The Conversation
written by Daina Ramey Berry
Associate Professor of History and African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin
Tuesday October 21, 2014
Foundation essay: This article is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation in the US. Our foundation essays are longer than our usual comment and analysis articles and take a wider look at key issues affecting society.
People think they know everything about slavery in the United States, but they don’t. They think the majority of African slaves came to the American colonies, but they didn’t. They talk about 400 years of slavery, but it wasn’t. They claim all Southerners owned slaves, but they didn’t. Some argue it was a long time ago, but it wasn’t.
Slavery has been in the news a lot lately. Perhaps it’s because of the increase in human trafficking on American soil or the headlines about income inequality, the mass incarceration of African Americans or discussions about reparations to the descendants of slaves. Several publications have fueled these conversations: Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Case for Reparations in The Atlantic Monthly, French economist Thomas Picketty’s Capital in the Twenty First Century, historian Edward Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and The Making of American Capitalism, and law professor Bryan A. Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.
As a scholar of slavery at the University of Texas at Austin, I welcome the public debates and connections the American people are making with history. However, there are still many misconceptions about slavery.
I’ve spent my career dispelling myths about “the peculiar institution.” The goal in my courses is not to victimize one group and celebrate another. Instead, we trace the history of slavery in all its forms to make sense of the origins of wealth inequality and the roots of discrimination today. The history of slavery provides deep context to contemporary conversations and counters the distorted facts, internet hoaxes and poor scholarship I caution my students against.
Four myths about slavery
Myth One: The majority of African captives came to what became the United States.
Truth: Only 380,000 or 4-6% came to the United States. The majority of enslaved Africans went to Brazil, followed by the Caribbean. A significant number of enslaved Africans arrived in the American colonies by way of the Caribbean where they were “seasoned” and mentored into slave life. They spent months or years recovering from the harsh realities of the Middle Passage. Once they were forcibly accustomed to slave labor, many were then brought to plantations on American soil.
Myth Two: Slavery lasted for 400 years.
Popular culture is rich with references to 400 years of oppression. There seems to be confusion between the Transatlantic Slave Trade (1440-1888) and the institution of slavery, confusion only reinforced by the Bible, Genesis 15:13:
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.’
Listen to Lupe Fiasco - just one Hip Hop artist to refer to the 400 years - in his 2011 imagining of America without slavery, “All Black Everything”:
[Hook] You would never know If you could ever be If you never try You would never see Stayed in Africa We ain’t never leave So there were no slaves in our history Were no slave ships, were no misery, call me crazy, or isn’t he See I fell asleep and I had a dream, it was all black everything
[Verse 1] Uh, and we ain’t get exploited White man ain’t feared so he did not destroy it We ain’t work for free, see they had to employ it Built it up together so we equally appointed First 400 years, see we actually enjoyed it
Truth: Slavery was not unique to the United States; it is a part of almost every nation’s history from Greek and Roman civilizations to contemporary forms of human trafficking. The American part of the story lasted fewer than 400 years.
How do we calculate it? Most historians use 1619 as a starting point: 20 Africans referred to as “servants” arrived in Jamestown, VA on a Dutch ship. It’s important to note, however, that they were not the first Africans on American soil. Africans first arrived in America in the late 16th century not as slaves but as explorers together with Spanish and Portuguese explorers. One of the best known of these African “conquistadors” was Estevancio who traveled throughout the southeast from present day Florida to Texas. As far as the institution of chattel slavery - the treatment of slaves as property - in the United States, if we use 1619 as the beginning and the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment as its end then it lasted 246 years, not 400.
Myth Three: All Southerners owned slaves.
Truth: Roughly 25% of all southerners owned slaves. The fact that one quarter of the Southern population were slaveholders is still shocking to many. This truth brings historical insight to modern conversations about the Occupy Movement, its challenge to the inequality gap and its slogan “we are the 99%.”
Take the case of Texas. When it established statehood, the Lone Star State had a shorter period of Anglo-American chattel slavery than other Southern states – only 1845 to 1865 – because Spain and Mexico had occupied the region for almost one half of the 19th century with policies that either abolished or limited slavery. Still, the number of people impacted by wealth and income inequality is staggering. By 1860, the Texas enslaved population was 182,566, but slaveholders represented 27% of the population, controlled 68% of the government positions and 73% of the wealth. Shocking figures but today’s income gap in Texas is arguably more stark with 10% of tax filers taking home 50% of the income.
Myth Four: Slavery was a long time ago.
Truth: African-Americans have been free in this country for less time than they were enslaved. Do the math: Blacks have been free for 149 years which means that most Americans are two to three generations removed from slavery. However, former slaveholding families have built their legacies on the institution and generated wealth that African-Americans have not been privy to because enslaved labor was forced; segregation maintained wealth disparities; and overt and covert discrimination limited African-American recovery efforts.
The value of slaves
Economists and historians have examined detailed aspects of the enslaved experience for as long as slavery existed. Recent publications related to slavery and capitalism explore economic aspects of cotton production and offer commentary on the amount of wealth generated from enslaved labor.
My own work enters this conversation looking at the value of individual slaves and the ways enslaved people responded to being treated as a commodity. They were bought and sold just like we sell cars and cattle today. They were gifted, deeded and mortgaged the same way we sell houses today. They were itemized and insured the same way we manage our assets and protect our valuables.
Enslaved people were valued at every stage of their lives, from before birth until after death. Slaveholders examined women for their fertility and projected the value of their “future increase.” As they grew up, enslavers assessed their value through a rating system that quantified their work. An “A1 Prime hand” represented one term used for a “first rate” slave who could do the most work in a given day. Their values decreased on a quarter scale from three-fourths hands to one-fourth hands, to a rate of zero, which was typically reserved for elderly or differently abled bondpeople (another term for slaves.)
Guy and Andrew, two prime males sold at the largest auction in US History in 1859, commanded different prices. Although similar in “all marketable points in size, age, and skill,” Guy commanded $1280 while Andrew sold for $1040 because “he had lost his right eye.” A reporter from the New York Tribune noted “that the market value of the right eye in the Southern country is $240.” Enslaved bodies were reduced to monetary values assessed from year to year and sometimes from month to month for their entire lifespan and beyond. By today’s standards, Andrew and Guy would be worth about $33,000-$40,000.
Slavery was an extremely diverse economic institution; one that extrapolated unpaid labor out of people in a variety of settings from small single crop farms and plantations to urban universities. This diversity is also reflected in their prices. Enslaved people understood they were treated as commodities.
“I was sold away from mammy at three years old,” recalled Harriett Hill of Georgia. “I remembers it! It lack selling a calf from the cow,” she shared in a 1930s interview with the Works Progress Administration. “We are human beings” she told her interviewer. Those in bondage understood their status. Even though Harriet Hill “was too little to remember her price when she was three, she recalled being sold for $1400 at age 9 or 10, "I never could forget it.”
Slavery in popular culture
Slavery is part and parcel of American popular culture but for more than 30 years the television mini-series Roots was the primary visual representation of the institution except for a handful of independent (and not widely known) films such as Haile Gerima’s Sankofa or the Brazilian Quilombo. Today Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave is a box office success, actress Azia Mira Dungey has a popular web series called Ask a Slave, and in Cash Crop sculptor Stephen Hayes compares the slave ships of the 18th century with third world sweatshops.
The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom — whether black or white — who find in that paranoid vision an excuse for counterproductive and ultimately self-destructive attitudes and behavior.— Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) June 9, 2020
Equality of rights does not mean equality of results. I can have all the equal treatment in the world on a golf course and I will not finish within shouting distance of Tiger Woods.— Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) June 8, 2020
Kinda proves the point of everything going on. Tiger has 40 years practicing. White America had a 400 year headstart on Black America and for some reason got told “hey boy catch up” while Natives and Jews (that didn’t have anything to do with us) got some type of reimbursement ๐คท๐พ♂️— Christopher Wilson II (@IAm_CW35) June 8, 2020
Huh? About the reimbursement of Native Americans and Jews. Do tell. Please I'm all ears.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 8, 2020
President Trump signed a bipartisan bill that will permanently provide more than $250 million a year to the nation’s historically black colleges and universities, along with dozens of other institutions that serve large shares of minority students 12/19/19https://t.co/Zq2jJBwz3O— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 9, 2020
"Opportunity Zones is more than just a program.— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 11, 2020
It's more than just a concept.
It is a mission." —@ScottTurner45 pic.twitter.com/KzmIYPRCRH
President Donald J. Trump Is Lifting Up American Communities That Have Been Left Behind.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 9, 2020
ECONOMY & JOBS
Issued on: April 17, 2019
Opportunity Zones will spur private-sector investment to revitalize hurting communities & unleash their economic potentialhttps://t.co/lNmrxARjzM
"Opportunity Zones, HBCUs, criminal justice reform—those are reversing some systemic issues," said @JaRonSmith45. "It's about results." pic.twitter.com/DDaEzT43TC— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 10, 2020
Jack Brewer: "I teach in prisons across our nation ... When I walk into my class and I say 'Guys, raise your hand if you've gotten your sentence reduced from the First Step Act.' And every single one of them raise their hand. That's because of you, Mr. President." pic.twitter.com/guiGyl8Wx7— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 11, 2020
"Social justice" can easily become class warfare that polarizes a nation, while leading those at the bottom into the blind alley of resentments, no matter how many broad avenues of achievement may be available to them.— Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) June 14, 2020
I'm sorry you've been raised to feel like a victim.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 13, 2020
Black neighborhoods have been run by corrupt Black Marxist Democrats for DECADES. Black Mayors, Black Congressman, Black Senator, Black Chief of police. They're keeping Black communities oppressed.
Look at Chicago, Baltimore,
I didn’t say slavery lasted 400 years. I was saying blacks have been horribly mistreated for over 400. And I guess you’re right, since blacks were only enslaved for 246 years it’s not really a big deal then. Thanks for setting me straight. Racist much?— patrick collins (@hppatrick) June 13, 2020
Just stop. You've never been a slave and are complaining about feeling the pain of slavery. You live in the most free country in the world. You can be anything you want to be. Nobody is stopping you from succeeding but you and that enslavement mindset.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 13, 2020
Was your mortgage person a Black person? You didn't mention the race of the person working on your mortgage— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 15, 2020
From my personal experience as a mortgage professional most Black real estate and mortgage clients will only do business with Black real estate and mortgage professionals.
BET Founder Robert Johnson Calls For $14 Trillion In Reparations For Slavery.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 3, 2020
Dear Lord. Rich Black people living in gated communities talking about "systematic oppression of Black people".
I hear stop killing our kids but don't condemn drive-by murders.https://t.co/oqq1jVc9in
“The number of whites who were enslaved in North Africa by the Barbary pirates exceeded the number of Africans enslaved in the United States and in the American colonies before that put together.”— Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) June 10, 2020
Thomas Sowell on reparations: pic.twitter.com/wJCkiZtLri
Have we reached the ultimate stage of absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while other people are not held responsible for what they themselves are doing today?— Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) June 11, 2020
Marxist Democrat US Senator Cedric Richmond is an asshole.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 19, 2020
I'm tired of uber wealthy Black Americans talking about being oppressed in America.
They wouldn't be wealthy, living the American dream and in positions of power if they were OPPRESSED.
Just stop with the mind games.
The principal impetus for the abolition of slavery came first from very conservative religious activists—people who would today be called “the religious right.” Clearly, this story is not “politically correct” in today’s terms. Hence it is ignored, as if it never happened.— Thomas Sowell (@ThomasSowell) June 19, 2020
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BLM co-founder confirms what anyone who’s read their work knows: they’re proudly marxists. pic.twitter.com/vvUk5jTp7j— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) June 18, 2020
BLM are radical neo-Marxistshttps://t.co/HTdAyQgMqt— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) June 18, 2020
Not just White people, all other races speaking up affected by them too. BLM is acting like street gang extortionists and silencers. No, actually more like a cartel.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 17, 2020
BLM are aligned with Nation of Islam, Hamas, Black Panthers, and Antifa. All hate America. All hate Capitalism.
Black Panther 10 point plan.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 4, 2020
They're Black Supremacist. They are filled with hate and are obviously racist.
BLM is mixed with this movement and Nation of Islam.
All hate America, hate Capitalism, hate White people, hate Christians, hate Jews, want to annihilate Israel.
Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam advocates retaliation and violence by Blacks against Whites. (2014)— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 17, 2020
"We'll Tear This 'god damn' Country Apart" referring to America.
BLM is aligned with Nation of Islam, Black Panthers. All are Black Supremacists.https://t.co/cY10Xwlu0c
Hamas Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Black Lives Matter (BLM) connection.— Mel Q ๐ธ (@littllemel) June 14, 2020
“Black Lives Matter is our matter. Black Lives Matter is our campaign.”
“We are the community that staged a revolution across the world; if we can do that, why can’t we have that revolution in America?” pic.twitter.com/YhoHX5r0Ck
Two schools honoring Washington and Jefferson to be renamed in 'support of Black Lives Matter' https://t.co/knoAjZhcQW— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) June 17, 2020
Stop calling these uncivilized Marxist Communist pieces of garbage "protesters".— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 11, 2020
They're destroying a government monument right now in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Stop giving vandalism a free pass. We are a civilized nation. The Marxist are trying to turn us into a 3rd world nation.
Apparently you don't know or are happy about statues of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao in America?— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 11, 2020
This is a free nation.
Those statues are historical significance whether good or bad. That is a US artifact that Communist aholes are destroying.
Islam also erases historical artifacts.
Portland: George Washington Statue Torn Down, Draped in Burning US Flag.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 20, 2020
Gggrrr...๐คฌ
These Marxist Democrats hate America, they hate Capitalism, they hate Christians and Jews, they hate Israel.#WalkAway #AmericaFirst#KAG2020 #MAGA#TeamUSAhttps://t.co/ZRpUCYw35Z
Graffiti in attack on George Washington includes '1619.' Take a bow, New York Times... https://t.co/k2DTTs4QBv— Byron York (@ByronYork) June 19, 2020
Portland wakes up to see what antifa did overnight. A century old statue of George Washington was toppled & set on fire with an American flag. “White fragility,” “Damn white men” & other messages are written on the moment. On the ground nearby: “Defund white men.” pic.twitter.com/zjrsZHJC9o— Andy Ngรด (@MrAndyNgo) June 19, 2020
Rioters in Washington D.C. toppled a statue tonight. pic.twitter.com/tgRhrFGHkA— Andy Ngรด (@MrAndyNgo) June 20, 2020
— Jonathan Ballew (@JCB_Journo) May 29, 2020
Frente a la Casa Blanca #WhiteHouse queman una Bandera americana #USAonFire #protests2020 #LanataEnCuarentena #VuelveLanata #bostonprotest #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/G09fE4LxWE— RICHARD VERDUGO (@richard_verdugo) June 1, 2020
They're destroying America's historical artifacts.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) June 11, 2020
They keep calling this a "Revolution" and CNN MSNBC are justifying this savagery comparing this nightmare to the Boston Tea Party revolt. Insane.
They hate America and hate Capitalism. What's next the Statue of Liberty?
So you feel vandalizing public or private property is justified because you hate the person the statue represents?— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) October 15, 2019
So based on your absurd reasoning, everyone can damage anything that offends them. Purely subjective.
Lenin statue in Seattle, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, NYC, L.A.
The thoughts of my ancestors enduring slavery are painful as are atrocities that befell my parents and grandparents but removing statues won't change that especially those that mark turning points on the path away from pain and toward a more joyous future for my posterity. https://t.co/PiNhjeeRQm— Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) June 16, 2020
If you're going to cancel everything with a racist history then the US Democratic Party needs to be abolished.— ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) June 17, 2020
๐
Nine out of 11 Confederate statues @SpeakerPelosi is attempting to remove from Capitol were Democrats https://t.co/FvHapkSWdf— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 15, 2020
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