2. 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)

"Exhausted Soils" in Major Problems.

Soil depletion under tobacco monoculture.

3. Timothy H. Breen

Northwestern University.

Tobacco Culture: the Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution (1985).

Excerpt in Major Problems: "Planters' Minds."

4. Tobacco Mentality

Preoccupation with "making a crop."

Exact steps; production schedules; annual rituals; lifetime of routines.

Symbols; shared vocabulary; medium of exchange; language of work; assumptions and ideals; subtle decisions; artwork; decoration.

5. William Fitzhugh, 1651-1701

Virginia planter.

Extensive holdings in Chesapeake area.

1686 letter to England to exchange Virginia properties for English property.

6. 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.

7. Carter's Grove, Va: Great Hall

Mansion built by "King" Carter's grandson, Carter Burwell, 1753.

On James River.

Reproduces life of English gentry.

Lavish parties.

1500 books; music.

8. Robert Carter III, 1730-1804

• Grandson of "King" Carter.
• Nomini Hall on Potomac River.
• 28 fires burning in winter.
• Annual consumption:
• 27,00 lbs pork
• 20 beef cattle
• 350 bu. wheat
• 4 barrels of rum
• 150 gal. brandy

9. Ronald Takaki

University of California, Berkeley, Ethnic Studies.

Iron Cages: Race and Culture in 19th Century America (1979).

A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (1993).

In Major Problems: "Slaves' Bodies."

10. Ronald Takaki: Slaves' Bodies

William Shakespeare. The Tempest, 1611. Prospero=intellect; Caliban=body.

Fear of instinctual life; the savage within.

Civilization versus nature.

Benjamin Franklin, 1751: Whites are minority in the world. Africa, Asia, and America (before the whites) are black, tawny, or red.

11. Race and Racism

Race: Major biological divisions of humanity. 

Different skin color, eyes, hair color, hair texture, stature, body proportions.

Caucasian (white); Negroid (black); Mongoloid (yellow).

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 leapíd 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, Villanous, 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.

Philadephia 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 gotton 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. Total population: 10,000.

21. Black Indians

Runaway black slaves mingle and mate with Creeks; Seminoles.

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.

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. Benjamin Banneker, b. 1731

Farmer, mechanic, surveyor, astronomer.

Predicted eclipse, prepared almanacs.

1792 letter to Thomas Jefferson.

Contested Jefferson's ideas about black reason and mathematics.

26. Discussion Questions

How do we weigh Jeffersonís 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?