KALEIDOSCOPE – DIVIDED SOUTH –BUT UNIFIED BY RACISM AND REGIONAL

IDENTITYAGRARIAN

COTTON BOOM

The Antebellum South

Essential Questions: Was slavery profitable? How do cotton and slave holding

shape southern culture? What is the nature of white social

structure? What is the interaction between

white and slave culture like? What are the characteristics of

slave culture? What factors made the South a

“Closed” society? How does southern society contrast

with that developing in the North?

Slavery and the Nation

“Slavery shaped the lives of all Americans, white as well as black. It helped to determine where they lived, how they worked and under what conditions they could exercise their freedoms of speech, assembly and press.

Northern merchants and manufacturers participated in the slave economy and shared in its profits. Money earned in the cotton trade helped to finance industrial development and internal improvements in the North.” Foner

Two Souths

Upper South Agriculturally

diverseSlave trade Second Middle

Passage

Lower South Cotton Dependant Opportunity “white gold”

King Cotton

Great profit but skewed opportunity One way to gain wealth S. remains rural & agrarian – fewer

immigrants – little for free white laborFew/no manufacturing opportunities Single crop dependant Dependant on N. for capital & marketWealthy but fears colonial status and

becoming a minority – how to protect social system = key issue

Critics: dependence on N.

“The South Grew, But Did Not develop.”

DeBow Need for

diversification1845 – First textile

mill - Richmond

Gregg Need for

industrialization

Slavery

Primarily a system to control & manage labor

Essential to the profitability of the large plantation

Essential to the social system of the South

25% - slave holding75% non-slave-holding 1-3% = gentry---controls political,

economic and social system

Southern Agriculture

18201820

18601860

Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)

The “Plain Folk”The “Plain Folk”[white yeoman farmers][white yeoman farmers]

““Slavocracy”Slavocracy”[plantation owners][plantation owners]

Black FreemenBlack Freemen

Black SlavesBlack Slaves3,200,0003,200,000

Total US Population --> Total US Population --> 23,000,00023,000,000

[9,250,000 in the South = 40%][9,250,000 in the South = 40%]

6,000,0006,000,000

250,000250,000

Value of Cotton Exports Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US ExportsAs % of All US Exports

Value of Cotton Exports Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US ExportsAs % of All US Exports

White Social Structure

Planter Elite – planter = 20 slaves; 800-1000 acres Self made businessmen Chivalry & paternalism “paternal ethos” the “family” – idea “masks

and justifies the brutal reality of slavery” 316

Limited contact w/ slaves (overseers)Plantation Mistress

Isolated Many responsibilities Miscegenation Benefit from slave - holding

White Social Structure – the plain folk

Yeomen Farmers – 80-160 acres; no slaves

Lack capital & credit Lack access to transportation and

marketing Isolated – geographically & socially Livestock, subsistence farming Limited class conflict –RACISM Ideas of liberty White supremacy

White Social Structure:

Mountaineers- isolated; autonomous; resented any government and planters

Non-land holding tenant farmers – want land – no capital

Poor whites – virtually no economic opportunity; resent planters; hate slaves/free blacks

Why support for slave-holding system?

Planter/cotton control of the economic, social & political system

Status anxiety - white supremacyHopes and opportunity Challenge – Helper; Yeomen hurt by

slavery, can’t compete; limits opportunity

Interaction of the communities

Peculiar Institution = defining of the culture – OURS; superior & unifying

Separate spheres – but bondedSlaves better treatment in US due to

closed slave trade – large natural increase

Characteristics: white to black Paternalism –white supremacy Principle of fear – must control labor

sale & family division; the whip; literacy Commodification – Johnson essay Internal divisions & non-gendered work Incentives

slave codes

A Real Georgia PlantationA Real Georgia PlantationA Real Georgia PlantationA Real Georgia Plantation

““Hauling the Whole Week’s Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings” Brown, 1842Pickings” Brown, 1842

““Hauling the Whole Week’s Hauling the Whole Week’s Pickings” Brown, 1842Pickings” Brown, 1842

Slaves WorkingSlaves Workingin a Sugar-Boiling Housein a Sugar-Boiling House

Slaves WorkingSlaves Workingin a Sugar-Boiling Housein a Sugar-Boiling House

Slave Auction Notice, 1823Slave Auction Notice, 1823Slave Auction Notice, 1823Slave Auction Notice, 1823

The Ledger of John WhiteThe Ledger of John WhiteThe Ledger of John WhiteThe Ledger of John White

Matilda Selby, 9, $400.00 sold to Mr. Covington, St. Louis, $425.00

Brooks Selby, 19, $750.00 Left at Home – Crazy

Fred McAfee, 22, $800.00 Sold to Pepidal,Donaldsonville, $1200.00

Howard Barnett, 25, $750.00 Ranaway. Sold out of jail, $540.00

Harriett Barnett, 17, $550.00 Sold to Davenport and Jones, Lafourche, $900.00

Slave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave AccoutrementsSlave Accoutrements

Slave muzzleSlave Master

Brands

Belled Slave Collar

Slave leg irons

Slave tag, SC

Slave shoes

Caricatures

1. “SAMBO” pattern of behavior used as a charade in front of whites [the innocent, laughing black man caricature – bulging eyes, thick lips, big smile, etc.].

A Real Mammy & Her ChargeA Real Mammy & Her ChargeA Real Mammy & Her ChargeA Real Mammy & Her Charge

Fears of the Planter Elite

Slave Revolts – Prosser, Vesey, TurnerLoss of the support of the Yeoman

farmers - HelperIdeas of the abolitionists (1831 –

Garrison and The Liberator) Gag rule

Anti-Slave PamphletAnti-Slave PamphletAnti-Slave PamphletAnti-Slave Pamphlet

Gabriel Prosser

1800

1822

A Horrid Massacre in Virginia

Nat Turner’s Rebellion: A Historical MarkerYou have been commissioned by the state of Virginia Historical Trust to develop an historical marker that will be

placed along the roadside adjacent to the area to the area impacted by Nat Turner and his followers. Your task is to develop the inscription for the marker that describes your interpretation of Nat Turner and his actions. Your inscriptions should take

into account:The specific factors involved in the eventThe various reactions to Nat Turner (artistic, and other)

Why I came to this decision (What documents most impacted your decisions and why):

The Richmond Enquirer and Richmond Whig, 1831

Both newspapers were published in a southern city and were read widely by planters throughout the region. Tended to promote the

political views of the upper-class planters who paid to subscribe to

the paper.

Thomas R. Grey, The Confessions of Nat Turner, 1831

After his capture and arrest on October 30, 1831, Nat Turner was imprisoned in the Southampton County Jail, where he was

interviewed by Thomas R. Gray, a Southern physician, failed planter and

slave owner. Grey stated that only Turner’s words were recorded but in numerous instances Grey’s words appear in the

“Confessions.”

William S. Drewery, Slave Insurrections in Virginia, 1900

A white Virginian who grew up near the area of the rebellion and descended from a

family of planters and slave owners. He studied Nat Turner for his dissertation at Johns Hopkins. He read lots of primary

sources, interviewed whites and blacks that knew people alive in 1831. He believed that slavery was a good thing that slaves were

happy, and that slaves rarely rebelled.

John W. Cromwell-“The Aftermath of Nat Turner’s Insurrection,” TheJournal of Negro History, 1920

Born a slave in Portsmouth, Virginia his father purchased the families freedom and sent John to a private school in Philadelphia. He became a teacher,

writer, and political activist. Was one of the first to write in what will eventually be

called African American History.

Herbert Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, 1943

Hated segregation and racial stereotypes, believed that slavery was exploitive and that slave rebellions occurred frequently. Was a

member of the Communist Party of the United States, and in the 1950s was blacklisted for his beliefs. A committed labor unionist, he

believed that tensions between social classes were important to understanding the past.

Learning to Think Historically: A Tool for Attacking Historical Sources

Text: What is visible/readable--what information is provided by the source?

Context:

What was going on during the time period? What background information do you have that helps explain the information found in the source?

Subtext:

What is between the lines? Must ask questions about:

Author: Who created the source and what do we know about that person? Audience: For whom was the source created? Reason: Why was this source produced at the time it was produced?

On the night of 21-22 August 1831, Nat Turner, a slave preacher, began an insurrection some seven miles

west with a band that grew to about 70. They moved northeast toward the Southampton County seat, Jerusalem

(now Courtland), killing about 60 Whites. After two days militiamen and

armed civilians quelled the revolt. Turner was captured on 30 October, tried and convicted, and hanged 11 November; some 30 Blacks were

hanged or expelled from Virginia. In response to the revolt, the General

Assembly passed harsher slave laws and censored abolitionists.

Slave Rebellions Throughout the Slave Rebellions Throughout the AmericasAmericas

Slave Rebellions Throughout the Slave Rebellions Throughout the AmericasAmericas

1831

Nat Turner’s Rebellion Garrison – abolitionist ideas – The Liberator Br – abolished slavery throughout the

empire Virginia debate Impact – stifle dissent and increase

advocacy of the pro-slavery ideology -- Southern solidarity and insularity

Lincoln – reasoning to support those who benefit

Virginia Debate 1831-1832

Issue = gradual emancipation Last open discussion of slave holdingClosed Mind/Closed Society – stifle

dissentShows division of Upper and Lower

South Planter elite ----solidarity (Calhoun) –

creates unity and identity

Pro-Slavery Arguments“slavery as a positive good” (change in

emphasis) creates stronger control & unity – a perfect hierarchal, orderly society – everyone knows one’s place – creates stability and success

White Supremacy = basis of unityBiblical, political, scientific, economic

and social arguments (Fitzhugh) – key to progress

Contrast w/ “wage slavery” of the NorthNo true freedom for whites w/o slavery Stifle dissent – “closed mind, closed

society”

Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda

Southern Pro-SlaverySouthern Pro-SlaveryPropagandaPropaganda

Interaction of communities

Characteristics: black to white Dual socializationImpenetrable maskFree blacks

More urban areas Cities – craftsmen more autonomy More in upper South More females More mulattoes More restricted – fragile freedoms – caste Discrimination (true N & S) Negro Convention

Slave CulturePermits community, growth and

psychological support for survivalUnique – created from African

tradition and American experienceDual socialization – folk tales Impenetrable mask

Grounding InstitutionsReligionInvisible

institution AME Ring shoutAffirmation and Joy OWN institution spirituals

FamilyNuclear, but within

community Traditional gender

roles - slave qtrsEquality of

powerlessnessNorms w/in culture Kinship/sisterhood

“othermothers” Threats – break up

Plantation Burial - Antrobus

Slave Resistance

Revolts – Prosser, Vesey, TurnerEscape – URR Daily resistance; “silent sabotage” Power of community - negotiationCulture and institutions LiteracySupport from free blacks

Negro Convention

Takaki – A Different Mirror

slave resistance“The reality for many slaves may

have been even more complex than a duality of roles. Some Sambo-like behavior may have been not so much a veil to hide inner emotions as a means of expressing them. Lying, stealing, laziness, immaturity and ignorance all contained within them an aggressive quality; they constituted, in effect, resistance to efficiency, discipline, work and productivity.”

Runaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave Ads

Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages

Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages

The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.

Ideas of FREEDOM

WhiteHegemonic – owning

and controlling Structured society Freedom – tied to

slave holding systemFreedom = a

privilegeObedienceThe Priestly tradition

Black The ideals of the

declaration The injustice of

slaveryFreedom = a rightConstant goal –

jubilee The ExodusThe Prophetic

tradition

Political Impact N-S

Cultures quite similar – but defined by diverging cultures yeomen Belief in (and seeking) opportunity – for

white men Belief in democracy Socially egalitarian Evangelical Protestants

Whigs & Democrats – both can be destabilized