African slavery played
a significant role in the history of North America throughout the period of
European colonization. In his book Many
Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, Ira
Berlin documented and analyzed the development and change of slavery in that
continent during that period. Part I of the book argued that African Creoles,
highly cultured peoples of mixed race, shaped the first generation of African
slaves in mainland North America, through cultivation and use of relationships.
He claimed that this was perhaps most pronounced in the Chesapeake region and
colonies in the North, while least pronounced in the Deep South and the Lower
Mississippi Valley. The Creoles’ ability to use relationships for profit is
paralleled by that of Native Americans in the North.
Berlin
introduced his analysis of societies with slaves with a description of Atlantic
Creoles. Creoles were central characters in these charter generations. Though
they had genealogical ties to Africa, Europe, and the Americas they were not
strictly from any one of these places. They began as mediators between African
and European slave traders on the west coast of Africa. Their business was
trade. As the importance of the slave trade and the needs of the Europeans expanded,
Creoles found themselves in a volatile position great for bargaining, but
lacking a solid identity. Their lack of identity allowed slave traders to use
them as scapegoats, and, in some cases enslave them. Slave traders and owners
saw Creoles as dangerous because of their proficiency in cultures and languages.
For this reason few ended up on plantations in the West Indies, but were taken
to marginal slave societies on mainland North America.[1]
 |
| Olaudah Equiano, famous example of an Atlantic Creole |
Berlin argued that Creoles shaped the charter generation
of slaves in the Chesapeake region. Blacks and whites often worked side by side
on tobacco plantations in Virginia and Maryland. At this point no law defined
the boundaries of slavery. Many planters allowed or required self-subsistence
for their slaves. As a result, slaves often had better food and a better
lifestyle. Masters kept a cautious eye while slaves developed their own
economic interests, including planting crops and raising cattle and pigs. Slaves
would be allowed to make money off their own work and, most importantly,
develop social networks. These networks provided an avenue for social mobility,
and Creoles used them with proficiency. As long as the line between black and
white, free and slave remained blurred, black slavery would only be one labor
system among many. Creoles were well acquainted with ethnically diverse
economies, and Virginia had exactly that. These individuals climbed the social
ladder, many gaining freedom and owning plantations and slaves themselves.[2]
In the North, slaves were few in number and only marginal
to the success of the economy. The slaves that ended up in the North were often
unsalable, or “refuse,” which referred to their being unsuited for heavy labor
on a plantation.[3]
Northerners preferred that their slaves came from the West Indies because of
their extensive experience with a wide variety of cultures. For the most part,
slaves came to the North individually or in small groups. New Amsterdam and its
focus on trade was a haven for Creole slaves. Similar to their Chesapeake
counterparts, Northern Creoles developed relationships that would help them
improve their station. Rural slaves became jacks-of all trades, while urban
slaves worked the wharves and socialized with their white co-workers.[4]
Charter generations of slaves in the Deep South varied
widely due to economic and governmental differences. In South Carolina, rice
production led to rapid growth toward a plantation system, and thus the charter
generation was quite short. Plantations employed a diverse work force,
including Natives, Africans, and Europeans. Slaves set their own work standards,
and were required to provision themselves. Masters often provided slaves with a
day during the week completely to themselves. Though some laws established
strict boundaries between slave and master, these laws were rarely followed or
enforced. Florida, a colony claimed as a part of New Spain, proclaimed freedom
for all black individuals within their boundaries and refuge for any slaves
fleeing the woes of bondage elsewhere. Many runaway slaves from South Carolina
made it to Florida and joined the militia, fighting directly against their
former masters. Throughout the Deep South, the societies and cultures of
Europeans and Africans paralleled and overlapped one another during their first
years.[5]
The charter generation in the Lower Mississippi Valley
moved precisely backward from the other charter generations Berlin covered up
to this point. It began as a slave society and developed into a society with
slaves. Most of the slaves brought into the region were from the interior of
Africa. Early efforts to establish a staple-producing colony utterly failed.
European colonists, African Creoles, and Native Americans lived together and
relied upon one another. Greedy European planters demanded that the French
government send them a new workforce or they would desert the colony
altogether. France sent roughly six-thousand African slaves to the region in
response. Plantations were established, life expectancy was very short, and
Creoles did not fit in. Many Creoles fled, taking refuge with the Natives.
“Retreat—geographic, social, and physical—slowly liquidated the charter
generations.”[6]
The charter
generations of African slaves in North America, as outlined by Berlin, were
similar to early civilizations of Native Americans. According to Dr. Kyle
Bulthuis, everything for early Native
Americans was a relationship; relationships needed to be established whenever
new peoples arrived.[7] Native
Americans often used trade, like the Creoles, to establish relationships with
other tribes and European colonies. This pattern was especially true in the
region surrounding New Netherlands and New England. Before Europeans settled in
the area, there were multiple tribes speaking similar languages. As they
communicated with one another, they realized the economic and social benefits
of forming connections. They established a strong bond, and eventually became
known as the Five Nations Iroquois. These relationships provided these peoples
with power—physically, economically, and culturally.[8] Similarly,
some of the Creoles who began their lives in North America as slaves
established and nurtured relationships that would provide them with power
derived from freedom and land ownership.
Relationships
became a powerful tool for both groups of peoples, who were in fact viewed by
the dominant society as savages. Those groups and individuals, seen as
uncultured and unintelligent, made some of the most pronounced uses of cultural
and linguistic proficiency in colonial history. Previous trade experience with a
variety of cultural groups provided these peoples with powerful tools they
could, and did, use for social growth. Berlin argued in Part I of his book that
Creole relationships, and their ability to foster them, characterized the first
generation of black peoples in North America. Evidence suggests that Native
peoples used similar tactics to gain political and economic favor in certain
situations. The social dynamic of each of the regions Berlin analyzed,
specifically the Chesapeake, the North, the Deep South, and the Lower
Mississippi Valley, was greatly influenced by the Creoles’ ability to conform
to and use the society and culture to their advantage.
[1]
Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The
First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1998),
17-27.
[2]
Berlin, 29-45.
[3]
Berlin, 47.
[4]
Berlin, 47-62.
[5]
Berlin, 64-76.
[6]
Berlin, 77-92.
[7]
Kyle Bulthuis, HIST 3720, 7 Sept. 2011.
[8]
Kyle Bulthuis, HIST 3720, 23 Sept. 2011.
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