Yes, Lord, I Know the Road
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Yes, Lord, I Know the Road

A Documentary History of African Americans in South Carolina, 1526-2008

J. Brent Morris, J. Brent Morris

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eBook - ePub

Yes, Lord, I Know the Road

A Documentary History of African Americans in South Carolina, 1526-2008

J. Brent Morris, J. Brent Morris

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About This Book

The first comprehensive history of African Americans in the Palmetto State, spanning five centuries. From the first North American slave rebellion near the mouth of the Pee Dee River in the early sixteenth century to the 2008 state Democratic primary victory of Barack Obama, award-winning historian J. Brent Morris examines the unique struggles and triumphs of African Americans in South Carolina. Following an engaging introduction, Morris brings together a wide variety of annotated primary-source documents—personal narratives, government reports, statutes, newspaper articles, and speeches—to highlight the significant people, events, social and political movements, and ideas that have shaped black life in South Carolina and beyond. In their own words, anonymous and notable African Americans, such as Charlotte Forten, David Walker, and Jesse Jackson, describe the social and economic subjugation caused by more than three hundred years of slavery, the revolution wrought by the American Civil War and Reconstruction, and the post-Reconstruction civil rights struggle that runs to the present. Many of these source documents are previously unpublished; others have been long out of print. Morris proposes that reading the narrative-sources black Carolinians left behind brings life and relevancy to the past that will spark new public conversations, inspire fresh questions, and encourage historians to pursue innovative scholarly work. "For everyone interested in South Carolina history Yes, Lord, I Know the Road is a book that has long been needed. Thanks to the judicious selection of documents and thoughtful introductory material, Brent Morris has produced a very readable book on a complex and often contentious topic. It is an invaluable addition to South Carolina historiography—and to my bookshelf." —Walter Edgar, author of South Carolina: A History "At last, we have a concise document book tracing one of the most troubled and inspiring paths in American history. Exploring this long, rutted road, we meet brave souls who stood tall—Boston King, Robert Smalls, Septima Clark. Morris's varied collection will spark readers to dig deeper and learn more." —Peter H. Wood, Duke University, author of Black Majority and Strange New Land "This thoughtfully curated documentary history of Afro-Carolinians spans five centuries with important, vivid, and compelling accounts of South Carolina's twisted, stony road of anguish and achievement, oppression and hope. An informative introduction and concise headnotes provide historical context and make the book accessible to all students of South Carolina history." —Michael Johnson, Academy Professor of History Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University

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Information

Publisher
University of South Carolina Press
Year
2017
ISBN
9781611177329
Topic
History
Subtopic
African American History
Index
History
CHAPTER 1
“The people commonly called Negroes”
BECOMING AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SOUTH CAROLINA
■
1.1. The Rebellion of San Miguel de Guadalpe (1526)
Lucas Vasquez de Ayllón received the first contract to settle the region north of Florida for the Spanish, and he and his expedition, which included several African slaves, landed somewhere on the South Carolina coast in the summer of 1526. By the fall, Ayllón was dead and his settlement was coming unraveled. In addition to a mutiny by the Spanish survivors and an attack by Native Americans, a rebellion by the expedition’s African slaves, the first in the history of North America, doomed the mission to failure. ::
After [AyllĂłn’s men] were there for a few days, unhappy with the land and with the crazy languages or guides that they had brought, they agreed to go populate the coast further toward the west, and they went to a great river (forty or forty-five leagues from there, more or less) that is called Gualdape:1 and there along the coast they set up their camp, and they began to build houses, because there were not any, except for some small shacks far away from each other, and all the land was very flat and had many swamps, but the river was very powerful and had many good fish; and the river’s entrance was so low, even with its swelling, that boats could not enter. And since they were lacking sustenance and they did not find it on the land, and the cold temperatures were very great, because that land, where they ended up, is thirty-three degrees above sea level and was flat, many people got sick and many died; and the soldier [AyllĂłn] later got sick and died
. But among the soldiers and people who remained, they did not lack a pair of mutinous, disconcerted men, who put everyone to work: of them, GinĂ©s Doncel was the leader 
 who joined with another man of such bad sense as his, who was called Pedro de BazĂĄn
.
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y ValdĂ©z, Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Islas y Tierra-Firme del Mar OcĂ©ano (1535; reprint, Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1853), 627–32.
GinĂ©s Doncel, after he saw the soldier AyllĂłn dead, as a man without counsel and who trusted in his ability and intelligence that he could be captain of those who remained, said, under the pretext that they were unhappy with the land, that he would take them away from there, and giving others false pretexts, he took into custody the lieutenant and the magistrates, and put them in great need
. At that time the Indians killed some runaway Spaniards
. Some good men, not being able to withstand the tyranny and arrogance of the said GinĂ©s Doncel and his faction, got together, and especially two hidalgos, named Oliveros and Monesterio, and with others who assembled themselves on their own, agreed to talk to GinĂ©s so that he would release those he had in custody, making him understand that he was doing wrong, and that it was a bad deed
. Of this talk and threat, GinĂ©s Doncel kept a perpetual enmity with Oliveros, because he was a proper man, and was rounding up others to not consent to the tyranny of GinĂ©s and to undo it; and GinĂ©s began to deal with BazĂĄn on how they would kill Oliveros and Monesterio. And one night that they were going to put into effect their bad intention, it happened that some black slaves set fire to GinĂ©s’s house on their own; and the prisoners were also there, and all took part to put out the burning fire: and so the prisoners left from where they were being detained. At that same time, BazĂĄn went to kill the said Monesterio, who was in his lodging; as Monesterio was a man of good spirits, he left for BazĂĄn and began to abuse him, because BazĂĄn was armed. And also at that time, Oliveros was looking for GinĂ©s Doncel (who had armed himself and was hidden underneath a bed) and he wanted to take him into custody
. And [Monesterio and Oliveros] later turned to where the fire was burning, and GinĂ©s was still hidden: and finally he gave himself up to custody, and the authorities and the magistrates were set free, and it was ordered to drag and behead the said BazĂĄn
.
With Ginés and others of his confederation in custody, those that remained agreed to come to these islands, and they put that in effect: and they placed the body of the soldier2 in the flatboat, in order to bring him to this city of Santo Domingo, where he had his house and post, or the Puerto de Plata,3 for it was half of a strong wit that was well received to bring him from there to this city; but because they had bad navigation, at the end they gave him a great burial in the ocean
.
■
1.2. The King Buzzard (1928)
Enslaved men and women were aware of African complicity in the slave trade. The story presented here, recorded by the folklorist E.C.L. Adams in the Congaree in the 1920s, resembles a traditional Igbo tale in which the spirit of a deceased person returns to the world as an animal if he or she has murdered another person in life. Here, the Chief who enslaved his own people is remembered as one who is damned to return as the lowest of all animals and made to wander for eternity, never able to return to the land of his ancestors. ::
A group around a campfire
Tom: I wonder wey Tad.
Cricket: I ain’ know. Look like he wants to git out er draggin’ dis here seine.4 He leff here ever since ’fore day. Say he guh see kin he kill a turkey.
Voice: Who wid him?
Cricket: Ain’ nobody wid him. He leff here by his self.
Tom: I sho’ain’t loves to wander ’round dese here swamps by my lonesome.
Cricket: Tad is a ole swamper. I reckon he know wuh he doin’.
Voice: He ain’ token nothin’ to eat wid him, an’ it atter midnight. I reckon he must er had some kind er trouble.
Cricket: Looks to me like I hear sump’n comin’.
(Tad approaches, his clothes badly torn. He is wet and covered with yellow mud.)
Tom: Tad, wey you been? You sho’ looks like you loves to wander ’round dese here swamps by you’self.
Tad: Look at me. Is I look like I been enjoyin’ myself?
Tom: You sho’ is tored up. A bear must er had you.
Tad: I seen sump’n wuss ’an a bear.
Voice: Wuh it been?
Tad: I been walkin’ ’long on de edge er Big Alligator Hole, an’de air been stink; an’ I walk on an’ I see sump’n riz up in front er me bigger ’an a man. An’ he spread he whing out ’an say, “Uuh!” He eye been red an’ he de nastiest lookin’ thing I ever see. He stink in my nostrils. He so stink, he stink to my eye an’ my year. An’ I look at him an’ see he been eat a dead hog right dere in de night time. I ain’ never see buzzard settin’ on a carcass in de night ’fore dis. An’ he look so vigus, he look like he ain’ care ef he stay dere an’ fight or no.
E.C.L. Adams, Nigger to Nigger (1928), reprinted in E.C.L. Adams, Tales of the Congaree (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987), 120–21. Reprinted courtesy of the University of North Carolina Press.
An’ he been so oneasy an’ frighten, till I ain’ kin do nothin’, an’ ’fore I knowed it, I jump at him. An’ he riz up—makin’ dat same dreadful sound—an’ start flyin’ all ’round me. Look like he tryin’ to vomick on me. An’ I dodge, an’ dere in de moonlight dat ole thing circle ’round—look like he guh tackle me. An’ he spew he vomick every which er way, an’ I see de leaf an’ de grass wuh it fall on dry up. All de air seem like it were pizen.
An’ I turned to leff, an’ it keep on gittin’ nigher an’ nigher to me. An’ I ain’ know wuh would er happen, ef I ain’ git in a canebrake wey he ain’ kim fly. An’ I crawl ’round for God knows how long, an’ when I find myself, I been lost. Jesus know I ain’ never wan’ see no more buzzard like dat.
Cricket: My God!
Voice: Wuh kind er buzzard dat?
Tad: God knows.
Tom: Dat ain’ no buzzard. I hear ’bout dat ole thing ’fore dis.
My pa tell me dat ’way back in slavery time—’way back in Af’ica—dere been a nigger, an’ he been a big nigger. He been de chief er he tribe, an’ when dem white folks was ketchin’ niggers for slavery, dat ole nigger nuse to entice ’em into trap. He’d git ’em on boat wey dem white folks could ketch ’em an’ chain ’em. White folks nused to gee him money an’ all kind er little thing, an’ he’d betray ’em. An’ one time atter he betray thousands into bondage, an’ de white folks say de ain’ guh come to dat coast no more—dat was dey last trip—so dey knocked dat nigger down an’ put chain on him an’ brung him to dis country.
An’ when he dead, dere were no place in heaven for him an’ he were not desired in hell. An’ de Great Master decide dat he were lower den all other mens or beasts, he punishment were to wander for eternal time over de face er de earth. Dat as he had kilt de sperrits of men an’ womens as well as dere bodies, he must wander on an’ on. Dat his sperrit should always travel in de form of a great buzzard, an’ dat carrion must be he food.
An’ sometimes he appears to mens, but he doom is settled, an’ e ain’ would er hurt Tad, kaze one er he punishment is dat he evil beak an’ claw shall never tech no livin’ thing. An’ dey say he are known to all de sperrit world as de King Buzzard, an’ dat forever he must travel alone.
■
1.3. The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (1669)
The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina were adopted by the eight Lords Proprietors in March 1669 to serve as the fundamental laws of the Carolina colony. Drafted with the help of the philosopher John Locke, the Constitutions were intended largely to protect Proprietary interests and establish a feudal government while avoiding the development of anything resembling a democracy. Unpopular with most settlers, the Constitutions were never ratified by the colonial assembly. ::
John Locke, “The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina,” in The Works of John Locke, in Nine Volumes, vol. 9 (London: C. Baldwin, 1824), 175–99.
Our sovereign lord the King having, out of his royal grace and bounty, granted unto us the province of Carolina, with all the royalties, properties, jurisdictions, and privileges of a county palatine5 
 with other great privileges; for the better settlement of the government of the said place, and establishing the interest of the lords proprietors with equality and without confusion; and that the government of this province may be made most agreeable to the monarchy under which we live and of which this province is a part; and that we may avoid erecting a numerous democracy, we, the lords and proprietors of the province aforesaid, have agreed to this following form of government, to be perpetually established amongst us, unto which we do oblige ourselves, our heirs and successors, in the most binding ways that can be devised
.
Seventy-one. There shall be a parliament, consisting of the proprietors or their deputies, the landgraves, and caziques,6 and one freeholder out of every precinct, to be chosen by the freeholders of the said precinct, respectively. They shall sit all together in one room, and have every member one vote.
Seventy-two. No man shall be chosen a member of parliament who has less than five hundred acres of freehold within the precinct for which he is chosen; nor shall any have a vote in choosing the said member that hath less than fifty acres of freehold within the said precinct
.
Ninety-five. No man shall be permitted to be a freeman of Carolina, or to have any estate or habitation within it, that doth not acknowledge a God, and that God is publicly and solemnly to be worshipped
.
One hundred and seven. Since charity obliges us to wish well to the souls of all men, and religion ought to alter nothing in any man’s civil estate or right, it shall be lawful for slaves, as well as others, to enter themselves, and be of what church or profession any of them shall think best, and, therefore, be as fully members as any freeman. But yet no slave shall hereby be exempted from that civil dominion his master hath over him, but be in all things in the same state and condition he was in before
.
One hundred and ten. Every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves, of what opinion or religion soever
.
One hundred and twenty. These fundamental constitutions, in number a hundred and twenty, and every part thereof, shall be and remain the sacred and unalterable form and rule of government of Carolina forever. Witness our hands and seals, the first day of March, sixteen hundred and sixty-nine.
■
1.4. Governor Announces Black Majority
Twelve years after passing its first comprehensive slave code, South Carolina officials noted that there had been a significant population shift in the preceding five years. Though the white population had continued to grow, the number of Africans in the province had increased 30 percent faster than the number of white, resulting in a slim black majority. The black-to-white ratio would grow to approximately two to one by 1720 and remain relatively constant until the American Revolution. ::
Carolina 17th Sept., 1708
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIPS,
Wee the governour and council of Her Majesty’s province of Carolina having received from their lordships the lords proprietors your lordships letter to them dated Whitehall May 7th, 1707 intimating it to be Her Majesty’s pleasure and express commands that from time to time we should transmit to your lordships frequent and full informations of the state and condition of this government.
In obedience therefore to Her Sacred Majesty’s command and your lordships instructions we have carefully enquired into the present state and circumstances of this province as it more immediately respects the information your lordships require of us and of which we pray your lordships to accept the following account.
The number of the inhabitants in this province of all sorts are computed to be nine thousand five hundred and eighty souls of which there are thirteen [hundred] and sixty freemen, nine hundred free women, sixty white servant men, sixty white servant women, seventeen hundred white free children, eighteen hundred Negro men slaves, eleven hundred Negro women slaves, five hundred Indian men slaves, six hundred Indian women slaves, twelve hundred Negro children slaves, and three hundred Indian children slaves
.
The whole number of the militia of this province is nine hundred and fifty fit to bear arms viz. two regiments of foot both making up sixteen companys fifty men one with another in a company to which must be added a like number of Negro men slaves the capt. of each company by an act of assembly being obliged to enlist traine up and bring into the field for each white one able slave armed with gunn or lance for each man in his company and the governors troop of guards 
 to take care of the women and children in time of allarum and invasion
.
Facsimile in Records in the British Public Records Office Relating to South Carolina, 1701–10, vol. 5 (Atlanta: Foote and Davies, 1947), 203–10.
The comoditys exported from this province to England are rice, pitch, tarr, buck and doe skins in the haire and Indian drest; also some few furs as beaver, otter, wild cat, raccons, buffaloe and bear skins, some ox and cow hides, a little silk, white oak pipe staves sometimes some other sorts. We are sufficiently provided with pine fit for masts and yeards7 of severall sizes both pine and cyprus which may be afforded very reasonable and supplied at all times in the year, there being no frost or snow considerable enough to hinder bringing them down the rivers
.
Wee are also often furnished with Negroes from the American islands chiefly from Barbadoes and Jamaica from whence also comes a considerable quantity of English manufactures and some prize goods (viz.) clarett [and] brandy, taken from the French and Spaniards
.
The trade of this province is certainly increased of late years, there being a greater comsumption yearly of most commodities imported, and the inhabitants by a yearly addition of slaves are made the more capable of improving the produce of the colony. Notwithstanding, tis our opinion the value of our import is greater (if we include Negroes and the commodities that are consumed here) then our export by which means it comes to pass that wee are very near drained of all our silver and gold coins. Nor is there any remedy to prevent this but by a number of honest laborious persons to come amongst us that would consume but little, by which means the produce of the country being increased might in time make our exportation equalize if not exceed our importation
.
We are, my lords,
Your lordships most obedient humble servants,
N. Johnson, Thos. Broughton, Robert Gibbs, Geo. Smith, Richard Beresford
■
1.5. Governor Urges Curtailing of the African Slave Trade (1711)
Robert Gibbes (1644–1715)—sheriff, assemblyman, Proprietary Deputy, chief justice, and interim governor of Carolina province from 1710 to 1712—presented his annual report on the affairs of the colony to the Assembly in May 1711. After offering a glowing description of the general happiness and prosperity of Carolina, he solemnly urges lawmakers to consider curtailing the importation of African slaves into the colony. ::

 And, Gentlemen, I desire you will consider the great quantities of negroes that are dayly brought into this government, and the small number of whites that comes amongst us, and how many are lately dead and gon off. How insolent and mischeivous the negroes are become, and to consider the Negro Act8 already made, doth not reac...

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