African American History Midterm ID's

Songhay

After Toure was ousted Askia Daud became the next great leader. He ruled from 1549-1582. By the late 1500s Portugal and other Europeans began to encroach on the gold trade. They encouraged kings in Morocco to challenge the West Africa rulers. In 1591 Morocco's king sent a mercenary army of 5,000 Spanish soldiers armed with muskets and canons to attack Gao, Songhay's capital. Only 4,200 of the soldiers survived the march across the Sahara however, they massacred the Songhay elite Calvary which was armed with bows and lances. They sacked the city and then turned to other areas. They then attacked the University of Sankore, burning the library, and arresting the faculty, including Ahmad Baba the world's leading intellectual at that time. The destruction of the university at Sankore is seen as the end of African hegemony.

Fort Mose

Hidden away in the marshes of St. Augustine, Florida is one of the most important sites in American history: the first free community of ex-slaves, founded in 1738 and called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose or Fort Mose (pronounced Moh-Say). More than a century before the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves from the British colonies were able to follow the original "Underground Railroad" which headed not to the north, but rather south, to the Spanish colony of Florida. There they were given their freedom, if they declared their allegiance to the King of Spain and joind the Catholic Church. Fort Mose was the northern defense of St.Augustine, the nation's oldest city.

Timbuktu

Mali's major commercial city was Timbuktu, which had been founded in the 11th century next to the Niger River close to the Sahara. Walata (Northwest) region and Gao Eastern region were also great commerce and cultural cities. Timbuktu was the most important city. It was a hub of trade where gold, slaves, and salt was traded. It attracted intellectuals and traders from all over the eastern world. It was a center of Islamic study with several mosques 150 Islamic schools, a law school, and many book sellers. It was known for its tolerance. Though Mali enslaved war captives they offered both religious and ethnic tolerance.

Freedom's Journal

New York was a strange place to have an independent newspaper. New York had just ended slavery in 1827. There was a lot of open hostility towards Blacks and there was not a large Black educated population in the state. However, New York City had several newspapers published by racists who virulently attacked Blacks as inferior and the abolitionists movement as a misguided. Several of these papers purported to speak about what Blacks wanted. Blacks had to response to their challenge and give a lucid and intelligent response to their accusations. The first African American newspaper was the Freedom's Journal published in New York, on March 16, 1827. The Freedom's Journal provided Blacks the vehicle they needed to tell Whites exactly what they were thinking and also gave them an opportunity to unite with their fellow brothers of color.

George Whitfield

Of even greater impact were the evangelical revivals of the 1770s and 1780s. Although some evangelicals including at first George Whitefield were critical of slavery, their main impact was not in fostering opposition to the institution but in persuading white Southerners of their Christian duty. To instruct Blacks in the "truths" of the Gospel and treat their slaves in a Christian manner.

Lord John Dunmore

On June 17, 1775 George Washington took control of the troops. On July 9, 1775 he barred recruiters from enrolling any strollers, vagabonds or Blacks. This order ostensibly barred Black men from fighting for the colonies. Southerners wanted all Blacks out of the military. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina introduced a motion, to exclude all Blacks. The Continental Congress approved it and on November 12, 1775 Washington issued an order barring all Black participation. On November 7, 1775 Lord John Murray Dunmore the deposed Governor of Virginia, said that all African Americans who fought for the English would be free. Within two weeks of his edict 700 slaves had joined the British Army. Slave owners in the South were forced to post guards to protect their slaves from running away. Dunmore organized the 300 man Ethiopia regiment. They fought under the banner Liberty to Slaves.

Richard Allen

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones formed independent African Episcopal churches in Philadelphia. Allen was born into slavery in 1760 in Philadelphia. He converted to Methodism at age 17. After converting he joined the Methodist circuit preaching to the faithful in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. In 1786 Allen returned to Philadelphia. He became a minister to a small Black congregation worshipping in a White Church called St. George. When Allen's services went over one Sunday Deacons from the White church forcefully removed his parishioners from their seats while they were praying. Allen and Jones decided to move to a building of their own.

Speculum Oris

The enslaved Africans rebelled both on the coast and on the ships. When mutinies were unsuccessful, slaves sometimes killed themselves or had to be force fed. The Speculum Oris was used to force fed slaves. This was a metal screw device that forces mouths open so food could be put in.

Middle Passage

The trans-Atlantic slave trade began in 1502 and lasted until 1888. The overwhelming majority of the slaves transported during that period went to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Caribbean and South America. In 1619, the English got their first Africans and later decided to utilize them as a labor source. By the end of the slave trade between 9 and 12 million Africans had been shipped. This trade became known as the middle passage and cost the lives of at least 4 million Africans. Of those who did arrive 33 percent went to Brazil ( 2,451,000), 22.5 % to the British Caribbean (1,664,700), 20.3 % to the French Caribbean (1,504,200), 11.7 % Spanish America (871,000), 6.7 % Dutch Caribbean (400,000), 5.4 % British North America (400,000), .4 % Danish Caribbean (28,000).

Toussaint L' Overture

There were revolutions in the Caribbean Islands. On January 1, 1804 Haiti declared independence. This Republic was born in bloody turmoil. In Santa Domingo there was a 20- year struggle. Toussaint L'Ouverture took control of Santa Domingo. He was captured by the French and died in prison. American took no stance in the conflict. The U.S. did help him gain his final victory by blockading his port.

Fancy Girls

These women weresold for $2,500. Quadroon and Octoroon women were often sold for high prices. They were used as mistresses. Free Blacks were kidnapped and sold into slavery. 60,000 slaves were imported into the US between 1810-20. During the 1860s slaves were imported into America from Africa up until the early 1860s.

Barracoons

is a type of barracks used historically for the temporary confinement of slaves or criminals. In the Atlantic slave trade, captured individuals were temporarily transported to and held at barracoons along the western coast of the African continent, where they awaited transportation across the Atlantic Ocean. A barracoon simplified the slave trader's job of keeping the prospective slaves alive and in captivity, with the barracks being closely guarded and the captives being fed and allowed exercise.[2][3] The barracoons varied in size and design, from small enclosures adjacent to the businesses of European traders to larger protected buildings.[4] The amount of time a slave spent inside a barracoon depended primarily on two factors: their health and the availability of slave ships.[4]Many captive slaves died in barracoons, some as a consequence of the hardships they experienced on their journeys and some as a result of their exposure to lethal European diseases (to which they had little immunity).[5]

Creolization

is the process in which Creole cultures emerge in the New World.[1] As a result of colonization there was a mixture between people of indigenous, African, and European descent, which came to be understood as Creolization. Creolization is traditionally used to refer to the Caribbean; although not exclusive to the Caribbean it can be further extended to represent other diasporas.[2] The mixing of people brought a cultural mixing which ultimately led to the formation of new identities. It is important to emphasize that Creolization also is the mixing of the "old" and "traditional," with the "new" and "modern." Furthermore, creolization occurs when participants actively select cultural elements that may become part of or inherited culture.

Dutch West Indian Company

was a chartered company (known as the "WIC") of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx (1567-1647). On June 3, 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the West Indies (meaning the Caribbean) by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America. The area where the company could operate consisted of West Africa (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Americas, which included the Pacific Ocean and the eastern part of New Guinea. The intended purpose of the charter was to eliminate competition, particularly Spanish or Portuguese, between the various trading posts established by the merchants. The company became instrumental in the Dutch colonization of the Americas.

Sojourner Truth

was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, in 1828 she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843. Her best-known speech was delivered extemporaneously, in 1851, at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. The speech became widely known during the Civil War by the title "Ain't I a Woman?," a variation of the original speech re-written by someone else using a stereotypical Southern dialect; whereas Sojourner Truth was from New York and grew up speaking Dutch as her first language. During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, she tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves.

Boston Massacre

After Crispus Attucks was shot in the chest; the soldiers fired on the crowd hitting several other people. At the end of the ten minutes later there were five colonists dead in what later was called the Boston Massacre. Daniel Webster said that it was Attuck's death, which signaled the official break with England.

Edward Rose

..Edward Rose, also known by the names Five Scalps, Nez Coupe and "Cut Nose," was the son of a white trader father and a Cherokee and African American mother. Little else is known about his early life including where he was born. He may have spent some years working on the Mississippi River between southern Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. As a youth, Rose lived with the Crow people in what is now southern Montana and northern Wyoming. He quickly acquired their customs as well as their language. As a result of that early encounter he seemed equally comfortable among Native peoples as among the Euro-American traders and trappers. His first known association with the fur trade came in 1807 when Manuel Lisa, head of the Missouri Fur Company, hired him as an interpreter for Lisa's fur-trading expedition to the Bighorn River in what is now Montana. In 1809 Rose worked for Lisa and his partner, Andrew Henry at their Knife River post in what is now North Dakota The following year Rose traveled with Henry and other trappers as they explored the Madison River in southeastern Montana and the Snake River in Eastern Idaho. In 1811 Wilson Price Hunt, a prominent fur trader working for John Jacob Astor, employed Rose as a guide through Crow Territory; Rose was dismissed, however, when he was suspected of leading the traders into an ambush. The following year at the beginning of the War of 1812, Rose helped Manaul Lisa in keeping the upper Missouri tribes from siding with the British. By the early 1820s, Rose had also learned the Arikara language and was residing with them in North Dakota. In 1823, while serving as a guide and interpreter for William Henry Ashley's expedition up the Missouri River, Ashley disregarded Rose's warnings about an impending Arikara attack. As a result of Arikara depredations, Colonel Henry Leavenworth mounted his 1823 campaign against the Arikara, and Rose served under Leavenworth as interpreter and envoy to the Native Americans in the region. By September 1823, Rose had joined Jedidiah Smith's expedition journeying from the Black Hills (South Dakota) to the Rocky Mountains (Colorado). In 1825, Rose was Colonel Henry Atkinson's interpreter during his Yellowstone expedition. Shortly after this expedition, Rose resumed residency among the Crows and became a famous war chief. The Crows named him "Nez Coupe," meaning "Cut Nose," because his nose was scarred. Rose was sometimes called "Five Scalps" because he killed five Blackfoot single-handedly in battle.

Silver Bluffs Baptist Church

A White Baptist minister named Palmer began preaching to Blacks in the Silver Bluffs region of Savannah. Eight slaves joined his church as a result of what they heard. One of the people who joined was David George and his wife Jessie Porter. George became one of the most effective promoters of the Black Baptist church. Jessie Galphin and Andrew Bryan took the faith to their African American brothers when George left the country with the British. In 1793 it was Galphin who started the First African Church in Augusta, Georgia. Bryan preached to both Blacks and Whites and eventually won the independence of the First African Baptist Church in Savannah.

Aaron Ashworth

Aaron Ashworth, free black colonist and landowner, was born in South Carolina about 1803. In 1833 he followed his brother William Ashworth to Lorenzo de Zavala's colony in East Texas, leaving his home in what is now Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Other relatives named Ashworth also came to the Zavala colony and were affected when the General Council passed an ordinance forbidding the immigration of free blacks into Texas. The law was not enforced against any of the Ashworths. When the Texas Congress passed an act on February 5, 1840, ordering all free blacks to leave the republic within two years or be sold into slavery, white support for the Ashworths came in the form of three petitions requesting their exemption from the act. This support was instrumental in the passage of the Ashworth Act of December 12, 1840. This law exempted the Ashworths and all free blacks resident in Texas on the day of the Texas Declaration of Independence, along with their families, from the act of February 5. In 1850 the census listed Aaron Ashworth as a farmer with a substantial amount of property, including six slaves. He and his wife, Mary, from Kentucky, had six children and a white schoolmaster in residence to tutor their four school-aged children. In 1860 Ashworth owned four slaves, and his property value had increased. He and many of his relatives were obviously respected in their community as wealthy and autonomous free blacks.

Salem Poor

African Americans fought in the war as they have fought in every war we have fought. During the Revolutionary War there were mixed regiments. African Americans were at Lexington and Concord. Blacks participated in all of the early battles of the Revolutionary War. They were at Fort Ticonderoga where the first engagements were held. Salem Poor another black person also distinguished himself by protecting retreating White soldiers from British attack. Poor had enlisted in the Massachusetts 5th regiment in April 1775.

Peter Salem

African Americans fought in the war as they have fought in every war we have fought. During the Revolutionary War there were mixed regiments. African Americans were at Lexington and Concord. Blacks participated in all of the early battles of the Revolutionary War. They were at Fort Ticonderoga where the first engagements were held. They fought at Bunkerhill where Peter Salem a Black soldier killed General John Pitcarin the English commander.

Bishop Bartolomeo de Las Casas

African slavery in the New World began in force after 1517, when a Catholic cleric named, Bartolomeo de Las Casas, who was working with Native American tribes in Haiti, begged King Charles II of Spain to stop using Indians as slaves. De Las Casas, a Catholic Bishop, was concerned, about the Native Americans after witnessing the high mortality rate and the mistreatment Native American slaves suffered. He asked the Spanish Crown to allow each Spanish colonists to have 12 Africans to be used as slaves. He did this out of mercy for the Indians. He did not consider the consequences to the Africans. He would later denounce his decision and asked to have it rescinded. However, he was too late because by the time he realized his error, the African slave trade had begun in force. In Brazil, the Portuguese were making huge profits off the European demand for sugar. As a result they were desperate to find cheap stable labor.

Stono Rebellion

Africans revolted often. Whites in Virginia and Maryland were armed by the eve of the Revolution in anticipation of a slave uprising. In 1720 several slaves were burned alive because of a supposed slave rebellion. The Cato Conspiracy of 1739 began on Stono Plantation near Charleston. Slaves killed 2 guards in a warehouse and marched to Florida. They killed all Whites they encountered on the way. During the revolt, they killed 30 Whites with 44 of them being killed.

Paul Cuffe

As early as 1714 a "native American" from New Jersey proposed a plan for sending Blacks back to Africa. The idea did not die. Just after the Revolutionary War ended Samuel Hopkins, and the Rev. Ezra Stiles discussed the possibility of putting the plan into action. In 1777 a Virginia legislative committee, headed by Thomas Jefferson, set forth a plan of gradual emancipation and deportation. Several organizations for manumission, such as the Connecticut Emancipation Society, had as one of their objectives the colonization of free Blacks. However, nothing created more interest in the colonization movement than the transporting of 38 Blacks to Sierra Leone by Paul Cuffe in 1815. His act symbolized what might be done if more people and organizations, such as the government got involved. It also suggested that some Blacks were willing to go.

University of Sankore

Askiya Muhammad expanded the University of Sankore at Timbuktu. It became a center for study in theology, law, mathematics, and medicine. After Toure was ousted Askia Daud became the next great leader. He ruled from 1549-1582. By the late 1500s Portugal and other Europeans began to encroach on the gold trade. They encouraged kings in Morocco to challenge the West Africa rulers. In 1591 Morocco's king sent a mercenary army of 5,000 Spanish soldiers armed with muskets and canons to attack Gao, Songhay's capital. Only 4,200 of the soldiers survived the march across the Sahara however, they massacred the Songhay elite Calvary which was armed with bows and lances. They sacked the city and then turned to other areas. • They then attacked the University of Sankore, burning the library, and arresting the faculty, including Ahmad Baba the world's leading intellectual at that time. The destruction of the university at Sankore is seen as the end of African hegemony.

Bacon's Rebellion

Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The colony's dismissive policy as it related to the political challenges of its western frontier, along with other challenges including leaving Bacon out of his inner circle, refusing to allow Bacon to be a part of his fur trade with the Native Americans, and Doeg tribe Indian attacks, helped to motivate a popular uprising against Berkeley, who had failed to address the demands of the colonists regarding their safety. About a thousand Virginians of all classes and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, attacking Native Americans, chasing Berkeley from Jamestown, Virginia, and ultimately torching the capital. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists.[2] Government forces from England arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to one more directly under royal control.[3] It was the first rebellion in the American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part; a similar uprising in Maryland took place later that year. The alliance between indentured servants (mostly Caucasians) and Africans (most enslaved until death or freed), united by their bond-servitude, disturbed the ruling class, who responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705[4][5][6] While the farmers did not succeed in their initial goal of driving Native Americans from Virginia, the rebellion did result in Berkeley being recalled to England.

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker a Black mathematician and astronomer wrote Thomas Jefferson and asked him to reconcile his created equal language with his slave holding. Banneker was born in Bannaky, Maryland of mixed heritage on November 9, 1731. His parents Robert and Mary were tobacco farmers. They wanted to make sure that all four of their children had a good education. They sent Benjamin to the Quaker school in the area. He was the only Black child in the school and the only one who could read. He excelled in school and begin to read mathematics and astronomy. Banneker was an extremely intelligent individual. After meeting a man named Levi, Banneker became interested in time pieces. Levi invented small scale time pieces. Banneker wanted to make a large watch which could be viewed by a lot of people at once. He borrowed watches from friends and took them apart to study their inner workings. In 1761 he built a large watch what we would call a clock. It was called the Coo, Coo clock. It was the first one ever made. In 1791 as congress debated the constitution, George Washington assembled the best surveyors in the nation to pick a spot between Maryland and Virginia to build our first capital. Washington named Banneker to the team of surveyors who laid the foundation of what later became Washington D.C. In 1791 he completed his almanac. He began to publish it in 1797. People said that it was better than Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.

Harriet Tubman

Between 1810-50 over 100,000 slaves escaped slavery through the underground railroad. Running away created a safety valve for slaves. Harriet Tubman an escaped slave went south 19 times to help slaves escape. She helped over 300 slaves to freedom. Many slaves were caught and were killed. Some went to swamps and set up communities close to their plantations. Harriet Tubman an escaped slave 19 times went South to help slaves escape. She helped over 300 slaves to freedom. At one point there was a $40,000 reward for her capture dead or alive. In 1849 she escaped slavery running away through Maryland and Delaware. She believed that it was escape or death. During the Civil War Harriet Tubman lead Black soldiers in guerrilla attacks in Maryland and other states. She became the first woman to lead men in battle in the US. After the war she tried to get a soldiers pension but faced stiff opposition from high ranking government officials. She never got her pension. She married Nelson Davis a veteran who soon died and she received a widows pension of $8 a month later raised to $20. She used the money to open a home for indigent African Americans called the John Brown. House.

Indenturement for Life

Black and White servants were equally abused. Even White women were treated the same as Black women when it came to servitude. However, sometime during the mid-seventeenth century everything changed. Black became bad and wrong. White Englishmen began to describe themselves as White instead of Christian or Englishmen. In 1639 Maryland ruled that Christian baptism did not change a slave's status. In 1641 Massachusetts became the first colony to experiment with indenturement for life. They were followed by Connecticut in 1650 and Virginia in 1661. As late as 1651 Blacks were listed in the Virginia census as slaves. One of the problems was the English did not have a legal definition for slavery. There was no way to take a man's freedom unless he had first committed a crime. In order to accomplish their goal the Virginia farmers needed some type of law, which would codify what many of them were already doing. In 1640 some Black servants became indentured servants for life. By that time the distinction between Blacks and White servants was already being established. In that year three indentured servants were recaptured after running away. The two Black servants were forced to serve as servants for life while the White runaway was given an additional year of service. The actual codified institution of slavery came in 1661 when Virginia passed a law saying that Whites who ran away with Blacks would be forced to serve their indenturements for life because Blacks could not have any more time added to their sentence because they were servants for life.

African Methodist Episcopal

In 1816, leading Black Methodist Churchmen from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware met in Philadelphia and established the first independent Black denomination, The African Methodist Episcopal Church. Some slaveholders viewed slaves as individuals with mortal souls. In South Carolina there were 261 white, 1,382 Blacks in the First Baptist Church.

Thomas Peters

Born in Africa and enslaved in America, Thomas Peters is best known for his influence in settling Canadian blacks in the African colony of Sierra Leone. The earliest documentation of Peters' life is as a 38-year-old slave in North Carolina. When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, Peters escaped to British-occupied territory. In 1776 Peters joined an all-black regiment in the British Army called the Black Pioneers. During his service there, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. When the Revolutionary War ended the Black Pioneers were among the thousands of Loyalists transported by the British Navy to the north shore of Nova Scotia and then on to New Brunswick. Peters soon became the recognized leader of the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia black communities, representing their concerns to provincial authorities. In the process, he met abolitionist Granville Sharp, who had developed a plan to create a settlement of free blacks in Africa. He saw in the plight of the Canadian loyalists the opportunity to recruit additional settlers for his African colony. Sharp immediately offered Peters and his Nova Scotian followers a new promised land in the "Province of Freedom" Sierra Leone. Convinced that this was the best solution to the situation facing the Canadian blacks, Peters persuaded thirty families to go to Sierra Leone in 1790. Problems arose in the new colony. Supplies were inadequate, the disease environment took its toll on the newcomers and the settlers slowly adjusted to the climate and new agricultural conditions. When the leaders of the colony seemed unresponsive to these issues, Peters again spoke up for the black settlers. He protested the lies and exaggerations made such as the promises of land grants, no taxation on the lands of the first settlers, and most importantly a democratic government.

Asiento

Both the Spanish and the Portuguese traded their slaves under contracts to private companies. In 1518 Spain gave this private monopoly a name, the Asiento. (contract). The profits were so great that by 1550 the British, French and Dutch had joined the slave trade. During the early 17th century the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of the West African Coast and became the major slave trading country. For the rest of the century most slaves who came to America came on Dutch ships.With the development of other cash crops like, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and rice the demand for slaves increased even more. As England developed its colonies in the West Indies, they expanded the slave trade. They competed with the Dutch and French to control the Asiento. In 1674 they drove the Dutch out and by 1713 the French and Spanish were driven out. After 1713 England controlled the slave trade. They imported about 20,000 slaves per year. By 1640, however, with the growth of sugar plantations in the Caribbean and the corresponding need for labor, the views of the English had changed.

Northwest Ordinance

However, in 1787 the Congress passed the Northwest ordinance, which outlawed slavery in the Northwest territories. There was also a move in the South to end the slave trade. Virginia was the first southern state to do so in 1778. The last southern state to outlaw the slave trade was Georgia in 1798. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson recommended that all territory in the North East be closed to slavery. This was called the Northwest Ordinance. As President Jefferson protected French and Spanish slavery, and opened slavery in the Louisiana Territory.

Nat Turner

If the Denmark Vesey Case frightened whites the Nat Turner case caused them to panic. Nat Turner was a very religious person in South Hampton, Virginia who felt that God had called him to liberate his people. Turner had once escaped slavery only to return. In February 1831 he believed a solar eclipse was a sign to organize a slave rebellion. He selected July 4th as the date. However on July 4th he became ill and postponed the rebellion until he saw another sign. On August 13, he believed he got another sign when the sun turned a peculiar greenish blue. He set the date for August 21. He and his followers began the rebellion at about midnight when he killed Joseph Travis and his family. For some reason he did not kill their infant son. They then began a murderous rampage which resulted in sixty White deaths. They even attacked a boarding house where children were staying and killed them. It just so happened that the state militia was drilling there in the region when the rebellion was held. They came in and attacked the slaves. Over 100 slaves were killed during the assault. The federal troops fired indiscriminately on the slaves. After the rebellion a number of slaves and free Blacks were arrested. Thirteen slaves and four Free Blacks were hung immediately. 150 Nat Turner was arrested on October 30, and was executed on November 11. The result was that most Southern states reinforced their slave codes making life for slaves much worse.

Royal African Company

In 1660, the English government chartered a company called the "Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa." At first the company was mismanaged, but in 1663 it was reorganized. A new objective clearly stated that the company would engage in the slave trade. To the great dissatisfaction of England's merchants, only the Company of Royal Adventurers could now engage in the trade. The Company did not fare well, due mainly to the war with Holland, and in 1667, it collapsed. But out of its ashes emerged a new company: The Royal African Company. Founded in 1672, the Royal African Company was granted a similar monopoly in the slave trade. Between 1680 and 1686, the Company transported an average of 5,000 slaves a year. Between 1680 and 1688, it sponsored 249 voyages to Africa. Still, rival English merchants were not amused. In 1698, Parliament yielded to their demands and opened the slave trade to all.

The Creole

In 1841 a group of enslaved Africans on an American ship The Creole, which was transporting 135 American slaves from Richmond, Virginia to the slave markets in New Orleans, Louisiana overpowered the crew and took command of the ship. The Africans were lead by Madison Washington a very angry slave. Washington had originally escaped slavery in Virginia and moved to Canada where he established a homestead and small farm. However, he was re-enslaved when he was captured trying to get his wife and children out of slavery. Washington worked with a group of 12 others to overpower the crew and take control of the vessel as it rounded the cape of Florida. They sailed the ship to Nassau in the Bahamas, where they were protected by local Black fishermen, granted asylum and given freedom by Britain. They were successful because by 1841 the British had outlawed slavery in all of its territories and had outlawed the return of escaped enslaved Africans. Washington became a hero amongst abolitionists.

George Bonga

In the Minnesota area there were several Blacks who became known for their trapping and trading. Among the many successful Black trappers was Pierre Bonga, an interpreter who did most of the negotiating with the Chippewas for his company. His son George became even more proficient at interpreting than he. His son knew French, English, Chippewas, and several other languages. He was the official negotiator for Governor Lewis Cass, of the Michigan Territory. George Bonga negotiated several treaties for the territory even though he was working for the American Fur Company. After a while he purchased his freedom and became one of the wealthiest and most prominent traders of the area. Bonga Township in Cass County, Michigan is named after his family.

James P. Beckworth

James P. Beckworth is the most known of the Blacks explorers of the American West. Beckworth was born in 1798 of racially mixed heritage. As a young man he served an apprenticeship to a St. Louis blacksmith. After a while he fled the area and headed West. He got a job with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company as a trapper. He quickly became an expert with the gun, bowie knife, and tomahawk. In 1824 he was adopted by the Crow Indians, becoming their beloved "Morning Star" after marrying the Chief's daughter. He lead the Crows in several bloody raids rising to the position of chief. He gained the reputation as the bloody arm. Later he served as a scout in the 3rd Seminole War and then trapped and prospected for gold in California.

Jean J. Dessalines

Jean Jacques Dessalines tookover for Napoleon. He was a military genius who was Francois L'Overtures right- hand man and chief strategist. He was angry with the French and announced, "War for War, crime for crime, atrocity for atrocity." Dessalines forces fought with a ferocity the French had never seen before. They were able to slaughter the French forces. On November 28, 1803, Rochambeau surrendered his forces to Dessalines. The defeat was costly. The French had lost 60,000 men in the fighting. This destroyed Napoleon's plan to establish a French empire in North America using the Louisiana Territory. It also used up valuable funds he needed for his plans in Europe. This forced him to sell the territory to the US. Dewitt Talmadge said that America owes Toussaint L'Overture a debt for the Louisiana Purchase. After Jean-Jacques Dessalines finally took over the island he immediately slaughtered all the Whites. This led to terrible repercussions in America. White Southerners tightened their reins on slaves. The topic of slavery was closed from public discussion. There were numerous cases of slaves murdering their owners and overseers.

William Johnson

Johnson was born into slavery, but his owner (also named William Johnson) emancipated him in 1820 (when he was still a child). His mother Amy had been freed in 1814 and his sister Adelia in 1818. He trained with his brother-in-law James Miller as a barber, and began working in Port Gibson, Mississippi. He returned to Natchez, becoming a successful entrepreneur with a barbershop, bath house, bookstore, and land holdings. He began a diary in 1835, which he continued through the remainder of his life. Also in 1835, he married Ann Battle; the couple had eleven children. Johnson loaned money to many people, including the governor of Mississippi who had signed his emancipation papers. Johnson was murdered in 1851 after an adjudicated boundary dispute, by a mixed-race neighbor named Baylor Winn, in front of his son, a free black apprentice, and a slave.[1] Winn was held in prison for two years and brought to trial twice; Johnson was such a well-respected businessman that the outrage over his murder caused the trial to be held in a neighboring town. In that town no one knew Winn, so they didn't know that he was half-black. Since Mississippi law forbade blacks from testifying against whites in criminal cases, Winn's defense was that he was half-white and half-Native American, making him white by law. The defense worked, none of the (black) witnesses could testify, and Winn escaped conviction.[1] Johnson's diary was rediscovered in 1938 and published in 1951. It reveals much of the daily life of a 19th-century Mississippi businessman, including the fact that he was himself later a slaveholder.

Absalam Jones

Jones organized St. Thomas African Episcopal church. Within a year St. Thomas had a membership of more than 400. By 1812 its membership had increased to 560. By 1812 they had a membership of 1,270. In Philadelphia, in 1790 Free Blacks established their own church. They were followed by blacks in Boston and Savannah. In 1816, leading Black Methodist Churchmen from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware met in Philadelphia and established the first independent Black denomination, The African Methodist Episcopal Church. Some slaveholders viewed slaves as individuals with mortal souls. In South Carolina there were 261 white, 1,382 Blacks in the First Baptist Church.

Joseph Cinque

La Amistad: Joseph Cinque an African Mindingo Prince led 48 other Africans in a revolt on the high seas in 1839. Cinque and the others were kidnapped from their home in Senegal or one if the other Western African nations. The kidnapped African overpowered the crew and took command of the slave trip. The navigated the ship to Long Island, New York. Cinque and the others were arrested and charged with murder and piracy. Cinque and the others were hurt because they spoke no English. Luckily they found a British sailor who spoke Mende their West African language. They used the interpreter to plead their case. Former President John Quincy Adams pleaded the rebels case. After a series of carefully planned delays and appeals by the Federal government the United States Supreme Court finally decided in favor of the Africans. They based their decision on the report of a British official stationed in Cuba who testified that the slaves had been smuggled illegally into Cuba. He argued that smuggling slaves into Cuba violated a treaty agreement between Spain and Britain signed years earlier outlawing the international slave trade. The High Court's decision shocked Whites especially southerners.

Crispus Attucks

On Monday morning March 5, 1770, at about 8:00 am a group of British soldiers armed with cudgels and tongs walked from Murray Barracks near the center of town. A group of colonists described as "saucy boys, Negroes, and mulattoes, Irish Teagues, and outlandish Jack Tars" began to harass the soldiers. At the head of this mob was a 47 year-old muscular runaway slave working as a sailor named Crispus Attucks. He led the crowd in harassing the English soldiers who were attached to the 29th regiment. Attucks was described as tall brawny and with a look that "was enough to terrify any person." The men threw rocks, snowballs and brickbats at the soldiers. Attucks lead the group in pushing the soldiers back towards their barracks. The soldiers called for help and seven soldiers joined them. The soldiers made a half circle around the custom house and then Captain John Preston joined them. He demanded that the group disperse. The soldiers used their bayonets to push the crowd back. Attucks, holding a large stick which he used to strike a soldier, encouraged the crowd by saying, "Don't be afraid. They dare not fire." He challenged the soldiers to "Fire, Fire and be damned." The crowd picked up the chant. Someone threw a stick which hit Private Hugh Montgomery over the head. He stumbled back aimed his rifle and fired. Attucks was hit in the chest.

Phyllis Wheatley

Phyllis Wheatley the beautiful African American poet expressed her desire for freedom through her poems. She came to America in 1761 after being kidnapped and sold into slavery. She did not know what part of African she came from though many suggest Senegambia. Her African name was Fatou. She was taken to Boston where Susannah Wheatley the wife of John Wheatley a Boston merchant was shopping for a female personal servant. Mary Wheatley the Wheatley's daughter taught Phyllis to read and write. Within sixteen months she became fluent in English and began to read every book she could find. She studied Latin at age 12 and pinned her first poem at the age of 14. The Wheatley's were shocked by Phyllis' abilities and showed her off every time they got an opportunity. In 1770 Wheatley gained national attention for her eulogy of George Whitfield the famous preacher. In 1773 The Countess of Huntington paid for her to visit England where an Englishman brought her poems and published them. The book Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral made an immediate impact.

Triangular Trade

Ships left New England with rum, took it to Africa got slaves, took them to the Caribbean got molasses and then took the molasses to New England. New Englanders did own slaves. There were 20,000 slaves in New England. Every phase of the New England economy was associated with slaves. Many slaves were employed as skilled workers. There was a very strict color line in industry. Many of the slaves worked in skilled professions. Prince Fowle, a Black slave, was a pressman for New Hampshire's first paper. Peter Cross a Massachusetts slave was such a good seaman that he managed his owner's ship. Primus a Connecticut slave served as a Doctors apprentice. Slavery was much milder in New England than in any other colony..

Slavery

Slavery was a very violent institution. The lash was always the final arbiter of disputes. Every stage of the African slave trade depended on physical coercion. Africans were torn from their countries sent to a far off land to toil for a strange people. The only way one could get people to do that was to physically coerce them. The routine functioning of the plantation rested on the authority of the owners and their representatives, supported by the state to inflict pain and physical abuse on their human property.

Mali

The Malian empire lasted from 1230-1468. After Ghana was defeated by the Almorvids several nations competed to control northern Africa. In 1235 Mandika, under the leadership of Sundiata, defeated Sosso at the Battle of Kirina. Sundiata then formed the kingdom of Mali. Mandika is where we get Mandingo from. Mali literally means, "Where the Emperor resides." Mali was very similar to Ghana even though it was larger than Ghana. It stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Niger River. It had a population of over 8 million. Sundiata conquered the gold mines of Wangara making his kingdom wealthier than Ghana. After Sundiata's death Mali became a nominally Moslem nation. Mali's leaders used family ties with local chiefs to remain in control. Commerce, bureaucracy and scholarship were very important to holding the empire together. Mali's major commercial city was Timbuktu, which had been founded in the 11th century next to the Niger River close to the Sahara. Walata (Northwest) region and Gao Eastern region were also great commerce and cultural cities.

Ghana

The Ghana Kingdom ruled West Africa from 900-1100. They were a an agricultural peoples until long droughts destroyed their crops. They also had animals like, sheep, cattle, and other animals. They were also known as traders. Their chief trading city was Kumbi Saleh. By 1000 the Muslims controlled the city. They introduced camels to the traders. Ghana's king converted to Islam and then began a massive military buildup. Ghana established a lucrative trade with the Muslim countries of Arabia. Ghana received wheat, fruit, sugar, textiles, brass, pearls, and salt, in trade for ivory, slaves and gold. Ghana's king taxed the trade creating huge wealth for himself. Ghana's kingdom eventually extended over most of North Africa. King Tenkamenin was the best known Ghanaian king. He collected taxes and used the money to build a castle, which he fortified and decorated with sculptures, pictures, and decorated windows. Ghanians practiced several religions. The grounds had temples where people worshipped native gods. The empire was lead by kings, princes, governors, generals, judges, etc. along with other skillful doctors, engineers, architects, artists, mathematicians, and farmers. Gold and iron brought wealth to the empire. Iron use revolutionized the social and military systems.

Sallie Hemmings

Thomas Jefferson was clearly torn by the slavery issue. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson suggested that slavery be ended. Later he drew up a plan to end slavery in his home state of Virginia. The plan was rejected. In 1 784 he drew up a plan to outlaw slavery in the west. His measure was defeated by one vote. Most of America's founding fathers' stances on slavery were hypocritical. Thomas Jefferson seemingly was the biggest hypocrite. Sally Hemmings one of Jefferson's slaves, bore him 5 children between 1795-1808.

Great Awakening

Toward the mid-century, this aversion of both White and Black to slave conversion began to change. The Great Awakening of the late 1730s and early 1740s, the first of a series of religious revivals that swept across America, created new interest among whites both in religion and in converting slaves to Christianity. Of even greater impact were the evangelical revivals of the 1770s and 1780s. Although some evangelicals including at first George Whitefield were critical of slavery, their main impact was not in fostering opposition to the institution but in persuading white Southerners of their Christian duty. To instruct Blacks in the "truths" of the Gospel and treat their slaves in a Christian manner. Evangelicals actively sought out Blacks and poor whites and welcomed them as their spiritual equals. This "mission to the slaves aroused a considerable opposition among many Whites (as well as support from those who believed that "Christianity has a tendency to tame fierce and wild tempers" and did not reach full fruition until the period 1820-1860. As historian John B. Boles noted, "the half century following 1740 was the critical period during which some whites broke down their fears and inhibitions about sharing their religion with the slaves in their midst, and some Blacks only a few at first came to find in Christianity a system of ideas and symbols that was genuinely attractive."

Venture Smith

Venture Smith, born free in Africa but captured and enslaved at the age of eight, became a figure of mythical proportions in New England, where he was known for his great size and strength. Named Broteer by his father, a "Prince of the tribe of Dukandarra" in Guinea, he wrote that "I was descended from a very large, tall and stout race of beings, much larger than the generality of people in other parts of the globe." Legend has it that he was a giant, weighing over 300 pounds. Venture's great size and unwillingness to suffer insult made him a problem for his owners, and he was sold several times before he was able to purchase his freedom in 1765, at the age of thirty-six. When Venture wrote that he had "lost much by misfortunes and paid an enormous sum for my freedom," he was referring to far more than his purchase price of "seventy-one pounds two shillings." Venture was eventually able to liberate his two sons, Solomon and Cuff, his daughter Hanna, his pregnant wife Meg, and their unborn child. Solomon, the eldest son, died aboard a whaling ship, and the new baby was named Solomon in his honor. Cuff, the middle son, enlisted in the Continental army when he was in his early twenties. After the war, he returned to his family in East Haddam Neck, Connecticut. In his latter years, Venture suffered from blindness and ill health. In 1798, a narrative of his life, which he related to a local schoolteacher, was published. He died on September 19, 1805, at the age of seventy-seven.

Seasoning

When English brought in large numbers of new Africans they would first have to season them. This process was called breaking in. The seasoning process generally involved a veteran slave being assigned to a newly arrived African to teach him how to act as a slave. The seasoning process was so brutal that it is estimated that 30% of the newly arriving Africans died during the seasoning. Africans who were sold to planters were generally divided into three categories: Creoles, slaves who were born in the Americas, Old Africans, slaves who had lived in the Americas for some time, and new Africans who had just arrived. For purposes of selling a seasoned Creole slave was worth about 3 times the value of a newly arrived African. Newly arrived Africans were generally referred to as saltwater Negroes or Guinea birds. Seasoning was the process of turning new Africans into Creoles. In the Caribbean this process had a two fold purpose. It was designed to prepare the Africans for life as a slave, but it was also designed to increase an African's value for resale to North American planters. North American planters preferred to purchase seasoned Africans over newly arrived Africans. An African who was not seasoned was referred to as unbroken. The vast majority of Africans, who came to the British colonies in North America before 1720, had already been seasoned in the West Indies. AfteThe seasoning process involved a disciplinary process designed to modify the behavior and attitude of the slaves and make them effective workers. It involved changing the slaves name to recreate them.

Askia Muhammad

When Sunni Ali drowned Askiya Muhammad Toure tookover. He expanded the kingdom northward into Mali and eastward into Hausa land. He centralized the administration, instituted taxation to replace tribute, and established an elaborate bureaucracy. He was a devout Muslim who used his influence to spread the religion. He established diplomatic relations with Egypt and Morocco. His 1497 pilgrimage to Mecca included 500 cavalry men and one thousand infantry, and 300,000 pieces of gold 100,000 of which he gave as gifts in Islamic cities along the way. He expanded the University of Sankore at Timbuktu. It became a center for study in theology, law, mathematics, and medicine. Muhammad Toure was deposed by his family. By then he was old, blind, and senile.

Quakers

When slavery first began in colonies, in the area called North Carolina large numbers of Quakers had a profound effect on slavery. They forced slave owners to treat their slaves fairly and also encouraged religious instruction for slaves. Later they would discourage members from purchasing slaves and also they denounced the slaves trade. There was a relatively good relationship established between slave owners and slaves in the North Carolina area. There were no real slave rebellions in North Carolina partly because of the small number of slaves and also because of the relative calm relationships between slave owners and slaves. North Carolina had about 19,000 African Americans and 18,000 Whites.

Denmark Vessey

Whenever a slave rebellion was discovered it produced fear all over the South. In 1822 the Denmark Vesey Conspiracy took place. Denmark Vesey was born in Africa in 1767. In 1781 a slave trader named Joseph Vesey transported 390 slaves to St. Dominique. Vesey was one of those slaves. At the age of 14 he was sold to Joseph Vesey of Charleston. He served as a ship carpenter for a number of years sailing with his owner. In 1800 after winning a $1500 lottery, he paid $600 for his freedom and set up a carpenter shop in Charleston South Carolina. He married a slave woman, had children, and joined the African Church. He was multilingual. He opposed slavery. He wanted to emancipate his children and wife. He was very proud and refused to bow to whites. He preached to slaves about the evils of slavery. He used Bible verses and stories of the old Israelites as his motifs. In 1818 he began to plan a slave rebellion. He recruited slaves in the South Carolina area for the rebellion. He chose urban and industrial slaves for his plot. He obtained wigs, whickers, and other disguises, while amassing firearms. Peter Poyas a first rate ship carpenter, Mingo Harth a mechanic, Perault Strohecker and Tom Russell were black smiths, Monday Gell was a harness maker, and Gullah Jack Pritchard was a conjurer and important leader in the African church. The African church was one of the centers in the plot. Most of these men had an African heritage and were not as acculturated to America.

Cotton Kingdom

With the end of the War of 1812, there was worldwide peace. The result was that nations once again began to concentrate on economic growth. The result was that the demand for cotton increased. As the demand increased so did the desire for new lands to grow it. The West was rapidly developing during the post war years. Literally, thousands of people settled into the Gulf region to take advantage of the good lands in the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama areas. The result was a very extensive plantation system developed which was almost wholly depended upon cotton. Louisiana became a state in 1812. It's population increased dramatically as the demand for cotton and sugarcane increased. Slaveholding planters flooded into the area to cultivate the rich soil. With the success of the farming ventures in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, in 1817 and 1819 respectively, quickly joined the union with very similar economic model as Louisiana. Between 1810 and 1820 the number of people living in this region from about 40,000 to well over 200,000. By 1940 there were more than 1 million people living in this region. The Black population had also grown rapidly during this period. In 1820 there were only about 75,000 Blacks in the Mississippi- Alabama area. However, by 1840 there were more than a half million. The tremendous increase in both the Black and White population worked together to create what became known as the Cotton Kingdom.

John Hawkins

With the end of the monopoly, the number of slaves transported on English ships would increase dramatically -- to an average of over 20,000 a year. By the end of the 17th century, England led the world in the trafficking of slaves. In 1552 Sir John Hawkins became the first Englishman to transport slaves from Africa's Guinea Coast. The Rainbow was the first American ship to go to Africa in search of slaves.

John Russworm

Without an independent Black press people would have to ask Whites what Blacks thought about important topics. With urbanization and the increase in the number of literate free-Blacks there was no longer a need to have a White filter for Black news. The result of this was that two African Americans in New York City decided to open a Black newspaper. They wanted to give an unadulterated version of the African American opinion. John Russwurm was only the second African American to graduate from a White college in the US. He was a native of Jamaica who received a degree from Bowdoin College. He worked with Reverend Samuel Cornish a minister in the same city to found the first African American public voice.

Samuel Cornish

Without an independent Black press people would have to ask Whites what Blacks thought about important topics. With urbanization and the increase in the number of literate free-Blacks there was no longer a need to have a White filter for Black news. The result of this was that two African Americans in New York City decided to open a Black newspaper. They wanted to give an unadulterated version of the African American opinion. John Russwurm was only the second African American to graduate from a White college in the US. He was a native of Jamaica who received a degree from Bowdoin College. He worked with Reverend Samuel Cornish a minister in the same city to found the first African American public voice.