Talk:Slavery in the colonial United States
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Why is the 19c photograph of a 19c slave on the "Slavery in Colonial America" page? It would fit better on the "History of Slavery in the United States" page. Drfryer 02:47, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
For my s.s. project i have to make a collage of pictures about colonial slavery. I cant find any thing! any ideas? hmmmm..
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[edit] Legal Status
From the article, "The first Africans to be brought to North America landed in Virginia in 1619. Whether they were outright slaves or other kinds of unfree laborers, such as indentured servants, is unclear." I believe it was actually clear. I recall watching a PBS show on this several years ago, but I need to search for better references than my own memory. Indentured servants had a distinct legal status in the American colonies. Recalling from history class (I was mostly raised in Virginia and nearly every year we went to Jamestown on field trips), it was not abnormal for "patrons" of indentured servants to sue the servants for various things that would extend the servitude of those servants, possibly for as long as life. There was one such case, I believe that the African was actually suing his "patron", but the magistrate, for one reason or other, ruled that the African was property of the "patron" and did not have legal basis to sue. Based on this legal precedent, the institution was transformed from servitude to slavery.
In addition, I think it should be researched and included in this article regarding what had transpired with the Germans in colonial Pennsylvania. Asacan 03:33, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] How many slaves?
About how many slaves were there in america in the early 1800's
[edit] Aftermath
What were the effects of slavery after it was over, in numbers? Marcher Lord 20:41 November 26, 2006 (UTC)
A LOT —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.186.63.29 (talk) 20:18, 24 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] South Carolina (especially Charleston) Jews and the African Slave Trade
I'm in the process of looking in to this, but MUCH more research needs to be done about the VERY prominent role that these Charleston Jews played in the African slave trade, the slave trade which was overwhelmingly centered in the city of Charleston in North America (especially after The North became increasingly abolitionist-oriented) until about 1807, when the slave trade was outlawed (though it certainly continued, albeit quietly).
Also, South Carolina eventually had more African slaves living in the state than non-slaves (as Wikipedia says: "For most of its history, black slaves made up a majority of South Carolina's population.") and the slave owners constantly feared a large slave-uprising or insurrection; indeed, even in modern times African-Americans are about 1/3 the population of the state of South Carolina, possibly a bit more.
It seems that wherever there was a very early North or South American synagogue or large Jewish presence you also find a prominent slave market, both in North and South America (along with the Caribbean and North Africa). All evidence points to the fact that it was a very large role that Jews played -- not to mention the fact that many of these Sephardic Jews hailed from the Netherlands, and everyone knows that the Dutch played a huge part in the African slave trade (History of the Jews in the Netherlands), and that they had been recently expelled from Spain and Portugal (Alhambra decree), but the crypto-Jews remained -- Spain and Portugal were both THE dominant shipping powers around this time. The oldest synagogue in North or South America was established in 1636 (the Kahal Zur synagogue in the Dutch capital of Recife, Brazil). Eventually Brazil had more African slaves than any other place on Earth. There were also many Sephardic Jews living in North Africa (a traditional Sephardi area) which served as a jumping off point where the slaves were gathered (see Triangular trade) by both local Arabs and these Sephardi Jew collaborators and then shipped to North or South America.
There was also an amazingly large slave market in Newport, Rhode Island, which is the site of the oldest synagogue in North America (Touro Synagogue); check out these stats: "As early as 1708 African slaves outnumbered indentured servants in Rhode Island eight to one. In fact, between 1705 and 1805, Rhode Island merchants sponsored at least 1,000 slaving voyages to West Africa and carried over 100,000 slaves back to America. More slave ships would leave Colonial Newport than any other American port of that time. By 1770, one out of every three Newport families owned at least one slave" [1].
Does anyone have any reliable links or book recommendations so that we can write a section about this on the page? I've found many but am looking for more. Thank you. --Pseudothyrum 02:35, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
Maybe your search should start with Mein Kampf —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.75.1.255 (talk) 17:23, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Indentured Servitude – Deletion of a sentence
I deleted the first sentence “British colonists were cruel with the most of the slaves in Latin America, West Africa, and medieval Europe.” Because a) It implies that “British colonists” were cruel to slaves in Latin America etc… b) It has nothing to do with the next sentence “Some Historians, notably Edmund……” and c) The early colonies & colonists were English. Britain, as political entity only came into existence with the1707 “Act of Union” nearly a hundred years after the founding of most of the colonies. I suspect that this sentence is a hangover from an earlier version of this article.Jalipa 18:03, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Focus of article on the US
Another editor highlighted the fact that this article is primarily about slavery in the American colonies that became the United States. That may or may not be appropriate. This article is listed as the "main article" under Slavery in the United States#Colonial America. Maybe this article should be renamed Slavery in the Thirteen Colonies?
Otherwise, it should be broadened to incorporate the very different history of slavery elsewhere in the Americas. — Malik Shabazz (Talk | contribs) 04:39, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
