Lesson 6: Slavery in theColonies

Unit 4: Colonial Life

The Life ofEnslavedAfricans

Slavery and theThree Colonial

Regions

Discrimination

and FreeAfricans

Slave Codes

and the Move toRacial Slavery

Development of

African-AmericanCulture

eryintheColonies

Slave Codesand the Move

to RacialSlavery

1640 John Punch, a runaway black servant, is sentenced to servitude for life. Punch is the first documented slave for life.

1640 New Netherlands law forbids residents from harboring or feeding runaway slaves.

1640A South Carolina law forbids slaves from learning to read or write and made it a crime for others to teach them. Othercolonies will then pass similar laws.

1641 Massachusetts becomes the first colony to legalize slavery. This will then be repeated in the other colonies.

1662Virginia enacts a law of ‘hereditary slavery’ which meant that a child born to an enslaved mother inherited her slavestatus.

1664The State of Maryland mandates lifelong servitude for all black slaves. New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas, andVirginia all pass similar laws.

1680The State of Virginia forbids blacks from bearing arms, prohibits blacks from congregating in large numbers, andmandates harsh punishment for slaves who try to escape.

1691Virginia passes a law that declares any white man or woman who married a black, mulatto or Indian would be banishedfrom the colony forever.

1691 Virginia prohibits the freeing of slaves within its borders. Freed slaves are forced to leave the colony.

1702New York passes An Act for Regulating Slaves. Among the prohibitions of this act are meetings of more than threeslaves, trading by slaves, and testimony by slaves in court.

1703 Connecticut assigns the punishment of whipping to any slaves who disturb the peace.

1705The Virginia Slave Code defines all slaves as real estate and denies slaves the right to bear arms or move abroadwithout written permission

1705 New York declares that punishment by execution will be applied to certain runaway slaves.

1708 Rhode Island requires that slaves be accompanied by their masters when visiting the homes of free persons.

1715 Maryland declares all slaves entering the province and their descendants to be slaves for life.

1723 Virginia outlaws the freeing of slaves.

1640John Punch, a runaway black servant, is sentenced toservitude for life. Punch is the first documented slavefor life.

1640 New Netherlands law forbids residents fromharboring or feeding runaway slaves.

1640A South Carolina law forbids slaves from learning toread or write and made it a crime for others to teachthem. Other colonies will then pass similar laws.

1641Massachusetts becomes the first colony to legalizeslavery. This will then be repeated in the othercolonies.

1662Virginia enacts a law of ‘hereditary slavery’ whichmeant that a child born to an enslaved motherinherited her slave status.

1664The State of Maryland mandates lifelong servitude forall black slaves. New York, New Jersey, the Carolinas,and Virginia all pass similar laws.

Indentured

Servitude

RacialSlavery

Slavery and theThree Colonial

Regions

Enslaved Africans were only forced towork in the Southern Colonies, not theother two regions.

Agree or disagree?????

New York

• The use of enslaved Africans began inNew Netherland in 1626 when theywere forced to clear the forests, layroads, build public buildings andgrow food.

• When the English took over, they usedthis colony as a market for slaves.

New Jersey

In 1664, the English proprietors of thiscolony offered 60 acres of land, perslave, to any man who importedAfricans as slaves to the colony.

Pennsylvania

•Enslaved Africans were working in thiscolony as early as 1639. When theEnglish took over in 1664, thiscontinued.

•Enslaved people were auctioned openlyin the Market House of Philadelphia.

Massachusetts

• The first enslaved Africans arrived inBoston in 1638.

• Massachusetts merchants becameinvolved in the slave trade andsupplied enslaved Africans toConnecticut and Rhode Island.

Connecticut

• Enslaved people are mentioned inhistorical records in Hartford in 1639and in New Haven in 1644.

• By the late 1700s Connecticut had thelargest number of enslaved Africansin New England.

Rhode Island

Newport and Bristol were majorslave trade markets.

The Life of EnslavedAfricans

Lizzie's Story

Characters:· Narrator· Lizzie, A young enslaved girl living in colonial

times· Mum Bett, Lizzie's older sister· Mrs. Hannah Ashley, wife of Lizzie and Mum

Bett's owner, Colonel John AshleyScene: The Ashley house in a small town in

Massachusetts during the 1700s. Mum Bett sits in acorner of the kitchen, working on some sewing.

True Story: Mum Bett and her sister were slaves in the Ashleyfamily home in Massachusetts. There, they were subjectto the violent eruptions of their mistress. When Mrs.Ashley attempted to hit her sister with a hot shovel,Mum Bett rushed between them, taking the blowherself. The burning iron left an indelible scar.

In the years leading up to 1776, the streets ofMassachusetts were flooded with talk of Americanfreedom. So was the residence of Colonel Ashley, whohosted meetings of impassioned revolutionaries. MumBett took great interest in the sentiments she overheardon the way to market and listened carefully to theconversations of the men she served at the Colonel'sdining table. Inspired by America's fight for liberty, Mum Bett and aslave named Brom took their own battle for freedom tocourt. Both won their independence. Mum Bett, whochanged her name to Elizabeth Freeman, set the stagefor the abolition of Massachusetts slavery

Development of

African-AmericanCulture

5 – U2.2.3: Describe how Africans living in NorthAmerica drew upon their African past(e.g., sense of family, role of oraltradition) and adapted elements of newcultures to develop a distinct African-American culture.

The Importance ofOral Tradition

The Importance ofFamily

Discrimination andFree Africans

• A 1690 Connecticut law forbid free blacks and Native Americansfrom being on a street after 9 PM.

• In 1717, the citizens of New London, Connecticut voted theirobjection to free blacks living in the town or owning landanywhere in the colony in a town meeting.

• Free blacks were barred, by law, from owning land in colonialNew Jersey.

• Laws in Pennsylvania controlled the lives of free blacks. After1700 blacks, free or enslaved, were tried in special courts, withouta jury.

• In 1718, a law was passed in Rhode Island stated: When anyenslaved African is caught in the home of a free black person,both will be whipped.

New HistoricalEvidence

African Burial Ground – New York City

Triumph of the Human Spirit

32contradiction

when two ideas or actions are inconflict

SS050309)

FREEDOM

Colonial Toys

Nine Men’s Morris