Introduction: Background Information Essay

The cultivation of rice in the ante-bellum South, and in South Carolina in particular, shaped economy and culture. From humble beginnings in the eighteenth century, rice cultivation flourished in the geography and climate of South Carolina and provided the "rice barons" of the South with a luxurious lifestyle, an existence predicated on the use of slave labor. So voracious was the need for slave labor that a majority of African-Americans in this country today can trace their ancestry to the port of Charleston and the entry way of Sullivan's Island.


Carolina Gold, a type of rice highly prized for its golden yellow husk and very white grain when processed, was the mainstay of the economy. Shipments of Carolina Gold to English ports provided a relatively inexpensive food for the poor of northern Europe. Carolina Gold was an apt name for this grain, which provided a lucrative trade for plantation owners.


There are no real records recording the origins of rice cultivation in this area, although legends abound. One story relates that a ship from Madagascar came into Charleston with a bushel of rice in the hold and that the captain presented it to one of the settlers who successfully farmed the new crop. The Carolina Gold strain is closely related to a rice crop in Madagascar. Other stories connect African slaves to early rice cultivation, claiming that enslaved people brought rice with them. Regardless of origins, by 1708 rice had become South Carolina's largest export (Ball 102).


Rice cultivation required large amounts of human labor. Because rice required tremendous amounts of water and a swampy growing medium, animals were too heavy to be used. As Edward Ball states in his book, Slaves in the Family, "In New England, a modest sized field might be prepared by four horses and two drivers with plows. On Comingtee, with handwork, the same field took twenty people"(103). Rice kernels were planted and covered individually with cultivators using their toes for the former and their heels for the latter. Alternatively, rice could be coated with mud to produce a heavier kernel which would not float away when the fields were flooded. Germination required a flooding called the "sprout flow", protection of growing plants from weeds and animals required a flooding called the "stretch flow", and the "harvest flow" kept the stalks upright for collection. The growing of rice was only part of the process. Processing also required manual labor with slaves harvesting the crops by hand with a sickle, drying the grain on the stalks and then separating the stalk and heads, pounding the rice to remove the husks, and fanning the rice to remove the perishable bran. Rice in the husks could be sold as rough rice and rice damaged in the pounding could be used as "Negro rice", food for the workers.


As demand for rice increased, planters augmented the natural swampy areas with tidal fields along the Cooper and Ashley Rivers. Ball recognizes the contributions of slaves in cultivation when he states, "It may have been this method, tidal rice farming, was brought to Americans by West Africans, who showed the technique to Carolina landlords. A drawing made by an English traveler in Sierra Leone in the year 1794 shows rectangular rice fields surrounded by banks, with a portal for water to pour in and out. Tidal agriculture would not have been taught to Africans by whites, because the traffic of culture between Africa and America moved in a single direction. Before tidewater farming, each field had to be weeded by hand with a hoe. By watering the plots and trapping the flood, workers now suffocated some of the weeds in a bath known as the "long water", while the rice plants standing above the flow survived. Tidal farming saved weeks of stooped-over hoeing during the season, and few workers were needed to cope with more land." (249). Still, workers were needed to clear land, build dikes, dig the runnels for this new system and for harvesting, transporting the harvest, and processing the rice.


Both Ball and Middleton Place, a former rice plantation, which exists today as an interpretive center and foundation, recognize the contributions that skilled slaves brought to rice cultivation. Middleton Place does admit that "records reflect that planters were reluctant to give credit to slaves for skills acquired in Africa", however. (www.middletonplace.org African-AmericanHistory 2). This idea was new when Peter Wood voiced it in his book Black Majority, published originally in 1974. He begins Chapter II, "Black Labor-White Rice", with, "No development had greater impact upon the course of South Carolina history than the successful introduction of rice."(34) He continues with, "Scholars have traditionally implied that African laborers were generally 'unskilled' and that this characteristic was particularly appropriate to the tedious work of rice cultivation. It may well be that something closer to the reverse was true early in South Carolina's development...it is worthwhile to suggest here that with respect to rice cultivation, particular knowhow, rather than lack of it, was one factor which made black labor attractive to English colonists."(56). Finally, he states, "It is important to consider the fact that literally hundreds of black immigrants were more familiar with planting, hoeing, processing, and cooking of rice than were the European settlers who purchased them. Those slaves who were accustomed to growing rice on one side of the Atlantic, and who eventually found themselves raising the same crop on the other side did not markedly alter their annual routine. When New World slaves planted rice in the spring by pressing a hole with heel and covering the seeds with the foot, the motion used was demonstrably similar to that employed in West Africa. In summer when Carolina blacks moved through the rice fields in a row, hoeing in unison to work songs, the pattern of cultivation was not one imposed by European owners but one retained from West Arican forebears. And in October when the threshed grain was 'fanned' in the wind, the wide, flat winnowing baskets were by black hands after an African design"(61). The ability of Africans to withstand the diseases of the Carolina low country because of their immune systems was an added bonus.


Perhaps in recognition of the abilities of their slaves or perhaps in an effort to encourage productivity, South Carolina rice barons employed a task system rather than a gang system, assigning slaves certain tasks to fulfill and allowing them time to pursue their own activities once the assigned tasks were completed. A slave, depending upon his or her age and ability, would be assigned a full task, half task, or quarter task. According to Middleton Place, "tasks were standardized for each project- hoeing the fields (usually 1/4 to1/2 acre per day) was a full task as was beating rice (as many as 7 mortars full, or 21 pecks in 1755). However, even a full task was designed to occupy the laborer for just a portion of the day, typically 8-10 hours work." (www.middletonplace.org African American History 1). The interpreter at Drayton Hall Plantation, another rice plantation, estimated that rice slaves would work approximately 10-12 hours per day.


Plantations had, in addition to the plantation house, a "slave street" lined with small houses. Historians, using archaeological evidence, photographs, memory, and structural remains, hypothesize that the early open structures suitable for the African climate were later replaced by rough hewn wooden houses with, in some cases, whitewashed interiors. Eliza's house at Middleton Place was a two-family two-room structure.


Gullah, a new culture combining African roots and Southern conditions, developed in coastal areas of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Gullah produced its own language (a creole mixture of English and West African), its own cuisine, and its own religion. One of the first African American regiments, the 33rd USCT (or U.S. Colored Troops) also known as the First Carolina Africa drew most of its members from the Sea Islands inhabitants with Gullah background. This culture provides a rich topic for study.


Edward Ball, the descendent of an important slave holding family, researched his family's written records in an attempt to construct the family histories of African-American slaves on his family's plantation. In the course of his research, he talked with the descendants of former slaves on the Ball plantation who had written down the oral histories passed on for generations. Combining these historical methods, Ball was able to trace the history of Priscilla, a young woman from Sierra Leone who was captured in the eighteenth centry, transported aboard the Hare (an American ship out of Newport, Rhode Island), brought to Charleston where she was sold by Austen and Laurens, and purchased by the Balls. So unusual is it for African-Americans to be able to trace their lineage back to Africa that at the current exhibition on slavery at the New York Historical Society, a portion of the exhibition focuses on Priscilla.




Unit Description


I teach a class in Food and History, a heterogenously grouped elective. Using the lens of food we can examine history, economics, botany, cuisine, anthropology, literature, and other disciplines. I have the luxury of time (one semester), the independence to tailor a course unattached to a Regents Examination, and the challenge of teaching students with diverse backgrounds and abilities. I love all three!


Although I have developed only one complete lesson at this time, I have included in my packet of resources several sources which I hope to use to complete a two week unit on Carolina Gold and Black. The themes which I plan to explore are:


Day 1. Rice Itself


I will begin by having students examine different types of rice which vary in size, starch content, nutritional content, cooking qualities, fragrance and other qualities. This will lead into a discussion of why Carolina Gold might have been highly prized.


This should lead to a discussion of cultures which rely on rice as a staple crop.


Day 2. Rice & Geography


We will view the SPICE map to discuss areas of the world where rice is cultivated and the difficulties and ease of growing rice as a staple crop. We will examine similarities in climate and geography between the "Rice Coast" of Africa and the "Low Country" of South Carolina to understand why both are good rice producing areas.


Day 3. African Slaves & Rice Cultivation


We will examine several primary sources to answer questions about rice slavery. Were Africans sought as skilled workers? What sorts of skills were necessary? How did slavery on rice plantations differ from that in other areas?


Day 4. Slave Trade: Priscilla's Story


Beginning with the marker recently placed at Sullivan's Island we will reconstruct the story of Priscilla as authentically as we can. The fact that the slave ship came from Newport, a northern port, drives home the point that slavery was part of American life, not simply southern life.


Day 5. Historiography


Because the class is heterogenous, I will use a variety of sources to discuss how Priscilla's story was discovered, using both written records and oral history. The articles from the Providence newspaper are easy to read while Ball's account may be a bit more difficult. In addition to historiography, the readings discuss how difficult it remains for descendants of slave owners and descendants of enslaved people to trust one another.


Day 6&7. Gullah Culture


This is an opportunity to discuss language, religion, art, music, and cuisine. Students can choose to research the art of sweet grass baskets or Jonathan Greene, the "Shout" (which was lifted from Gullah practice and inappropriately transported to the Massachusetts regiment in the movie "Glory"), the evolution of the Gullah language, the encroachment of wealthy golf club communities on the Sea Islands like Hilton Head, and the writings of Pat Conroy from a host of topics. The PBS film "Family Across the Sea" explores the connections between Sierra Leone and the Sea Islands.


Day 8&9. Cooking


We can elicit family recipes for rice dishes and search for rice dishes in any number of cook books and then prepare them.


Day 10. Final Evaluation


Although I am preparing these lessons with a Food & History course in mind, I hope that they might be utilized individually in other classes as well.

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Lesson 3
Carolina Gold & Black
African American Slave Labor: Skilled or Unskilled?

I. Use the sources to answer the questions that follow.


Exhibit A1
1. Who is selling these Negroes?
2. What is the significance of calling the Ship Bance-Island?
3. What indications are there that these slaves might be skilled labor?
4. Why is there so much emphasis on small pox?
5. What is your reaction to the illustrations? If you were to designing the posters to sell a "commodity" would you have included them?





Exhibit B2
1. The preceding poster advertised slaves coming from Africa. From where are these individuals arriving?
2. In light of this, what kind of skills do you believe these individuals will have?
3. Look over this list and make a hypothesis concerning the individuals who are being auctioned.

Link to larger imageof this document.

Exhibit C3,C4,C5


1. Explain at least four tasks undertaken by individuals enslaved on a rice plantation.
2. Which of these would you have preferred to have assigned to you as your task? Be sure to explain the reasons for you answer?


C3



C4



C5





Exhibit D6 "A Planter's Mansion"
1. Look carefully at this illustration and describe what is depicted.
2. Choose a different caption for this illustration and explain why you chose it.





Exhibit E7 "The Plan of Middleton Place"


1. Discuss two influences of geography on this plantation.
2. Although the plantation house burned down during the Civil War, place an X where you believe it might have been based on your knowledge of plantation life.
3. Place a double XX where you think the "slave street" might have been.

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To The Teacher


I. A guide to the document based questions.

Exhibit A: Poster beginning with "To Be Sold on board the ship, Bance Island.


1. Who is selling these negroes?(To the teacher: Austin, Laurens and Appleby will be the sellers of Priscilla, who will be the case study in a later lesson).


2. What is the significance of calling the ship Bance Island?
(To the teacher: Bance-Island, aka Bence Island and Bunce Island, was a notorious fortress and home base for the Royal African Company among other slave companies and is a probable stop for Priscilla).


3. What indications are there that these slaves might be skilled labor?
(To the teacher: Slaves from the Windward and Rice Coast of Africa would come with rice cultivating skills).


4. Why is there so much emphasis on small pox?
(To the teacher: Small pox was of great concern. Jettisoning afflicted passengers with illness was a routine practice during the Middle Passage to elimate the possibility of epidemic and a potential financial loss for the slaver. A pest house was set up on Sullivan's Island to ensure that only healthy slaves would be sold in Charleston proper. Immunity to small pox and malaria were desirable traits in slaves, promising a return on the slave holder's investment.)


5. What is your reaction to the illustrations? If you were designing the posters to sell a "commodity" would you have included them?
(To the teacher: This should prompt a discussion for the students should have differing opinions. The illustrations seem to be at odds with the idea of skilled laborers. could the illustrations be an attempt to portray the captives as savage "others"? Could the illustrations focus on their strength and earning potential?)


Exhibit B: The poster entitled, "Gang of 25 Sea Island..."


1. The preceding poster advertised slaves coming from Africa. From where are these individuals arriving?
2. In light of this, what kind of skills do you believe these individuals will have?
3. Look over this list and make a hypothesis concerning the individuals who are being auctioned?


(To the teacher: These groupings seem to indicate that there might be families involved. Are they being sold as a group or individually? The names indicate that most, except Cudjoe, have been given "Christian" names, perhaps an indication that they are second generation slaves. What might be happening to the slave trade? Students might also notice that both men and women qualify as field hands and that there are other skilled workers.)


Exhibit C: The Illustration from Harper's Weekly entitled "Rice Culture...Near Savannah Georgia", and the two illustrations labeled, "Hoeing" and "Unloading".


1. Explain at least four tasks undertaken by individuals enslaved on a rice plantation.
2. Which of these would you have preferred to have assigned to you as your task? Be sure to explain the reasons for your answer.


(To the teacher: This should lead to a discussion of the task system vs. the gang system, a discussion of which tasks might require more or less skill, and the conditions a slave might encounter like standing knee deep in mud and in snake and alligator infested waters.)


Exhibit D: The illustration from Harper's Weekly entitled, "Planter's Mansion".


1. Look carefully at this illustration and describe what is depicted.
2. Choose a different caption for this illustration and explain why you chose it.

(To the teacher: The planter's mansion is illustrated but the "slave street" is clearly visible. A discussion of the dependence of the rice economy on skilled labor would be appropriate. Observations on the proximity of slave dwellings to the plantation house might lead to further discussion.)


Exhibit E: The Plan of Middleton Place


1. Discuss two influences of geography on this plantation.
2. Although the plantation house burned during the Civil War, place an X where you believe it might have been, based on your knowledge of plantation life.
3. Place a double XX where you believe the "slave street" might have been.


(To the teacher: A discussion of this drawing will provide an opportunity to summarize what students have learned about rice cultivation, slave labor, and plantation life.)


II. For Homework
Reflect on how your perceptions of slavery have changed as a result of this lesson. Refer to at least two documents to explain your ideas.

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Bibliography


"African-American History". www.middletonplace.org
"Rice". www.middletonplace.org
Ball, Edward. Slaves In the Family, New York: Ballantine Books, 1998.
http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SlaveTrade/collection/large
Middleton Place Self Guided Tour. Middleton Place Foundation. Charleston, S.C.
Wood, Peter H. Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina, New York: Norton and Co. 1974.

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