The "Old South" Myth The "Old South" Myth and Reality of a Slave and Reality of a Slave

SocietySociety

"The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice." - Mark Twain

We are told by Hickman that we are helpless--that the powerful North will not allow us to act; and by Lovejoy, that we are compelled to import a certain amount of female virtue from the North annually, to keep up a show of decency! Son of the South! have you a mother, a sister, or wife?

KGC, 1860

Neither Gender, Race nor Field/House Slave Status Protected any Slaves

• “Everybody in the South seemed to want the privilege of whipping somebody else. Uncle Isaac, though a good old man, shared the common passion of his time and country. I cannot say I was much edified by attendance upon his ministry. There was even at that time something a little inconsistent and laughable, in my mind, in the blending of prayer with punishment.”– Autobiography of Frederick

Douglass

How We Dealt with Race in How We Dealt with Race in the Case of the Case of

Pocahontas and John SmithPocahontas and John Smith

Accumulation of Capital and the Rise of a Ruling Class

The Culture of the Planter Class: Gentlemen, Ladies and

Pastoral Splendor

• Was this a reaction to . . . .

Life in Early Jamestown Colony

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."

— Frederick Douglass

Slave Life: Culture and ReligionSlave Life: Culture and Religion

Slave Quarters

Southern Mythology: The Happy Slaves (upper left); bed replica (lower left)

Slave Life in the Slave Quarters

Where Would You Rather Be?

Field Labor

Romanticism in the old south: A warping of History Culture and diversity.

House Labor: Intimate Relation Creates Tensions Within both the Black and White Communities

The Double-edged Status of Southern Womanhood

Practice of Hanging by Hooks in the Caribbean

Brutality and Relations with Slaves: Whipping

The Complex Racial Dynamics of Brutality

Race Takes a Back Seat in the Caribbean

ResistanceResistance

CultureCultureReligionReligionRunningRunningMaroonsMaroonsRebellionRebellion

First Resistance at SeaFirst Resistance at Sea

Creating Cultures of Resistance:The Formation of an African American Identity

Slaves Imported part of their West African Heritage and Culture to the New World.

The Banjo was one example of transplanted African Culture

Creole Dance Master Teaching a Student

African American Musical Forms: Creole, Spirituals, Call and Response, Work Chants

Midnight Funeral

Inventing Community Rituals in a Foreign Land: Grief as Solidarity

Religious Service in Slave Quarters

Christianity Goes Underground

Running

The Role of the Quilt

North Star

Shoofly

Armed ResistanceArmed Resistance

1811 Revolt in New Orleans

• New Orleans had a population of 25,000 of which 11000 were slaves / up to 6000 free blacks

• The Largest Slave Revolt in U.S. History– 500 Slaves form a formal military force and seek to

liberate the whole territory– Led by a slave named Charles– Revolt only lasted two days, but dozens of whites

were killed / More than 40 of the rebelling slaves were executed and their heads mounted on pikes to discourage further revolts

Fort Mose 1681-1763

John Horse and the Only Successful American Slave Revolt

• 1826 John Horse engages in turtle ruse • 1835 Dade's Massacre 1836 John Horse fights valiantly at Wahoo Swamp • 1837 John Horse signs articles halting the war• 1837 Osceola, Sam Jones, John Horse lead flight from Tampa • 1837 Jesup captures Osceola & John Horse under white flag • 1837 Seminole leaders escape from Fort Marion • 1837 Battle of Okeechobee 1838 John Horse surrenders under promise of

freedom • 1838 Black Seminoles emigrate West with Indians • 1839 John Horse returns to Florida as Army scout 1• 840 Susan and John Horse marry • 1841 Coacoochee surrenders • 1844 Coacoochee leads delegation to Washington • 1844 1st assassination attempt on John Horse • 1845 Jesup brings Seminole case before President • 1848-49 Government ruling threatens John Horse's family with slavery • 1849 200 Seminole allies head for Mexico where slavery is outlawed • 1850 Seminole allies cross to freedom in Mexico • 1851-54 Seminole allies protect Mexico from Apaches & Comanches • 1851-59 Texas slavers try to capture Black Seminoles in Mexico • 1859 Black Seminoles move to Laguna de Parras• 1864 John Horse serves as colonel in Mexican Army • 1871 John Horse advises Scouts at Fort Duncan • 1872-1914 Scouts' families settle on Las Moras Creek in Brackettville • 1876 Assassins try to kill John Horse in Brackettville • 1877 John Horse returns to Nacimiento 1881 Nacimiento grant is threatened

1882 John Horse travels to Mexico City to protect grant• 1882 John Horse plans visit to Dictator Diaz • 1882 John Horse dies in Mexico City • 1887 Porfirio Diaz protects the Nacimiento land grant

Resistance and Abolitionism

Different Means, Different Ends and Eventually . . .

By Any Means Necessary

• "I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of 'stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.' I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. . . .

• The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The slave prison and the church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious psalm and solemn prayer in the church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies and souls of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the garb of Christianity. Here we have religion and robbery the allies of each other—devils dressed in angels’ robes, and hell presenting the semblance of paradise."

– Frederick Douglass (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass)

The American Anti Slavery Society, 1833

The American Colonization Society, 1817

The Abolitionists: All on Fire, William Lloyd Garrison

55 Whites Killed in Revolt

“There is no Negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution...”

Frederick DouglassBlack Abolitionists

Abolitionist Tracts

Exposing Slavery

Isabella Baumfree

1797?-1883

Soujourner Truth

I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And a'n't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear de lash a well! And a'n't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a'n't I a woman?

In 1834 the Philadelphia A.S. [Anti-Slavery] Society was formed, and, being actively associated in the efforts for the slaves' redemption, I have travelled thousands of miles in this country, holding meetings in some of the slave states, have been in the midst of mobs and violence, and have shared abundantly in the odium attached to the name of an uncompromising *modern* abolitionist, as well as partaken richly of the sweet return of peace attendant on those who would 'undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke.'

In 1840, a World's Anti-slavery Convention was called in London. Women from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, were delegates to that convention. I was one of the number; but, on our arrival in England, our credentials were not accepted because we were women. We were, however, treated with great courtesy and attention, as strangers, and as women, were admitted to chosen seats as spectators and listeners, while our right of membership was denied--we were voted out.

This brought the Woman question more into view, and an increase of interest in the subject has been the result. In this work, too, I have engaged heart and hand, as my labors, travels, and public discourses evince. The misrepresentation, ridicule, and abuse heaped upon this, as well as other reforms, do not, in the least, deter me from my duty. To those, whose name is cast out as evil for the truth's sake, it is a small thing to be judged of man's judgement.

This imperfect sketch may give some idea of the mode of life of one who has found it 'good to be always zealously affected in a good thing.'

Lucretia MottAbolitionism and

Feminism

The Underground Railway

HarrietTubman

". . . a live runaway could do great harm by going back; a dead one tells no secrets."