Warm Up  What shocked you about Olaudah Equiano’s account of slavery?

Agenda  Announcements/ Houskeeping  Remembering September 11,  Unit 1 Exam  Tuesday, 9/23.  Study Guides  Origins of American Slavery  Discuss Olaudah Equiano on Slavery (1789)  Notes ( 6 slides)  Clip from Amistad “ The Middle passage”  HW: GML Pgs

Origins of American Slavery  Chesapeake planters turned to slavery b/c:  High demand for workers  Spread of tobacco  Less risky than indentured servants  No protection of English law  Terms of service never expire  Children = slaves  Better immunity

Englishmen & Africans  The English:  Long held belief of superiority  “RACE” and “RACISM” – not a fully developed idea in 1600s  Civilization v. Barbarism  Christianity v. Heathenism  Anti- black & anti- native stereotypes did exist  “Enslavable”  Difficult to ensalve people on their native soil

Slavery in History  Existed for nearly the entire span of human history  Ancient Greece & Rome  Northern Europe  Germans, Vikings, Anglo- Saxons  Mediterranean:  The term “slavery” derives from “Slav”, which refers to the Slavic peoples of Southeastern Europe  American Slavery:  Planation/ agriculturally based  Brutal, harsh, associated with race

Slavery in the West Indies  Governments had to agree with the practice of slavery  Well before slavery is entrenched in North America, Brazil & the West Indian Islands had huge slave populations  These climates were not attractive to indentured servants  Indian pop. wiped out by disease  Resulted in a massive importation of African slaves  Sugar  Slavery developed much slower in North America  Cost more than indetured servants!  As late as 1680 – only 4,500 blacks in the Chesapeake (~5% of pop.)

Slavery and the Law  Early on slaves did have some rights!  For much of the 1600s, legal status of slaves was not clear  Some managed to become free  Marry  Testify in court  Acquire land  Anthony Johnson  White and Black labored side by side!

The Rise of Chesapeake Slavery  First evidence of blacks being held as slaves for LIFE appears in the historical record of the 1640s.  1660s, explicit laws in VA and MD referring to slavery start showing up  White servants status began improving  At same time, access to freedom for blacks receded  A child’s slave status was determined by the mother  Severely prevented opportunities to gain freedom  It is here, where we see race and slavery become evident in the law