then Conneticute, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Virginia.
• (18:02) When Virginias was establishing slavery they also included which children could be slaves, and all was determined by the condition of the mother (race & hereditary).
• (19:46) There was a decrease of indentured servants, but also caused chaos with the many revolts. Due to the threat more people in the south relied off of racial slavery because they owe these people for life and don’t have to give them any land after a set time.
• (21:22) People who were enslaved were considered strangers and outsiders, and it made it easier to give them the slave title.
• (23:44) Slaves were now considered property in America and now the slave owners can do whatever they want with them. According to the law if a slave does not listen then the master has the right to punish them as they see fit, and if they kill their slave they are not held accountable. It was also established to be lawful for a master to kill their slave if they resist them. Then 1693 a law was made where it was illegal to free a black slave unless they were leaving the colony.