4.1 TOBACCO AND RICE IN THE COLONIAL SOUTH
The Chesapeake Bay Area 
1590 - 1820

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2. Roanoke Colony, 1585 
  • Colony off the coast of North Carolina.
  • Maps and cultural construction.
3. John White Sketches 
  • In Thomas Harriot, Briefe and True Report of the New Found Landof Virginia, 1590. Theodor de Bry engravings of sketches.
  • Culturally constructed representations of America.
  • Roanoke Island, off North Carolina: 1585-86 failed colony; 1587 "Lost Colony;" Governor was John White.
  • 1590, White returns to find colony deserted; Gone to "Croatoan."
4. Village of Secota, by John White 
  • Cornfields:
  • "Their ripe corn" (top) with guard house (pest control)
  • "Their green corn"
  • "Corn newly sprung"
  • River for fish (top center).
  • Hunting deer (top left).
  • Ceremonial Dance (right).
  • "Sitting at Meat" (center).
  • Campfire circle (lower left).
  • Tomb (bottom left).
5. Indians Fishing
  • "The Manner of their Fishing"
  • Four types of fishing:
  • Daytime fishing with dipnets and spears from canoe.
  • Night fishing with fire in canoe.
  • Weir across river mouth.
  • Spearing fish by wading.
  • Pelicans, swans, ducks flying.
  • Fish, sharks, horseshoe crabs (swimming).
  • Water and beach plants.
6. Amerigo Vespucci 
  • Postmodern critique of Old World/New World binary oppositions.
  • Europe/America; male/female; hard/soft parent/child; written/visual.
  • Virginia, named for virgin queen. Virginia Dare, 1587.
  • Amerigo Vespucci voyages, 1497, 1504. "America."
  • America, Virginia: virgin land; Center to periphery.
  • Symbols: cross, astrolabe, sword, ship vs. hammock, loin cloth, spear, cannibals.
7. Indian Harvest Dance 
  • Reading the dance as a text: Western cultural construction of "frenzied, exotic otherness."
  • Production: Corn, beans, squash complex.
  • Indians blowing conch shells; male identity.
  • Gift offerings to corn mothers; propitiation of corn spirit; pole represents the corn ear.
  • All night dancing; dancers poised on pole.
8. Deer Hunt 
  • Spiritual preparations to become like the deer; imitation (mimesis).
  • Subject to subject equality, face to face.
  • Deer trade: power of Indian in existing trade.
  • Both sides thought they had the best deal.
  • Clothing/food vs. leather for books, chamois, machine belts.
9. Chesapeake Settlement 
  • Contact between continents; clash of cultures.
  • Jamestown,Virginia, 1607; John Smith.
  • 1619, Berkeley Plantation; Thanksgiving after long, taxing 3 month voyage on ship Margaret.
10. Chesapeake Bay Rivers Western side of bay:
  • James River
  • York River
  • Rappahannock River
  • Potomac River
  • Patuxent River
  • Susquehanna River
Eastern Shore:
  • Choptank River
  • Nanticoke River
  • Pocomoke River
11. Pocahontas, 1596-1617 
  • "Indian Princess." Indians as virgin, noble.
  • Daughter of Powhatan.
  • Rescues John Smith from Powhatan's men, 1607.
  • Captured by English, 1613, Christianized.
  • Marries John Rolfe, 1614, has son Thomas.
  • Brought to England, 1615, dies 1617.
12. The Virginia Massacre, 1622 
  • Major massacre of colonists by Indians.
  • End of truce with Powhatan.
  • Change in image of Indian in England.
  • Indians now perceived as "wild, savage, slothful, brutish."
13. Avery Odelle Craven 
  • Historian of southern agriculture, 1885-1980.
  • Soil Exhaustion as a Factor in the Agricultural History of Virginia and Maryland, 1606-1860. (1926)
  • "Soil Exhaustion in the Chesapeake" in Major Problems.
  • Soil depletion under tobacco monoculture.
14. Tobacco Plantations 
  • On James River.
  • 1614: Tobacco discovered to grow well in Virginia; non-food crop.
  • 1617: 10 acres grain mandated by T. Dale.
  • European settled agricultureócorn, wheat, barley, oats, cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, poultry.
  • Jared Diamond "major five" domesticated animals and plants.
15. Shirley Plantation House 
  • James River, 1723.
  • John Carter and Elizabeth Hill Carter.
  • Son of Robert "King" Carter.
  • Grew "Stout Oronoko" tobacco.
  • Wheat, corn, lumber.
16. Slave Quarters 
  • Emergence of slave labor in tobacco colonies.
  • 1619: 20 blacks arrive on Dutch frigate.
  • 1630: Blacks are 1.9% of population.
  • 1700: Blacks are 22% of population.
17. William Fitzhugh, 1651-1701 
  • Virginia planter.
  • Extensive holdings in Chesapeake area.
  • 1686 letter to England to exchange Virginia properties for English property.
18. Robert "King" Carter, 1663-1732 
  • Richest man in colonial America.
  • Member, House of Burgesses.
  • 300,000 acres of land in Virginia.
  • Plantation house.
  • 700-1000 slaves.
  • 2000 head of cattle.
  • 100 horses.
19. Carter's Grove, Va: Great Hall 
  • Mansion built by "King" Carterís grandson, Carter Burwell, 1753.
  • On James River.
  • Reproduces life of English gentry.
  • Lavish parties.
  • 1500 books; music.
20. Robert Carter III, 1730-1804 
  • Grandson of King Carter.
  • Nomini Hall on Potomac River.
  • 28 fires burning in winter.
  • Annual consumption:
  • 27,000 lbs pork
  • 20 beef cattle
  • 350 bu. wheat
  • 4 barrels of rum
  • 150 gal. brandy
21. Southern Forest 
  • Density of southern forest; problems of clearing land.
  • Pines: Yellow (shortleaf), loblolly, longleaf, pitch pine.
  • Hardwoods: Black oak, red oak, white oak, red maple.
  • Yellow poplar (tulip), flowering dogwood, sweetgum.
22. Clearing the Woodlands 
  • Read landscape as a text; construct a story.
  • Postmodern questions: Whose landscape? Who intervenes? Who is narrating? Who is "the Other"?
  • Colonial "necessity" to clear land for tobacco planting.
23. Tobacco Cultivation 
  • Reading the colonized, enslaved body as a text; inscription of cultural messages.
  • Labor intensive work; stoop labor; skill and task-oriented; the body as property.
24. Tobacco Hills 
  • Narrative from perspective of labor.
  • Steps in tobacco growing:
  • Plowing or loosening of soil.
  • Creation of hills. 
  • Hills in squares 6-9 feet apart.
25. Tobacco Seedlings 
  • Spring planting.
  • Seeds first planted in rich mould.
  • Grown until 4-5 inches in height.
  • Transplanted in wet weather to hills set in rows.
26. Tobacco Plants 
  • When 1 foot high (1 month), plants are pruned and topped.
  • When 4 1/2 feet high (2 1/2 months) are pruned and weeded.
  • Tobacco worms removed by hand.
27. Hoe Cultivation of Tobacco 
  • Delicate work of loosening soil around roots of plant.
  • Preserving lower leaves intact.
  • Many roots, stones, stumps preclude plowing.
28. Soil Depletion from Hoeing 
  • Narrative from perspective of soil.
  • Soil erosion from continual shallow scratching of soils.
  • Soil toxicity.
  • Soil fungi, root rot.
  • Land becomes acidic.
  • Pine, sedge, sorrell take over.
29. Tobacco in Bloom 
  • Three to four years of planting only.
  • Followed by soil exhaustion.
  • Nitrogen and potassium depleted.
  • Abandonment of land.
  • Fresh lands taken up.
30. Harvesting Tobacco 
  • Harvested when leaves begin to turn brown.
31. Tobacco Drying Barns 
  • Tobacco laid in field in heaps to sweat.
  • Transported to barns to dry; fire maintained.
  • Air circulates around hung plants, 4-5 wks.
  • Laid in heaps to sweat again, 1-2 wks.
32. Slave Knowledge and Technology 
  • Slaves often more knowledgeable than owners.
  • 1839: Slave puts embers on dying fire in tobacco house. Creates bright leaf tobacco for cigarettes (milder, lighter color, will burn more continuously).
33. Duke Homestead, Durham, N.C. 1852 
  • Narrative from perspective of planter.
  • Washington Duke, tobacco farmer, sold tobacco to Civil War soldiers.
  • Son, James Buchanan (Buck) Duke, bought cigarette rolling patent; Duke University founder; multimillionaire.
34. Tobacco History 
  • Tobacco Company's narrative.
  • Brightleaf tobacco beaten into powder and rolled into cigarettes.
  • $200 million per year by 1900.
  • American Tobacco Co. monopoly; split up, 1911.
35. Smoking Advertisement 
  • Tobacco consumer's narrative.
  • "I really don't know if I should smoke."
  • From Virginia Dare to "Virginia Slims."
  • Addictive character of tobacco.
36. Discussion Questions 
  • Whose story are we telling?
  • How do we tell the story of the Tobacco South from perspectives other than European American? 
  • Other points of view: E.g. Indian, Black, Asian? Women? The soil? The planter? The consumer of tobacco?