benevolent plan of France and Spain in improving the condition of their
slaves; and to open a way for the admission of reason, religion, liberty
and law among creatures of our kind who were deprived of every
advantage, of every privilege, which as partakers of our common nature
they were capable of and entitled to (Ramsay).
We have been instructed to look at the Negro as "idle, worthless,
indolent and disloyal," but a careful examination of the West Indies and
South America does not show this to be true. Many instances of
advancement by hard industry can be noted in any of the many spots of
the New World. There is not a single field of industrial activity in
which the descendants of the African have not contributed their mite
toward an improvement of the conditions which the gold seekers and
pleasure hunters were wont to overlook. The commercial activities, the
irrigation of fields, the working of the mines where the labor of Negro
slaves and free men was paramount, the untold number of ships loaded
down with merchandise and precious metals wending their way to Europe to
support monarchies and provide pleasure for parasites, all this depended
upon the unrequited toil of Negroes, which cannot be computed in dollars
and cents because it would form a ladder, like Jacob's, which would
reach to the very gates of Heaven.
Under the institution of slavery which curbed the aspirations of the
Negro, it was not possible to expect the race to have shown any capacity
except for hard labor in the fields which the lash accelerated. In most
islands there was nothing else but agriculture fields to be cleared and
developed with religion to mitigate and console the workers. The profits
which were uppermost in the minds of the masters were gathered regularly
and yielded handsomely.
The African people have been one of the earliest acquainted with cotton.
A careful examination of available historical material shows that while
Europe was still dressing in goat skins and grass goods the Negro
peoples of Africa had been using cotton goods. Miss Kingsley relates
that the cloth loom was invented by natives of the Eboe tribe, but many
varieties of looms were common to the people of the Soudan. The
prevailing color of the cloth from Guinea is blue and it is distinctly
quaint, so enduring and pleasing that it has been handed down from the
hoary ages to the present day. The dyes of the natives obtained from
vegetable matter and other unknown primitive processes, have always won
the admiration of the appreciative world. Europeans have admired the
quality and durability of these cloths. The work of African looms in
their primitive frames can be seen in the Museums of Natural History in
London, Paris, Berlin and New York. They are indeed fine specimens of
African handiwork and authorities have said that they would do credit to
any Manchester or Birmingham looms.
It is said that native cloth manufactured at Kano is not very old and
that it probably came from the Songhay country, but according to El
Bekri, the Arab historian, and other ancient geographers, the art of
weaving was very flourishing on the Upper Nile, especially in the town
of Silla from very ancient times and as early as the eleventh century,
the cotton cloth was called in this region by the same name it bears to
this day, namely, "shigge."
The English West Indies exported to Britain during the year 1760
9,535,010 pounds of cotton. By 1787 this amount had increased to
18,716,445 pounds; in 1801 to 42,090,765, and in 1811 it was 41,735,555,
according to William Irving, Inspector General of the London
Customhouse.
It has been stated that just before the war of American independence the
slaves in the sugar colonies did not exceed the fortieth part of the
inhabitants of the British Empire, yet they contributed in that
neglected state perhaps a sixth part of the revenue. The British Isles
contained a population of nearly 11,500,000; North America, 2,600,000
with 400,000 slaves, which made 3,000,000; the West Indies 82,000
freemen and 418,000 slaves.
The Negroes under the terrifying and debasing influence of slavery were
able to improve their condition by that cheerful spirit which holds them
together even in these days of dark clouds, with a silver lining. The
cheerfulness of these sons of Africa has been their redeeming quality
through all their privations and sufferings; their chants and songs,
whether in the hearing of their masters or among themselves, were full
of soul and feeling. They kept body and soul together after the arduous
day's labor under the torrid rays of the sun. Whereas the Indians gave
way under the milder system of slavery, the Negroes grew stronger under
its despotism. They were able in the production of sugar cane to become
experts in the tempering of the cane juice for the various degrees of
sugar, which today require analytical chemists to supervise its improved
manufacture and Negroes were in charge of this delicate branch of the
industry on many plantations. In the distillation of rum they were
proficient and many were excellent mechanics.
In the production of cocoa, in Venezuela, Suriname and Trinidad, the
labor of Negroes gave it such an impetus and stability that the eminent
Humboldt, in his travels through South America could not but speak in
the highest terms of those plantations that devoted their time to the
improvement of this industry.
Since the bringing of the Mocha coffee into Santo Domingo as an
experiment, with the brawny arm of the black son of toil the production
of coffee has reached the incredible amount of 100 millions of pounds,
and, in Brazil, where to balance the supply and demand the government
provides an excellent system which permits the exportation of only the
amount necessary for the world's consumption each year.
The pearl fisheries of America lost their commercial importance with the
wave of Emancipation by the nations whose souls were steeped in
ignominious sin. But in the earliest days it was one of the most
lucrative industries. The work was done exclusively by Negroes who were
expert swimmers and divers, capable of holding their breath a long time
in ten or fifteen fathoms of briny water, while searching for
pearl-bearing shells. There was always great danger from man-eating
sharks and the octopus, which killed and mangled many expert divers. In
numberless Spanish galleons were carried the riches which have been
reported from time to time in official papers as having paid the fifths
to the coffers of the state. For instance, Southey says that "a fleet
that sailed from Hispaniola in 1526 carried to Spain 501,082 gold
dollars, 350 marks of ordinary pearls, 183 Cubagua pearls and 5 gold
stones."
In the field of arms there is no question whatever in the mind of the
present generation whether the Negroes have added any glory to the
respective nations under which they fought, or, when for their
self-preservation it was necessary to fight against Spain, Holland,
France and Britain. One of the earliest successful insurrections was
that of Chief Araby in the year 16-- and in 1772-7, before the American
war of independence, the Negroes of Suriname took to the hills and
fought the Hollanders tooth and nail for five consecutive years. The
Spaniards in Santo Domingo were defeated, Great Britain was humiliated
and obtained success only when she followed General Abercrombie and Sir
John Moore's advice, and employed Negro troops under promises of
manumission as is shown in the St. Lucia campaign. The first attempt to
employ these troops brought about a fierce outcry of protest in which
the several island legislatures, especially those of Barbadoes and
Jamaica "poured forth the most prophetic declaration of innumerable
evils to come if the British government persisted in its purpose to
substitute even in part, black for white soldiers."
The formation of the First West India Regiment under the British was the
aftermath of the Savannah war in 1779. "It was made up of white
loyalists and Negro slaves" and "so well entertained that in the year
1816 there were eight regiments in existence. In Jamaica there were
stationed the 2d Regiment, with 198 sergeants and 3,050 blacks, and the
5th Regiment was stationed at Bahamas with rank and file of 4,526 during
the year 1816. Their formation was due to the ravages of disease among
the European forces, for during the years 1796-1802 were lost 17,173 men
of the original force of 19,676 under Major General Sir John Moore,
which sailed from England to put down the Negro spirit that had its
birth in Haiti.
But it was not only Haiti that was worrying the British. Jamaica with
the Maroons was another problem without a radical solution until Major
General Walpole promised them protection under a secret treaty which was
moderate in its language, but painful in the method of its application,
just as the British have always been when dealing with the Negro race.
It must be said in fairness to General Walpole that he was opposed to
the cruelties practiced on the Maroons after they had surrendered their
arms and confided in his good faith for a strict compliance with the
terms of the treaty. Walpole said he "felt that a treaty even with
savages should be observed" (p. 236). But notwithstanding the evil
spirit towards the Maroons their uprising has brought about a better
feeling and respect to the black people of Jamaica and, because of this
material spirit, it must be admitted they enjoy to this day a larger
measure of freedom and economic privileges than the other West Indian
islands under the British rule.
The name of Haiti will always stimulate us to revere the memory of men
who have stamped their names on the scroll of time, for not only did
that island strike the first effective blow for the liberation of the
black slave, but, having accomplished this purpose, the Haitians aided
in the liberation of all America from the yoke of Europe. The service
rendered by President Petion to Simon Bolivar in making possible the
freedom and independence of South America is splendidly shown in the
granite and bronze monument which adorns the square in Caracas dedicated
to the memory of the ablest Haitian president by the people of
Venezuela.
Music found expression in the vibrating chord tempered with the dull
thumping of drums in their characteristic rhythm which could be heard
for miles during the night and in the peculiar songs and chants of the
Negroes. To the white man who could not understand their customs it was
barbaric and rude and was treated with indifference and at times with
contempt. But it has been shown by Mrs. Kemble, who was a keen observer
during her residence in Georgia, that the Negro songs had merit and that
there was something mystic which could not easily open itself--its
peculiar musical charm--to the white man. This music and chants were
common to every part of America where the sons of Africa had been
carried by the slave hunters, and even to this day musical instruments,
peculiar to the original tribes, are extant in many of the islands
beyond the seas.
During the evening slave seances took place when the master thought
everything was silent and calm, because the field work had been
satisfactorily performed and the harvest had been gathered and there was
a profit which would carry him to Europe to squander it in riotous
living. But at night, like the firefly, the Negro was recreated and
refreshed in song his soul, and dreamed of a future freedom from the
involuntary thraldom of which he was a victim.
The story tellers gathered a motley crowd around them and the hours of
eventide were spent in instructive recitals of the Uncle Remus, Brer
Rabbit and other folk-lore stories, the heritage of African minds. These
stories are known in every vale and dale of joy and tears in America;
they have soothed the hours of toil and consoled the broken-hearted.
"They have been called the traditional literature of Africa. Some of the
Uncle Remus stories would form no bad addition to the fairy stories of
the world. But the race of old mammies or nurses who used to tell them
to delighted youthful audiences is fast passing away"--in fact, have
passed away--and we are satisfied, not knowing any better, to read them
in the modern reconstructed form as given by Joel Chandler Harris and
other poor imitators who have won fame and honor in the field of
literature without incurring the onerous charge of imitation. Bosman
refers to the Old Mammy or Anancy stories in his work on Africa, and it
is said that in Accra "there are men who have a repertoire almost as
copious as the Arabian Nights, and to which Europeans listen with
curiosity and wonder, if not with admiration." Richard Burton was a
great man and a distinguished writer, who agrees with Koelle, who says,
"I was amongst them in their native land, on the soil which the feet of
their fathers have trod, and heard them deliver in their own native
tongue stirring extempore speeches, adorned with beautiful imagery, of
half an hour or an hour's duration; or when I was writing from their
dictation, sometimes two hours in succession, without having to correct
a word or alter a construction in twenty or thirty pages; or when in
Sierre Leone I attended examinations of the sons of liberated slaves
(from America) in algebra, geometry, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, etc.--then, I
confess, any other idea never entered my mind but that I had to do with
_real men_". (Wit and Wisdom from West Africa.")
In Brazil, the Negro chieftain, Henrique Diaz, is revered for the able
assistance which he rendered in checking the incursions of the Dutch,
and Koster in his travels through that country speaks of Negro and
mulatto regiments known as the Henrique regiments in memory of so worthy
and capable a leader.
In the city of Paramaribo the Negro Gramman Quacy had the good fortune
in 1730 to discover the valuable properties of the root known by the
name of Quacie bitter. In 1761 it was made known to Linnaeus by
d'Ahlbergand, the Swedish naturalist who had written a treatise upon it.
During the years 1811-12 the British government had reports from their
various possessions in America exclusive of Jamaica, showing a slave
population of 343,859 and 27,259 free men of color, so that about eight
per cent of the total colored population were free. When we consider the
handicap that slaves had under English law with its intricate and
involved questions of entail we can appreciate the efforts of these
reputed savages to have been able not only to achieve their freedom but
to succeed in becoming an integral part of the country, with an eagle's
foothold in agriculture.
Porto Bello and Cartagena in Colombia were the ports of entry for the
slave trade, the channel by which not only Panama was supplied with
Negroes but from whence the traders were allowed to bring with them such
quantity of provisions as was thought necessary both for their own use
and that of their slaves of both sexes. Here was the Appian road through
which the Spaniards carried the slaves into Peru to work the gold mines;
and they became so useful that in the celebrated Sanabria mines Negroes
were used exclusively during the night and Indians in the day time.
Ulloa, during his visit to Lima, found that people of African descent
formed the greater part of the population of Lima, and they were, as a
rule, mechanics and worked side by side with the Europeans who did not
consider the contact disgraceful to them, since cleanliness was the
ruling passion of the Negroes.
General Pelage, "an agricultural slave" when General Moore stormed St.
Lucia, was Governor of Guadeloupe until 1803, when he resigned and
returned to France to lead his soldiers against Spain, where he was
killed at the head of his regiment.
It is a remarkable fact that the first native American to be consecrated
a Bishop was a Negro. He was Right Reverend Francisco Xavier de Luna y
Victoria, Bishop of Panama, of which see he took possession in August,
1751. He founded and maintained the cathedral at his own expense, and
was later removed to the see of Trujillo in Peru. His mother, who had
been a slave devoted her time to the sale of charcoal in order to attain
her ambition to see her son become an eminent man. This devotion has
been characteristic of the African woman and every reward and praise won
on the new continent has been due to her sacrifices.
In the Spanish countries under the more liberal manumission laws a very
much higher proportion of free people of color existed from the very
earliest times. In Cuba of the total population in 1811 about 274,000
were whites, 212,000 slaves and 114,000 free persons of color, rather
less than two slaves to one freeman. In the United States at the same
time the slave population of 1,191,364 is more than six times the free
population of 186,446 (total U. S., 7,239,814). The conditions in Cuba
were characteristic of the Spanish and Portuguese countries and
explained the total abolition of slavery as well as the more rapid
assimilation of the colored people in the economic and political life of
those countries.
With the records such as this the Negro found himself at the close of
the eighteenth century a vital factor in every phase of the development
of Latin America. I have not attempted to treat his services in the
Southern States of the North American Union for the facts here are too
well known to require discussion within the limits of the present
article. Suffice it to say that the position which the Negro and his
mixed progeny of European or Indian blood had won in South America, they
have also earned, if even they have not as yet received, due recognition
therefore in North America.
With a firm faith in our ability and the consciousness of our
inalienable title to a worthy share in the development of the New World.
We may look forward with confidence to the inevitable reward of industry
sustained by the courage which demands that an honest toiler shall not
be despoiled of the fruits of his labor. We may expect therefore that as
Negro slavery began in the West Indies and South America and crept
northward, so also will come to the United States the gradual
dissolution of the problem of color in the general problems of a
progressing human race.
William Pickens. The Constitutional Status of the Negro from 1860-1870
The second decade of the latter half of the nineteenth century was the
most epochal period in American legal history since the time of the
national constitution. So far as the American Negro is concerned, this
period marks the greatest possible changes in legal and constitutional
status. Three years before the opening of this decade the highest court
of the nation had declared the Negro to have only the status of the
lower animals, while at the close of the decade the Negro had acquired a
status in the organic law of the land which entitled him to membership
in the Supreme Court itself. In this period the Negro changed from a
chattel to a person, from an animal to a man, from a slave to a
citizen,--so far as the supreme law of the land is concerned.
This period also contains the two extremes on the scale of
discriminations against the American Negro in statute law. Before this
period there were comparatively few statutory discriminations against
the black race in the Southern States. For in that section the Negro had
no personal rights at law, and discriminatory statutes were not
necessary. When a discrimination is made against a class in statute law,
it is thereby implied that this class has at least some rights based on
the fundamental law of the land. Therefore the legislative
discriminations against black people before this period were found
chiefly in the border states and in the "free" states against "free"
Negroes,--a strange contradiction of terms.--But this decade, from 1860
to 1870, also contains the extremes of the Negro's legal status in the
South: at the opening of the decade stood the Negro slave, at the close
stood the Negro senator; after the middle of this period the South
passed the extreme "Black Laws," intended to nullify the effect of the
Thirteenth Amendment as far as possible, while at the end of the decade
came the Fifteenth Amendment, marking an epoch. These "Black Laws" of
the South were enacted between 1865 and 1868 and were inspired by the
ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. They had for their models, it
is said, the similar laws that had been passed in previous decades
against the helpless "free" Negroes of the North and the border states.
But they outdid the models.
These "Black Laws" are worth considering, for in them are found a
sufficient cause and a very cogent reason for the Fourteenth and the
Fifteenth Amendments. There is really no need for the charge that these
two Amendments were the inspiration of revenge or of the desire for
political advantage of the party in power. At any rate, such great
products of statesmanship should stand on their merits, and not be
condemned, even if it could be shown that they were originally based in
unworthy motives. It does not lessen the beauty of the rose if the plant
was sprouted in manure. But the argument of ultra-motive is unnecessary,
for the "Black Laws" of the South were the immediate occasion, and
doubtless the only efficient cause, of the Fourteenth Amendment. After
the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, if the former slave states had
accorded the ex-slaves even half justice, it is very likely that the
Negro's friends in Congress would have quickly forgotten him,--as they
have since done in the face of the worst injustices. But it was not
unnatural for the South, after the ratification of the Thirteenth
Amendment which gave the Negro only the lowest degree of freedom, to try
to pass systems of laws that would cause the Negro's freedom to make as
little change as possible in the social organism and in his relation to
the white race. Not to have done so would have been evidence of
superhuman foresight and self-control. From the standpoint of the
Negro's interests, however, these laws were "black," not only in name
and aim but in their very nature. Instead of being the property of a
personally interested master, the Negro was to be converted into the
slave of a much less sympathetic society in general. The "free" Negro's
lot was to be much harder than that of the slave had been; for altho no
longer entitled to "board and keep" from his employer, yet he was to be
forbidden by law to move or to change his employment. This would have
left his wages at the mercy of the employer. It is a law of economics
that the mobility of labor is necessary to the normal regulation of
wages. Some states absolutely forbade the freedmen to engage in skilled
work, leaving for them only the most menial and least profitable
occupations. In the famous old state of South Carolina the employer was
to be allowed to inflict corporal punishment, or as the euphemism of the
law put it, to "moderately correct" the servants. "Master" and "servant"
were the terms used in these laws,--not employer and employee. The
vagrancy laws and laws of apprenticeship were all of a nature to entrap
the ignorant and take advantage of the weak. Famous old South Carolina
even sought to regulate the amount of "politeness" due from the
"servant" to the "master's family."