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