PSE

Primary Source Exercise:

Slave Transport and Middle Passage

Source 1:

 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slavetrade.htm

Source 2:

 http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveship.htm

Source 3: http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/scripts/sia/gallery.cgi?collection=slavetrade

Christopher Bennett

HST 300: 10749

Primary Source Exercise

        “Slave Trade: the African Connection” reveals the role in African slave traders in the European slave Market. The article outlines slaves being captured in inner Africa as war prizes or as kidnap victims and brought to Western Africa as property to be sold. This article tells of the canoe conditions where slaves were forced to lie partially submerged in water during their journey to Bonny. As well it outlines that slaves seen unfit for purchase by captains would be disposed of by murder in many cases.

       Source two tells of the undesirable quarters on a slave ship through middle passage. Slaves were put in cargo holds with no room to move, and often times shackled tightly to the floor. Rev. Robert Walsh tells of a stench and filth in the slave hold and of the decrepit state of life of the slaves. He mentions that many slaves were branded and often thrown overboard for illness. Walsh tells of the excitement in the slaves to simply breathe fresh air and to drink a sip of fresh water.

       The picture is of a woman being branded following her purchase in Africa by her new owners. The caption states that owners would use red-hot iron to brand their slaves on the neck or back.

       The account of the slave trade and passage in Africa was a gruesome event in the new slaves. The slaves were treated with no dignity or humanity as they traveled to Western Africa. They faced horrid conditions in African canoes and if rejected by European captains would lose their lives. This experience relates to the middle passage and the second source in the way that lives of slaves got worse on a trans-Atlantic ship. Quartered in unbearable proximity to peers, malnourished, treated poorly by captains and disposed of at first sign of ill-health further carry out the lack of humanity with which the slaves were treated.

       The second source speaks of slaves in the middle passage being branded with hot iron to show ownership. As shown in the photograph of the woman being branded, one can see the lack of remorse in the eyes of the two white men. They even look as though they derive some pleasure in their actions. Walsh was appalled by the brandings of the slaves he encountered; it is obvious to see why when looking at the picture. There are no more vulnerable physical positions than on one’s knees with an enemy at your back and having complete control over you. The aspect of branding coupled with the close quartering and beatings on the middle passage are again, indicative of inhumane conditions and a vision of slaves as no more than that of oxen.

       Similarly, the first article and the photograph embody the maltreatment and value placed on a slave’s life. While the white slave trader would brand and beat his property without remorse, the African owner who initially kidnapped or won the slave in war showed no mercy or humanity to people of their own ethnicity. As the article states that a slave not accepted by a captain could often be beheaded on the spot, we can see that their owners placed no value upon the life of the slaves, whether African or European.

        One can liken the mentality towards a slave to the current mentality towards beef cattle without much difficulty under the premise that they are closely quartered, barely kept alive and disposed of when their potential for use is gone. These three sources do well to outline the horrid treatment from capture through Atlantic crossing that African slaves experienced by their captors.

           

            

Short Essay #3

            In examining the writings of Thornton and Garofalo the question in mind was the importance of African cultural influence on Africans in the Americas. Thornton argued slave trading to be a voluntary endeavor for African societies, both before and during European involvement and that African culture survived in the Americas through religious “witchery”, runaway slave societies and freedom to create attire in African style. Similarly, Garofalo argued that African culture survived the middle passage and was embedded into the Creole culture of black America. Considering the case of Paula de Eguiluz in “Afro-Latino Voices” one can see that despite American, Christian influences, the tribal worship practices from Africa were apparent in the Americas. Both authors made a strong case for strong African influence and survival of African culture in the Americanization and creation of Creole culture among Africans in the Americas.

            Contrasting those ideas is Jeffrey Bolster’s thesis that African Americans saw themselves as African-Americans as opposed to Africans, and that their patriotism to their home in America inhibited sowing the roots of a “black American” culture through seafaring labor in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An underlying topic of Bolster’s writing is that African-American influence in sea trade was not a new concept to Africans, but derived from the maritime African culture which existed long before any European or American influence.

            Having endured hardships of the middle passage and slavery, African-Americans saw life in a different light than whites. The life of a mariner was not an exemption to this idea, as white sailors deemed their employment as slavery and degrading work. Contrarily, life on a sea vessel was an opportunity for a black freeman or a slave sailor, whether a seaman or a “boy” in the crew. Marine life afforded African-Americans the opportunity to involve in petty trade, collect some amounts of wealth and experience limited freedoms in which plantation slaves did not enjoy. (Bolster, 1997) Despite these limited freedoms and opportunities most African-American mariners never became wealthy, or even financially secure, but the opportunity to provide income for one’s family gave a sense of dignity and worth, as well as a sense of traditional manliness, to mariners of African descent.

            Setting apart African-Americans as explained by Bolster and Africans in the Americas outlined by Garofalo and Thornton is their intent in actions.  Both Thornton and Garofalo outlined runaway slaves in similar fashion. Runaway slaves took flight in bargaining attempts, or in attempts to join runaway societies of other Africans, as well as native societies sympathetic to Africans according to Garofalo and Thornton. What separates the African-American in this regard is that runaway slaves generally had the intent of returning to their home. Men that took flight to the seas or Haiti in search of freedom did so to better their lives, potentially buy their freedom and the freedom of their family, and to return back to America. Many African-Americans that found sanctuary in revolutionary Haiti accepted Haitian citizenship, but kept their American “passport” with full intent to return home at some point. (Bolster, 1997)

            The function of the African-American was to be included in American society, to secure necessities of life for their families on American soil and to better their quality of life in America. Sailing allowed for this to happen, and for black culture in America to take root. African-American sailors, and prisoners during the war of 1812, had influence on their white counterparts. Black sailors, while filling traditional cook and servant roles in many cases, found it possible to advance rank in some cases and receive compensation similar to that of their white peers. The ship broke down race lines in favor or rank lines on many occasions and forged bonds between white and black sailors. This fact in itself is indicative of an African-American culture that differs from African culture in the Americas as presented by the two former authors. Africans in America sought emancipation and return to Africa, or sovereign ruling in their own homogenous community, while African-Americans sought inclusion, though not assimilation, into America. (Bolster, 1997)

            Jailing of black sailors in southern port towns, re-sale into slavery and low employment rates during times of scare made the life of an African-American sailor one of hardship, but being on the waterways allowed for the spread of black ideals between northern abolitionists and southern slaves. The port and wharf towns in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the hubs of international news and propaganda, and the spread of the African-American ideals was made possible by black sailors and traders which resulted in many regulations. One of which, being mandatory imprisonment of black sailors while in port. Hardship was a way of life for African-Americans though, and the sea trade allowed for the “African-American community” to be born and grow through its infancy.

            African-Americans, as outlined in “Black Jacks”, were American men of color, both free and enslaved, that took to the seas as a means of opportunity for financial gain and freedom. They took to the sea as a means of gaining respect and dignity in their communities and families, and in doing so planted the seeds for the rise of an African-American culture, dedicated to their nation as well as to their color, with a desire to become accepted and respected as equal American citizens, not to break away from their American colors, as other Africans desired to divide themselves from European culture altogether. 

Short Essay #2

Short Essay #2

            John Thornton asserts the basic idea, through numerous examples raging from religious beliefs to dress, that the culture of African life was not lost during the middle passage and that assimilation into European culture was supplemented by African influences and rituals, which allowed for a level of personal control over slaves and slave communities. In “Afro-Latino Voices” an interesting look, using documentation from the time period of the Atlantic Slave Trade, is presented to the reader. In certain aspects the latter contradicts the former, but generally speaking and in this consideration they complement each other in thesis quite in the idea that African influence on their newly adopted European culture was apparent.

             In investigating what is potentially the most important establishment in humanity, religion, we can draw similarities to the findings of Thornton and McKnight-Garofalo. The original religion of Africans relied not on sacred text but on personal interaction through revelations from their deity, differing immensely from their European counterparts. Despite this difference both parties believed in “this world” and “other world” as the concept of the earthly and spiritual realms of existence. (Thornton, 236) What came to be in the Americas was a form of Christianity practiced by Africans that appeased Europeans generally, but incorporated their beliefs in personal revelations and dream interpreting.

            Integration of practices from both religions and the cultural tension it can create is well documented in the trials of Paula de Eguiluz, Equiluz, a black slave and baptized Catholic, stood trial for witchcraft in 1624 under the pretense of using spells, murdering an infant and being in association with the devil, (McKnight-Garofalo, 175) a not uncommon accusation made against Africans in the new world. “From 1610 to 1660, more than four hundred people were tried by the Inquisition…Sixteen percent of the accused, punished and imprisoned were classified as blacks…” (Mcknight-Garofalo, 176) lending to the idea that African traditions of using charms, consulting with the spirits and dream interpretation had maintained through assimilation. The case of Paula de Eguiluz highlights this as a circumstance of traditions maintaining across generational lines, as Eguiluz Caribbean born.

            The foundation of African religion was based upon revelations that took form by numerous modes of manifestation. Augury and divination, dream interpretation, visions, and relics were all methods by which an African could receive a message from the other world. (Thornton 239) These practices opposed the beliefs of traditional Christians, but were integrated into the African Christianity that would develop in the Americas, resulting in cases such as Paula de Eguiluz’ standing trial for witchery. Of the accusations against Eguiluz initially confessed to being a believer in her dreams and creating a remedy from the bones of a corpse in an attempt to heal her ailed master, (McKnight, 179). Of the other charges she faced most notable include using spells and believing superstitions, sucking the life from a newborn child and creating a pact with the devil.

            In response to her accusations Eguiluz claimed her actions in the case of the death of the child were of good intent and in an attempt to help the sick child, that she never used spells and that those who were jealous of her lifestyle created the accusations. (McKnight, 187-189) Although she did confess to making a pact with the Devil in a moment of despair, fearing injury in a confrontation with her master. (McKnight, 191)

            The impact of this specific case is not that an individual woman was tried for witchcraft, but the implication that a person with a strong, self-declared devotion to the Virgin Mary and the Catholic church actively practiced herbal healing, spell-casting and dream interpreting, among other anti-Catholic spiritual activities, activities that are parallel with traditional African religious practices and that after reconciling with the church and taking punishment Eguiluz fell back into practicing on numerous occasions. From an unbiased perspective of religion one can observe this instance and decipher that loose Christian knowledge and African religious practices coexisted in the lives of the African in the new world. The fact that Eguiluz practiced tribal spirituality with the intent to fulfill her obligations to her Catholic lord and that those practices of Africa were imbed in her despite being a second generation slave in the new world indicate that the African tradition survived middle passage and incorporated itself into the Creole lifestyle of American born blacks.

            As stated by Thornton and validated by McKnight and Garafalo through the story of Paula de Equiluz, African tradition survived and maintained in the Americas and found its way into the multi-generational assimilation of blacks into the European lifestyle. Dream interpreting, spell casting, charms and relics all stemming from the tribal spirituality and superstition of Africans in Africa supplemented the holy texts of Catholicism and provided African people in the new world with a form of Christianity that suited their heritage and lineage. 

Short Essay #1

Short Essay #1

Part 1 of John Thornton’s “Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800” discusses slavery in Africa prior to the period of Slave Trade and how the landscape of African power and polity independently shaped the Atlantic Slave trade, freestanding from the popular belief of European military or economic influence as the main catalyst for the economy of slaves. In Part 2 Thornton examines the cultural life of Afro-American slaves in the new world as well as the culture of the Creole people and considers what factors led to their cultural progression and how their culture affected the world in which they lived.

Differentiating cultural norms from Europe caused for a high level of prestige and wealth to be derived from slave ownership in Africa prior to the trading of people. “Slavery was widespread in Africa…The Atlantic slave trade was an outgrowth of this internal slavery.” (Thronton, 74) African nobility and fortune, unlike the traditional Western world, was not measured in land ownership, but rather in the ownership of people, as exemplified in taxes being placed on number of heads to a person as opposed to acreage. The opposition of property ownership also caused for many culturally different regions of small size to be created, which inhibited continued warring and raids, increasing the overall number of African slaves. But unlike the horror stories of American slavery, African slaves could live a much more comfortable life with more freedoms. “African slaves were treaded no differently from peasant cultivators…” (Thornton, 87) and “…slaves were often employed as administrators, soldiers and even royal advisors, thus enjoying great freedom of movement and elite life-styles.” (Thornton, 88) Slavery was not a European phenomenon seen in Europe, but a worldwide practice whose existence in Africa allowed for Africans to trade slaves at their own accord.

Despite heterogeneity in language and nation slaves were generally familiar with the culture and language of their counterparts from differing regions, and “…we can divide the parts of Atlantic Africa that participated in slave trade into three culturally distinct zones…” (Thornton, 186) despite Atlantic Africa being comprised of numerous, and often conflicting, states. River trade amongst many of the different peoples of Africa allowed for contact and relations with those of other linguistic nations and this allowed for familiarity in the new world as well as homogenized, to a point, the differences from region to region under the umbrella of larger shared principles. Despite attempts by many overseers to deculturate their slaves by buying those of different nationality African culture and tradition survived in the new world.

Conditions of slavery in the Americas differed than in Africa in the fact that slaves were forced into dangerous working conditions such as the sugar plantations in the Caribbean and were housed largely in communal barracks, with poor clothing and inadequate food but the high mortality rate and generally low population of females on plantations resulted in increased importation of slavery, thus keeping the influx of first generation slaves great and preserving language and African culture amongst slaves.  As well as a high influx of first generation slaves, African culture and tradition was preserved and practiced through religion. African religion, while recognizing leaders that can be likened to God and Jesus, strayed from orthodox Catholicism due to their nature of continued revelations. “…Africans received revelations continuously…” (Thornton, 246) as opposed to the Bible being the final revelation. Despite integrating Christianity into their belief, African religion was a vessel for continued African culture.

            As well as traditional religious practices slaves were given one day each week to create their clothing and work their gardens, much like the African construct of slavery. “…slaves were also said to work one day per week on their own account.” (Thornton, 170) In having to make their own clothing slaves exhibited their culture through the design of their attire and kept their culture alive, although textiles from their homeland were not available this provided “…an opportunity to be self-sufficient and express themselves.” (Thornton, 170) Many varying practices from religion, art and clothing to establishment of national groups and ceremonial music and dancing allowed slaves to live through their traditional culture of Africa despite relocation and worsened conditions. One varied example is that of the North American slaves. Slaves reproduced at a normal rate in North America and the need for importation was shortly eliminated, creating a largely Creole population that took on a new culture more closely tied to European customs.

            While enduring drastic changes African culture was preserved by and prominent in slave life in the Americas. Although most slaves in America were not afforded the quality of life that slaves in Africa were, and were oversaw by varying European influences, by the influx of first generation slaves as well as the upholding of tradition African culture was not lost in or due to the Atlantic passage. National and linguistic ties formed societies and intercommunity leadership among slaves, deeply rooted in their home cultures and traditions, that endured throughout centuries of persecution and hardship. 

Introduction and Background in Historical Studies

Hello and welcome, I am Chris Bennett. I am majoring in secondary education and will graduate in the spring of 13. I was a secondary education major and preparing to enter the block this semester but decided to take one more semester of history courses so I could get both degrees. My favorite area of study is the Westward expansion of America and U.S. in the frontier.

Courses in which I am currently enrolled are:
-- Hst 300: The Black Atlantic
-- Hst 342: U.S. West 20th Century
-- Hst 408: Civil War & Reconstruction
-- Hst 456: The Vietnam War
-- Pos 310: American National Government

History courses that I have taken in the past include
-- Hst 341: U.S. West 19th Century
-- Hst 367: Modern Britain
-- Hst 102: Western Civilization through the Middle Ages
-- Hst 103: Western Civilization Middle Ages - 1789
-- Hst 109: U.S. to 1870
-- Hst 110: U.S. 1870-Present

I thought this class would be interesting as it deals with the slave trade from a different perspective than I have ever studied and that most people have probably ever studied.

A little about me is probably appropriate. I went back to school at age 24 after a 5 and a half year vacation of running backhoes and other heavy machinery in California. I will graduate exactly 10 years after I graduated high school and plan to become certified to teach in History and English. I also would like to get into coaching football and track after I settle in.

I look forward to sharing ideas with all of you.