SLO# 3 The Affects of the Slave Trade (What I Learned)

After analyzing the Voyages database for information about Trans-Atlantic slave ship owners, I found David Hamilton owned multiple vessels that embarked on a total of 17 voyages.[1] Over the course of researching for answers about the slave ships I examined the civilizations involved in Trans-Atlantic slave trade through multiple categories such as race, class, gender and ethnicity. I learned the Igboland communities left behind were faced with slavery in another form. Amadi (freeborn) and Ohu (el-slaves) cultures practiced a caste system that left the Amadi dominate over the Ohu. Class status left the Ohu struggling from the injustices of exclusion for hundreds of years. Consequently, Ohu suffer from the effects of modern-day slavery to this day.[2] As I research more about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, I find there is so much to learn about all aspects of the global effects of slavery.

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[1] “Voyages”, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2016,www.slavevoyages.org.

[2] Apeh, Apex A., and Chukwuma C. Opata. 2009. “Social Exclusion: An Aftermath of the Abolition of Slave Trade in Northern Igboland, Nigeria”. The William and Mary Quarterly 66 (4). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 939–58. http://www.jstor.org.butte.idm.oclc.org/stable/40467548.

SLO# 3 Modern-Day Slavery in Igboland, Nigeria (Discovery)

Britain’s 1807 abolition of the Atlantic slave trade did not end the institution of slavery in Igboland, Nigeria. The people’s culture permitted them to have slaves, so slavery continued for generations in a caste system with Amadi people viewed as superior to Ohu and Osu people. The Osu caste system “is an ancient social belief, which ascribes an inferior status to a group of people…causing them limited social interaction with the rest of the community…” (944). The exclusion of Ohu and Osu created a divide in the region politically, socially and culturally which fueled into a system of injustice and inequality.

Igboland, in present-day Nigeria

Amadi are descendants of former masters, and they are viewed as freeborn with ancestral land rights, political rights and social dominance. Ohu are descendants of ex-slave, and they are viewed as property of freeborn with limited to no rights and many restrictions. Osu are willing slaves still inferior to Amandi, but they are not scrutinized as Ohu since they sacrifice themselves for the gods. In the beginning, Ohu people had restrictions and limited rights politically, socially and culturally such as marriage partners, religious expression and community positions such as Onyishi - eldest man of a village. Marriage between Amadi and Ohu people was frowned upon yet on occasion individuals intermarried. Since the Igboland culture was patrilineal, Amadi men and Ohu women conceived Amandi children whereas Ohu men and Amadi women conceived Ohu children, so the latter was viewed as achieving the impossible. Ohu people were not allowed to participate in some prestigious dances and masquerades. They could perform the more dangerous religious rites or practices, not worthy of a freeborn, and their religious labor was appropriate since slaves could not convert this spiritual role into secular power. Even under their gerontocratic cultural system, the oldest male Ohu descendent could not attain the important position of Onyishi since they could not represent themselves or represent Amadi, in addition, their views were not sought unless Amadi deemed it necessary.

As new forms of legislation was enacted, Ohu people sought equality through protests and riots. When a British captain appointed Ohu chiefs to the Native Court, Amadi protested by stating “that at no point in time in the history of their people had a slave presided over the affairs of the Amadi” (946). One solution to the uprising to appease both sides was to appoint three Amadi chiefs to one Ohu chief on the Native Court, but turmoil ensued with Amadi chasing the Ohu people out of their settlements further creating a divide. In 1924 and 1927, riots between Amadi and Ohu broke out. As a way to settle the dispute, Ohu were placed on settlements. With the emigration of Ohu people looking for independence and freedom from the social system, new settlements were established. Amadi encouraged the separation because they felt living on the same land with Ohu could tarnish their lineage, and the Ohu were no longer useful.

Beginning in the 1990’s, with on-going warfare, both parties established official associations. Ohu fought for equal opportunities whereas Amadi fought for continued dominance. The 1991 elections for councillorship in Lejja marked a change in the long history of the caste divisions between Amadi and Ohu. The election of an Ohu descendant over an Amadi altered class status norms. The example lead some parts of Igboland to judge people based on wisdom and worth rather than ancestral lineage. This was a gain toward bridging the gap for political and social inequality.

The struggle of Ohu continued through the 20^th century, although Ohu communities were liberated through self-governance. They still had to live with the stigma of the class divisions as it rose in the psyche of the Igboland people. In 2001, the News Agency of Nigeria reported, “…the despicable caste system is still common in many parts of Igboland, where…Ohu…are subject to indescribable social discriminations by other human being who feel that even beasts are better than those affected.” (954).

After all the legislative gains toward abolition of slavery in Igboland, the old ideas still persist. It remains a historical reality because people known by their lineal ancestry carry the past into the present, so legislation can’t change the conscience of the people who identify with their history. Although Igboland has come a long way from the 1807 abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, the Igboland communities suffer from the effects of modern-day slavery. Nearly 200 years later, the fight for political, cultural and social inclusion for the Ohu people continues.[1]

 

 

 

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[1] Apeh, Apex A., and Chukwuma C. Opata. 2009. “Social Exclusion: An Aftermath of the Abolition of Slave Trade in Northern Igboland, Nigeria”. The William and Mary Quarterly 66 (4). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 939–58. http://www.jstor.org.butte.idm.oclc.org/stable/40467548.

 

SLO# 3 David Hamilton, Owner of Slave Ships (Initial)

After analyzing the Voyages database for information about Trans-Atlantic slave ship owners, I found David Hamilton was in the business of slaves from 1767-1778 during the American Revolution era. Hamilton owned multiple vessels that embarked on a total of 17 voyages. Nearly 6,000 African slaves were transported across the Trans-Atlantic with close to 700 Africans perishing at sea. I found one vessel, the Antelope, disembarked with 403 slaves and embarked with 396 slaves. I was surprised to find the mortality rate was 1.7% since 35-70 Africans perished on each trip across the sea on the remaining voyages.¹ Now with this new information from the database, I hope to find more information on the vessel owner, David Hamilton, and to examine the civilizations involved in Trans-Atlantic slave trade through multiple categories such as race, class, gender and ethnicity during the American Revolution era (1763-1787).

1“Voyages”, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2016, www.slavevoyages.org

SLO# 7 Diversity Of Slavery (What I Learned)

Over the course of researching for my blog about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and reading the documents in History 5 at Butte College, I learned slavery was so diverse. The foundation of slavery was African people where viewed as inferior to the white man, so life of servitude was forced upon them. All African slaves endured generations of inhumanity against their people. Africans were enslaved in the 13 colonies, in their own territories like the People of the Congo¹ and many other places. Resident or local slaves escaped the foul Trans-Atlantic slave ships while newcomer slaves were ripped from their native lands and exported on the harsh vessels to their unknown destiny.²
 

Liberators in the Union Army

In 1763, the Emancipation Proclamation, a document of human freedom, was signed. The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”, so black men were accepted in the Union Army and Navy to fight for freedom. By the end of the war, 200,000 black soldiers and sailors fought for freedom yet slavery continued in the background.³ Slavery during the American Revolution effected Africans in many ways.

 1Adam Hochschild. King Leopold's Ghost. (Mariner Books: New York). 1999.

 

2Robert E. Desrochers, Jr. Slave-For-Sale Advertisements and Slavery in Massachusetts, 1704-1781. Omohundo Institute of Early American History and Culture. The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 3 Slaveries in the Atlantic World (Jul., 2002), pp.623-664. www.jstor.org/stable/3491467.  

 

3The Emancipation Proclamation. National Archives & Records Administration. 2016. www.archives.gov

SLO# 7 Advertising Slaves in Boston (Discovery)

The newspaper and advertisements for slaves-for-sale came together in British America during the eighteenth century when a local merchant placed an ad to sell two Negro men, a woman and child. For sixteen years, the Boston News-Letter in Massachusetts continued to publish slave-for-sale notices, but the Boston Gazette was the leading newspaper during the American Revolution marketing newcomer and resident slaves.

Boston featuring the Long Wharf

Approximately 2,000 Africans were marketed in the Boston Gazette from 1719 to 1781 as slaves-for-sale. The newcomers and resident slaves were attained through advertisements, at auctions and even at the ships deck. Advertisements directed buyers to the busy stretch between the Long Wharf and Boston's public houses where auctions occurred. Slave merchants who imported Africans, by request or otherwise, were not the only people who played a role in the slaves-for-sale market through advertisements. Both single and large groups of Africans were bought and sold by independents such as butchers, bakers, gunsmiths, blacksmiths, midwives, and including upstanding men from political to religious leaders. It was common for advertisements to lead buyers in search of slave labor to personal homes and shops. Advertisements connected both urban and rural communities in the economics of slavery.

Boston Gazette

Individuals posting advertisements of slaves-for-sale played on the traits Masters desired. They included the slave quantity, their gender, age, years of service, abilities and performance level. They used words and phrases such as 'Negro stock', 'fit for town or country', 'indoor and outdoor work' and 'fit for tradesmen'.

In 1760, advertisements dropped significantly as problems with the labor system, and the opinions about slavery surfaced causing a decreased in the slave market. Yet in the days of the Emancipation, men continued their right to slaves but not in the same way as the days of advertising.¹

 

 

 

1Robert E. Desrochers, Jr. Slave-For-Sale Advertisements and Slavery in Massachusetts, 1704-1781. Omohundo Institute of Early American History and Culture. The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 59, No. 3 Slaveries in the Atlantic World (Jul., 20020, pp.623-664. www.jstor.org/stable/3491467.

SLO# 7 Captain and Owner, John Powell (initial)

After analyzing the Voyages database, I found John Powell (& Company) owned multiply ships that embarked on 52 voyages during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade from 1765 to 1788. Approximately 15,900 African slaves embarked on these large ships, and approximately 3,000 Africans lives were lost during their course including 430 slaves perishing from one shipwreck.

What I found interesting was John Powell captained 6 voyages himself. In 1765, he commanded the Sam, in 1767 for four consecutive years the Mentor and in 1776 the True Blue. Of the 6 voyages, over 2,000 African slaves embarked with 1,700 slaves surviving the journey.¹

 

In researching John Powell, I hope to find new discovers of how the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade affected the African people during the American Revolution (1763-1787).

1“Voyages”, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2016, www.slavevoyages.org

SLO# 5 Slaves of the Gold Coast (What I Learned)

After researching information I gathered from the Voyages database, I learned the principle region of Trans-Atlantic slave ships on the Gold Coast had a deep history of slavery. From the fourteenth through the eighteenth century, there were many forms of slavery including Castle Slaves who worked in European trading forts, enslaved gold miners and captives of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The levels of slavery differed yet they all were viewed as property without free will. As slavery on the Gold Coast evolved with the migration of millions of slaves through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Castle Slaves played an important role in connecting cultures and language.

SLO #5 Castle Slaves of the Gold Coast (Discovery)

Cape Coast Castle

I discovered slavery in Africa took many forms during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, such as Castle Slaves. In the late fourteen century in the Gold Coast or modern-day Ghana, the Portuguese constructed forts or “castles” in order to purchase gold during the Afro-European trade. Africans from other areas were brought in to work for Elite Africans in the gold mining industry. Local African men and women became Castle Slaves who worked in European forts. They
received “pay” in the form of trade goods for a life of servitude. Unlike captive slaves of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, Castle Slaves lived with more freedom and “privileges”. They were able to move freely around the forts, had better nutrition and continue family lives. Men and women had specific roles; men were skilled crafts men and even high paid sailors while women where domestic caregivers who maintained forts. Some women raised their children in the trading forts.¹



Cape Coast Castle

The transformation of the Castle Slaves continued from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century as the growth of European forts increased along the Gold Coast. Castle Slaves were second and third generation servants, so they had a unique and important relationship in the slave trade. Their connections with both European languages and African communities and cultures developed the creole culture along the Gold Coast. The Castle Slaves helped break the language barrier between captives of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the Europeans. The English pushed the Dutch Policy of the Gold Coast as they became more involved in the business of slaves on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.² Slave trade tripled from 75,000 to 229,00 in the beginning of the eighteenth century³, so the once exclusive gold mining slavery on the Gold Coast began to shift to selling captives to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, a more profitable commodity. Castle Slaves helped shape the communities and cultures of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. They had more freedom and privileges than the captives of the slave trade ships, but both were still legal property of Europeans.⁴

1Rebecca Shumway, Castle Slaves of the Eighteenth Century Gold Coast (Ghana), Jan 2014, Vol. 35 Issue 1, p. 84-98.

2 Ibid.

3“Voyages”, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2016, www.slavevoyages.org.

4Rebecca Shumway, Castle Slaves of the Eighteenth Century Gold Coast (Ghana), Jan 2014, Vol. 35 Issue 1, p. 84-98.

SLO# 5 Twenty-Three Year Business of Slave Trade (Intial)

After analyzing the Voyages database, I found a name, John Anderson! He was in the business of slaves for 23 years from 1765-1788 during the American Revolution. Anderson was the owner of multiple vessels that embarked on a total of 30 voyages. Over 8,000 African slaves were transported across the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and approximately 1,000 perished. In 1782, one vessel named the Tartar was captured by the French and another the Phoenix was shipwrecked with 430 African lives lost. The principle region of many of these slaves was on the Gold Coast.¹ Now with this new information from the database, I hope to analyze ways groups of people interacted with one another through trade, migration, warfare and cultural exchange.

1“Voyages”, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2016, www.slavevoyages.org

SLO#1 Slave Port in Bristol (what i learned)

 

John Fowler owned the Trans-Atlantic slave trade ship named Africa. The Africa made two voyages, one in 1766 and in 1788, and each voyages began in Bristol.¹ I learned that Bristol was a major slaving port of the British Trade to Africa with 600 voyages which was a majority of the slave exports between 1747-1769. Because there was a demand for slaves in North America well before the American Revolution, slave export rose from 20,000 a year in 1750 to 40,000 a year in 1770,² so John Fowler contributed to the enslavement of humans in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

1“Voyages”, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2016, www.slavevoyages.org

2David Richardson, “Bristol, Africa and the Eighteenth Century Slave Trade to America Volume 3 The Year of Decline 1746-1769”, Bristol Records Society's Publications VOL. XLII, (1991)



SLO#1 Slave Trade Ships in Common (discovery)

After analyzing the time period of the American Revolution (1763-1788) in the Voyages Database, I located 3,100 total ships involved in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Under the flag of Great Britain, there was a reoccurring ship named Africa, and it made 42 slave trade voyages during this time period. I uncovered two other ships; the African Queen and the Royal African and both may have more in common than their ship names. All three ships, a total of 47 slave trade voyages, have at least one similar principle region of slave purchase, Bight of Biarfa and Gulf of Guinea Islands. The ship's slave landing also had similarities, their common landings include Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica and Barbados.¹ I'm going to dive a bit deeper to see what more I can find on these slave trade ships!

1“Voyages”, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2016, www.slavevoyages.org

SLO# 1 A Journey Towards Naming Names (initial)

So the journey of naming names of slave trade ships begins. Since I'm boarding uncharted territory, it will be a new learning experience but I hope to find the connections between well known History and slavery with slavery in the forefront. I am excited to see were this takes me in discovering who these people were and how the American Revolution (1763-1788) affected slavery.