4.2 TOBACCO AND RICE  IN THE COLONIAL SOUTH 1590 - 1820 Listen to Podcast of these Slides 2. Judith Carney University of California, Los Angeles. Geography Dept. Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas (2001). In Major Problems: "Rice and Slaves in the Low Country." 3. Rice in the Low Country South Carolina rice areas. Georgia rice areas. 4. Clearing the Wilderness Phase I. Production of rice in inland swamps. Clearing of Cypress swamps for cultivation. Transformation of coastal lowlands into plantations. 5. Rice Plantation Phase II. Tidal Floodplains. By Civil War: 1600 Plantations. Plantation house. Slave houses. Slaves, horses, cattle, and poultry. 6. Winnowing Rice African women remove husks using mortar and pestle. Sift flour from rice with wire sieves. 7. Rice Production Systems Tidal areas: tidewater rice cultivation. Inland swamp areas: inner edge of a tidal swamp. Water flows from reservoir to rice field and drains to creek. 8. Rice Production Steps Step 1. Building levees. Step 2. Division into quarters. Step 3. Sowing rice on the floodplain. Step 4. Sluices open and close with the tides. 9. Rice Production: Dike Systems Tidal regulation by diking. Hanging trunk: hanging floodgates anchored into the embankment above low tide line. Gates at ends of trunk swing when pulled up. 10. Rice Irrigation Tidal floodplain irrigated systems. Mid-18th century to Civil War. 11. Race and Racism Race as major biological divisions of humanity: Caucasian (white), Negroid (black), Mongoloid (yellow). Genetic differences.  Race as a "social construction" based on different skin color, eyes, hair color, stature, body proportions.  Racial formation: socio-historical process of creating racial differences and categories.  Racial state: Institutions, policies, and programs of the state that maintain racial hegemony.  Racism: Practice of racial discrimination, segregation, persecution, domination.  12. Slavery Institutionalized racism. Ownership of another person’s body. Virginia, 1619. 20 blacks on Dutch frigate. Are indentured servants. Virginia court decision, 1640; 3 runaway servants. Black gets life servitude. 1682. All Negroes who are not Christian when purchased are slaves. 13. European Images of Blackness Soiled, dirty, foul. Witchcraft, black magic. Having dark or deadly purposes. Black death (Bubonic Plague). Wicked, horrible, atrocious. Disgrace, censure, punishment. 14. Slave Ship: Upper Deck Thomas Phillips, British slave captain, 1693: "The negroes are so wilful and loth to leave their own country, that they have often leap’d into the sea. We shackle the men two and two. They are fed twice a day. Some commanders cut off the legs and arms of the most wilful, to terrify the rest." 15. Slave Ship: Below Decks Dutch merchant, 1705: "The Negroes are all without exception, Crafty, Villainous, and Fraudulent, and very seldom to be trusted. They are besides incredibly careless and stupid." 16. Slave Shackles English ship's doctor, 1788: "The men taken aboard the ship are immediately fastened together, two and two, by handcuffs on their wrists and by irons riveted on their legs. The surgeon frequently finds a dead and living negro fastened by their irons together." 17. Olaudah Equiano The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1791). Born in 1745 in West Africa. Enslaved at age 11. Brought to Virginia. Sold to British officer. Philadelphia merchant. 18. Slaves Overboard Olaudah Equiano: "I now wished for the last friend death to relieve me. . . . Although not being used to the water, could I have gotten over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side." 19. Slave Market Families split up. Field and household labor. Skilled tasks demanded. Christianized. 20. Indian Slave Trade Cherokees traded their war captives to whites in exchange for European goods. White traders incited warfare to gain sales. Indians taken captive by militiamen could be retained as slaves. 1680s: Cherokees took slaves from Guales and Tuscaroras (1000 captured). 1708. South Carolina: 2900 black,1400 Indian slaves. 21. William Loren Katz: Black Indians Runaway black slaves mingle and mate with Creeks. Red and black Seminoles live together peacefully; knowledge of agriculture. Raise corn, sweet potatoes, vegetables, cotton, livestock; hunting and fishing. Georgia slaveholders want to annex Florida; Seminoles attack Georgia plantations; Seminole wars, 19th c. 22. Seminole Slave Holders Andrew Jackson sent orders to wipe out Seminole resistance at Fort Negro, 1816. Red and black Seminoles move to Suwannee river; resume life as farmers. 1818, Jackson marches on Seminoles and annexes Florida. Wealthy Creeks sent to persuade Seminole chiefs to become slave masters. 1819. Annexation of Florida. 23. Thomas Jefferson, d. July 4, 1826 President, 1800-08. Va. Gen Assembly, 1769, pushed for slave manumission. Va. 1779, pushed for gradual abolition. "Declaration of Independence," 1776. Wanted clause condemming slavery. 24. Jefferson on Blacks: Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787. Enlightened planter and statesman. Prejudice makes it impossible to assimilate blacks; colonization is answer. "Real distinctions nature has made." Blacks are equal in memory, but inferior in reason to whites; equal in moral sense. Gifted in music, but not in poetry, despite Phillis Wheatley (see ch. 6). 25. Discussion Questions How do we weigh Jefferson's promotion of democracy and efforts to abolish slavery against his slaveholding and views on blacks? How can we deal with racism in ourselves and our society today?