2: Drawing the Color Line Flashcards
Edmund Morgan writes that while the English could massacre Indians by the plenty, they could not do this
Grow enough corn
Local African slavery was closer to this than to American slavery
Serfdom
How many blacks had been transported as slaves to the Americas by 1800?
10-15 million
What is the estimate for how many African people were lost to death and slavery in the first centuries of the slave trade?
50 million
What evidence of early American slavery supports its racialized existence as a historical phenomenon and NOT a natural one?
It grew in proportion to the plantation system, because white servants were not high enough in number to work the land
These 5 tactics were used to neutralize slaves:
- Hard labor 2. breaking up the slave’s family 3. religion 4. separating slaves into hierarchical “field” and “house” slaves 5. the law
Where and when did the first large-scale slave revolt in the North-American colonies take place? How many blacks and Indians were involved? What happened?
New York, 1712; 25 and 2; burned down a building and killed 9 whites
What were the casualties of the Stono, SC rebellion in 1739?
Approximately 50 slaves and 25 whites
What measure passed by the Virginia assembly in 1705 suggested a great fear that poor whites and black slaves would co-conspire?
A law requiring masters to provide white servants whose indenture time was up with ten bushels of corn, 30 shillings, 50 acres of land, and a gun (women received slightly less).
The fact that racism may be historical and not natural suggests that this type of exploitation may be preventing the racial unity necessary for joint rebellion and reconstruction.
Class exploitation
