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The Slave South
The 19th century saw the shift in agricultural
dominance from Chesapeake tobacco to Deep South
cotton. Therefore there was also an accompanying
shift in the settlement of slaves from the Chesapeake
to the Deep South. By 1860, 95% of America's slaves
lived in the South.(7)
Due to the abolition of the slave trade in 1808,
many of these slaves were American born. This
Americanization combined with slavery and native
African beliefs produced a cultural identity unique
to American slaves.
Most of the slaves in America worked on cotton
plantations, but some worked on rice plantations
in Georgia and sugarcane plantations in Louisiana.
Tending the sugarcane crops, due to harvesting
procedures, was the most demanding and dangerous
agricultural job slaves were forced to do. Slaveholders
would often threaten misbehaving slaves by telling
them they would be sent "down the river," which
referred to the Mississippi River, the route to
the sugarcane plantations. The rice plantations
also proved dangerous. The water used to flood
the rice fields put the slaves in danger of contracting
malaria or yellow fever. Despite long hours of
work, slaves were able to make time for family
and religion, further developing their own culture.
The slaves were given personal time at night,
on some Saturday afternoons, and usually all of
Sunday. During this time, the slaves tended to
their families and friends. Many slaves married
and had children, so this free time was vital
to developing a family life. There were no laws
regulating slave marriages, and often slaveholders
had no qualms separating families. It is estimated
that 300,000 marriages were interrupted by the
slaveholder selling the husband or wife.(8)
Despite this fear, families were still created
and held a very important role in slave life and
culture.
Another important feature of slave culture was
religion. During the 17th and 18th centuries,
slaves held on to their native beliefs. This changed
with the end of the slave trade and the evangelization
of Christianity during the Great Awakening. After
the American Revolution, Baptists and Methodists
began to convert slaves. By the mid-19th century,
approximately 25% of the slaves claimed church
membership and many more considered themselves
to be Christians.(9)
Evangelical slave owners saw it as their Christian
duty to convert their slaves. They also held the
belief that it made their slaves more obedient.
Slaves worshiped at home or held secret church
meetings at night. Eventually, black congregations
formed throughout the South. The story of Moses
provided slaves with the hope of freedom and the
teachings of Jesus gave them a belief in human
equality. Despite their bondage in life, they
knew they would be free in heaven.
Runaways
Escaping slavery by running away was always an
aspect of slavery. Tracing the runaways' routes
and destinations provides further insight into
African American settlement patterns. During the
Colonial period, slaves did not escape as frequently
as they did in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Those who did escape during this time usually
went to the towns and posed as freemen. Successful
runaway slaves had to form new identities and
possess a marketable skill, such as carpentry.
Runaway slaves found jobs as laborers, masons,
mechanics, and shoemakers. Runaway slaves who
did not venture into the cities formed rural communities
on the frontier, known as maroon communities.
Runaway slaves used isolation as a defense mechanism.
The first maroon town was called Gracia Real de
Santa Teresa de Mose and was located near St.
Augustine in Spanish Florida. The community functioned
between 1739 and 1763. Others were formed in South
Carolina and Alabama. Many runaway slaves lived
among the Seminole Indians in Florida. During
the 19th century, a maroon community called the
Great Dismal Swamp was established on the border
of Virginia and North Carolina. It is estimated
that over fifty maroon communities operated between
1672 and 1864.(10)
War also had an impact on the amount and direction
of runaway slaves. During the American Revolution
many slaves took advantage of the war and lack
of supervision to leave the plantations. Also,
thousands of slaves fled to the British side.
In 1775, Lore Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia,
offered freedom to any slave who would fight for
the British. As many as 600 slaves took his offer.
Unfortunately, many were sold back into slavery
in the West Indies. During the War of 1812, the
British again offered freedom to slaves who would
fight for them. This led to many blacks fighting
on the British side against Americans in Louisiana.
During both wars, slaves fought for both the British
and the Americans.
The Underground Railroad became the most famous
tool used by slaves to reach their freedom. The
routes described as the Underground Railroad became
active in western states after the War of 1812,
and by the 1830s, routes were available in fourteen
northern states. Paths existed through Pennsylvania
and New York en route to Boston. Another used
the Ohio River to get to Louisville, Cincinnati
and Cleveland. Black communities and Quaker settlements
were very helpful aspects of the Underground Railroad.
Canada became a popular destination. Between 1830
and 1860, it is estimated that between one and
two thousand fugitive slaves entered Canada each
year.(11) The
slaves who were successful in escaping to the
north were usually from the Upper South, such
as Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Some refugees from the Deep South succeeded in
reaching freedom as well, but it was far less
common. These runaway slaves created larger populations
in the northern states and Canada and created
a base of urban blacks in America.
The Second Emancipation
The Civil War and the 13th Amendment brought full
emancipation for all slaves in the 1860s. With
their new freedom blacks were able to move freely
about the country for the first time. Post-war
African American migration was significant, but
was not as massive as one would suspect. Only
between one and three percent of southern blacks
left the South during the late 19th century. The
Freedmen's Bureau in Washington D.C. began a program
that sent blacks to the north to fill labor shortages.
Between 1865 and 1867, over 9,000 former slaves
from Washington D.C. and 500 from Virginia were
sent north. The Bureau hoped that this program
would inspire blacks to move to the North on their
own accord, but that did not happen. The types
of jobs available in the North were usually for
single men and did not pay very well. Families
thought that it would be better to look for jobs
in the South.
The heaviest northward migration of former slaves
after the Civil War went to the Midwest. It was
more common for people to migrate to nearby places;
therefore, those who migrated to Kansas, Nebraska,
Minnesota, and the Dakotas were mostly from Missouri,
Kentucky, and Tennessee. Virginia was a big contributor
of African American migration to the North as
well.
| Table 4: State
of Birth of Southern-Born Blacks Living
in the North and West, 1870(12) |
|
State of Birth
|
New
England
|
Middle
Atlantic
|
East North
Central
|
West North
Central
|
Western
|
Total
|
Maryland,
Delaware or
Washington DC |
2,334
|
16,454
|
1,874
|
282
|
618
|
21,562
|
| Virginia |
3,975
|
13,050
|
18,475
|
1,861
|
664
|
38,025
|
| North Carolina |
884
|
1,253
|
5,247
|
583
|
141
|
8,108
|
South Carolina
Georgia, Florida |
671
|
1,844
|
2,129
|
410
|
210
|
5,264
|
Alabama,
Mississippi |
83
|
234
|
3,463
|
734
|
180
|
4,694
|
Kentucky,
Tennessee |
161
|
594
|
31,159
|
4,271
|
533
|
36,718
|
Louisiana,
Texas,
Arkansas |
165
|
324
|
1,502
|
1,364
|
263
|
3,618
|
| Missouri |
24
|
58
|
4,595
|
7,839
|
575
|
13,091
|
|
Total
|
8,297
|
33,811
|
68,444
|
17,344
|
3,184
|
131,030
|
African American migration
from the South increased after 1880 as industrialization
became more widespread. With industrialization
came the need for labor. African Americans filled
this need in many cities throughout the North.
The rate of blacks leaving the South doubled during
the 1890s. One of the most common non-agricultural
jobs blacks took was coal mining. Many also took
jobs as factory workers or lumbermen.
Another aspect of post-Civil War African American
migration was the movement of blacks to Africa.
This movement to Africa began with the American
Colonization Society in 1817. The society was
composed of men, some of which had abolitionist
thoughts, others were more racist, who thought
that blacks in America, slave or free, should
be returned to Africa. The idea was more selfish
than humanitarian; these men wanted racial purity
in America, and believed that blacks and whites
could not live together in the same country. To
carry out their mission, they created the colony
of Liberia in Africa, which later became an independent
country. At first they found it hard to find blacks
who wanted to relocate to Liberia. Their racist
views and the fact that blacks had become Americanized
hindered the society's progress. Black interest
in Liberia was heightened during the time before
and during the Civil War. Between 1820 and 1865,
6,301 former slaves and 4,501 free blacks were
relocated to Liberia.(13)
Mobility for newly freed slaves was difficult
in the post-war South. Most did not have enough
money to move. Also, jobs in the North were not
abundant enough to facilitate a large-scale migration.
Most of the mobility of blacks in the South occurred
locally. Blacks moved around the South in search
of jobs. By 1910, only 10.4% of blacks were living
in the North and the West.(14)
The rest would have to wait until new opportunities
would be made available by the First World War
before they too could leave the South.
|
|
(7)
James L. Roark, et. al., The American Promise:
A History of the United States, Compact Edition,
(Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000),
289.
(8) Roark,
305.
(9) Roark,
305.
(10) "Runaway
Journeys," <www.inmotionaame.org> .
(11) "Runaway
Journeys," <www.inmotionaame.org>.
(12)
William Cohen, At Freedom's Edge: Black
Mobility and the Southern White Quest for Racial
Control, 1861-1915, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana
State University Press, 1991), 90.
(13) Cohen,
139.
(14) Arvarh
E. Strickland and Robert E. Weems, Jr., ed. The
African American Experience: A Historiographical
and Bibliographical Guide, (Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 2001), 2.
|
By
Rickie Lazzerini
Historian
Kindred Trails Worldwide Genealogy Resources
BA History
University of California, Santa Barbara
Index
of Historical Reviews
©
2006 Rickie Lazzerini, All Rights Reserved
This page may be freely linked to but may not
be reproduced
in any form without prior written consent from
the author.
|
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