African-Americans in Colonial America Start the Lesson

Olaudah Equiano Aggy IntroductionCONTENTS Lydia Broadnax The African American Spiritual

During the Revolutionary War, more than half of all African Americans lived in Virginia and Maryland. Most lived around the Chesapeake Bay, where they made up more than 50 to 60 percent of the overall population. 92% of these African Americans were slaves.

Most slaves lived in rural areas on farms or plantations, working in the fields to produce a staple crop. Though cotton was the crop that brought in the highest profit from the market, other crops grown for the market included tobacco, sugar, rice, and hemp. The field hand's day was long and tiresome. Slaves worked in the fields from sunrise to sunset. The work in the fields varied depending on the crop and the time of year. Each staple crop, whether cotton or rice, required specialized methods of farming. In addition, planting, cultivating, and harvesting changed with the seasons. Slaves were responsible for every aspect of the crop from planting the seeds, to weeding, to preparing the harvested crop for shipment to market.

All colonies had a small number of free blacks, but in colonial America, only Maryland had a sizeable free black population. As early as the 1600s, some slaves gained their freedom by buying themselves or being bought by relatives. Since slavery was inherited through the status of the mother, some blacks became free if they were born to non-slave mothers. Others gained their freedom for good deeds or as a reward for long, faithful service. African Americans, slave and free, also worked in a wide variety of occupations. They were household workers, sailors, preachers, accountants, music teachers, medical assistants, blacksmiths, bricklayers, and carpenters, doing virtually any work American society required.

Complete the BCR Social Studies Rubric

Lydia Broadnax

Lydia lived as a cook in Williamsburg, Virginia Read the information found at Williamsburg, Virginia’s website:

Emancipation: to become free. Complete the BCR Social Studies Rubric

Aggy Elizabeth Randolph's slave

Aggy was a slave in Williamsburg, Virginia Read the information found at Williamsburg, Virginia’s website: Pay attention to the last section of the site where it describes what happened to Aggy’s family once her owner died.

Bequeath: to give a gift to someone through a will. Open Revisit Complete the web that show’s Aggy’s family after Elizabeth Randolph’s death. INSPIRATION Complete the BCR AGGY’S SITE Social Studies Rubric

Olaudah Equiano

After ten years as a slave in America, where he worked as a seaman, Equiano bought his freedom. Olaudah Equiano (o-lah-oo- day ek-wee-ah-no) was kidnapped from his African village at the age of eleven and sold to a Virginia planter, who named him Gustavus Vassa. He was later bought by a British naval Officer, as a present for his cousin in London.

At the age of forty-four, Olaudah Equiano wrote and published his autobiography.

Further Information: Complete the BCR Social Studies Rubric

The African-American Spiritual

“Go Down, Moses” is an African- American spiritual. It was a popular song and was sung throughout the South by slaves while they worked and during their occasional times of rest and prayer.

In the Bible, the story is told of Moses freeing the Jewish slaves from captivity in Egypt. Listen to the spiritual again. Complete the BCR