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Africans as (Compelled) Immigrants?

Africans as (Compelled) Immigrants?. In terms of a labor source , not unlike English indentures in the very beginning (some Spanish, Portuguese speaking) 1500-1660s (mostly indentures) 1619 first 25 come to Jamestown as indentures 1660-1670s first slave codes in Chesapeake

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Africans as (Compelled) Immigrants?

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  1. Africans as (Compelled) Immigrants? • In terms of a labor source, not unlike English indentures in the very beginning (some Spanish, Portuguese speaking) • 1500-1660s (mostly indentures) • 1619 first 25 come to Jamestown as indentures • 1660-1670s first slave codes in Chesapeake • 1670s-1760s combo of slave labor and indentured labor • 1763 Bacon’s rebellion • 1763-1863 (slave labor)

  2. Among historians: Chicken or the Egg Debate • Did slavery cause prejudice, or did prejudice against blackness cause blacks to be preferred as slaves? • Winthrop Jordan, White over Black • Edmond Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom

  3. Memorial in Zanzibar, E. Africa (off coast of Tanzania)

  4. Iconic image of slave captives from central Africa

  5. World Wide Slavery=VARIATION • Varies in terms of place (regions) and labor focus (e.g., harvesting cotton vs. domestic work) • Degree of autonomy • Relative function to given society • FIRST MYTH: THAT ALL SLAVERY IS THE SAME • Kinship; Chattel; permanent, life-time; permanent w/ ownership of progeny • Slave systems w/ degree of mobility, e.g., Christian Janissaries in Ottoman Empire; or African slaves in Lisbon in 1500s could contract labor out and sue for mistreatment/ Catholicism affords legal personality vis-à-vis sacraments

  6. 2nd Myth Concerning Slavery • Since slavery has always existed in all parts of the world, at all times, we should consider it simply as an economic institution ($ not race) • Perhaps true in some circumstances (e.g., Portugal) but in U.S. chattel slavery hardens into race-based economic system

  7. 3rd distortion or point of contention regarding slavery:“But Africans sold themselves….” • Distortion of African slave traders: e.g. King Enzinga Mbemba’s (of Congo) sends letter to King Enrique of Portugal (1526) • Essentially, argues that privateers/pirates are stealing his noblemen; bringing luxury wares into village, which displaces his authority; wants out of the slave trade agreement • Portuguese Crown responds: pirates, private traders, merchants have taken over; essentially, out the Crown’s hands

  8. Ethnic variation among so-called Africans Mali, Ghana, Songhai, Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, Kongo Kingdom Zimbabwe Emp. Kingdom of Aksum Empire of Kanem Fatimid Caliphate Bachwezi Empire

  9. Hilton Head Island and Africa Language Retention in the form of Gullah, spoken by the African Americans who identify as Geechee Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is from this Island off the coast of the Carolinas

  10. A few Gullah words: African language retention in English Language • A’min– Amen (Wolof) • Bid’, bidi – small bird, small chicken (Kongo); transitions to “iddie-biddie” • Nyam, nam – to eat; translates to “num-num…eat up little one.”

  11. Fear of Slave Rebellion • Toussaint’s Haitian Revolt • Denmark Vesey 1822 • Nat Turner 1831

  12. Location of Slaves, 1820

  13. Location of Slaves, 1860

  14. The Agency Debate • “continual negotiation” between master and slave • Racist historians from early 20thc. See slavery as benevolent institution • Impulse to dismiss “benevolent institution” model focuses on brutality of slavery but suggests homogeneous institution w/ no sense of community, culture, humanity or identity

  15. Agency Argument cont’d • Other studies begin to focus on slaves rather than the institution of slavery: add human dimension but argue that the brutality of slavery so severe that slaves could not maintain identity or family structure; focus on total domination of master-slave relationship • Paradigm Shift in study of slavery: counter notion that slaves held no power; reveal the survival of the black family

  16. Agency Argument cont’d • Use slave narratives to reconstruct slave environment including: religion, marriage, ritual, dance, mores, etc. used to subvert oppression • Extend Agency Argument to give slaves enough agency to effect their own freedom (consider role of field slave; house slave) • Paternalism: mutual obligations and duties; not meant to evoke a “good ole pappy” image

  17. Agency Argument cont’d • Active participants in affecting their own freedom • Acts of subversion: slow downs, runaways, revolts. • Risk: Exaggerate agency to such an extent as to render slavery as barely oppressive

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