4-2.3: Explain the impact of the triangular trade, indentured servitude, and the enslaved and free Africans on the developing culture and economy of North American.
Essential Question: How did Africans change the culture and economy of North America?
Learning Tasks/Activities:
Ø The teacher will closely read the interactive essential text with students. During this time it is important to discuss the essential question, to define key vocabulary, to code the text (political, economic, geographic, and social), to discuss the content and to clarify any misconceptions. The teacher and student will interact with the text. The following tasks are to strengthen, to deepen, and to enhance the indicator content and connect to the key concept question. Ø Students will read closely the Britannica School text “Slavery and Servitude.” They will answer questions about the text in small group and whole group discussion and/or as notebook responses using the Slavery and Servitude text discussion questions. (DOK 1-3) Ø Students will study the Triangular Trade Map. They will analyze the map using the map document analysis sheet. (DOK 1-3) Ø Students will read the text “Indentured Servants in the U .S.” They will complete a Four Square Thinking Cube sheet about the document. (DOK 1-3) Ø Students will read the Achieve 3000 article “England’s Terrible Trade”. Students will complete a “You Be the Teacher” activity sheet based on the reading. (DOK 2-3) |
It is essential for students to know:
Students need to know why and how slavery was introduced and established in the English colonies in North America. As large farms and plantations were established in Virginia, the planters needed a large labor force to plant and harvest the cash crop (tobacco). At first, the English attempted to enslave Native Americans. However, this created tensions with the neighboring tribes. Also, Native Americans knew the land so well they were able to easily escape. Indentured servants were brought from England and had a significant impact on the colonies. Settlers continued to need workers to help in planting and harvesting cash crops, such as tobacco. Poor people from England who had been displaced from their land needed work, while others desired a better or changed life in a different place. The settlers and indentured servants signed a contract in which they agreed that the servant would work for the land owners for a certain number of years in exchange for food, clothing, shelter, and most importantly, passage to the new World. The land owners were also able to secure more land because they paid the passage of the indentured servant (headright system). Often the landowner did not live up to the contract and abused and/or mistreated the indentured servant. The servant hoped that once their time of indenture was over they would have an opportunity to own their own land. Once they were free, many moved to the backcountry of the colonies in order to claim their land. When the number of potential indentured servants was no longer enough to fill the need for fieldworkers, the colonists turned to using slave labor from Africa. Slaves were brought to North America through the triangular trade. Some may see this term as an oversimplification, but it allows students to see the basic routes. Trade routes did follow patterns depending on the demand of exporting and importing goods. The routes were taken between the North American colonies, Europe, Africa, and West Indies. For example, on one route, sugar was purchased in the West Indies and transported to New England to be made into rum. The rum was then shipped to Africa to be exchanged for slaves. The slaves were then taken to the West Indies and sold or exchanged for sugar cane. The sugar was taken back to New England to produce more rum and the cycle continued. Cash crops grown in the English colonies such as rice, tobacco, and indigo, were sold in Europe in exchange for manufactured goods that could not be produced in the colonies (mercantilism). The part of the slave’s journey aboard the ship between Africa and the American colonies is known as the “Middle Passage.” Africans were kidnapped by other tribes in Africa and were marched (a coffle) first from the interior of Africa, to the coast of West Africa, to the slave ships where they were traded/sold to the ship’s captain who helps then until they could fill up the cargo hold. If they survived this leg of the journey, they had to endure the most horrible part – the Middle Passage which means much more than just one part of a journey. It is a referenced to the inhumane conditions aboard the ships. Since the slave trade was conducted for profit, the captains of the slave ships tried to deliver a maximum number of slaves for minimum cost. Africans were imprisoned as cargo in a stifling space below the ship’s deck. They received little food or exercise while aboard the slave ship. Many slaves did not survive the Middle Passage. Slaves were brought in from Africa mainly through the port of Charleston to do the fieldwork and had a profound impact on the economy and culture of the colonies. Africans brought with them their own culture, skills, and languages. Africans were very knowledgeable about raising livestock and the farming techniques needed to cultivate rice in the colonies. This made the rice plantations of South Carolina profitable. Without African skills and labor, the economy of the Southern Colonies would not have developed these cash crops. Africans also impacted the cooking styles of the South, and consequently later the United States., because they often prepared meals for themselves and the slave owners and thus introduced more variety in preparation than stewing and spit-roasting. They added greens and other vegetables to the plantation owners’ meal and starch diets, thus improving health. Since Africans came from different tribal groups and spoke no English when arriving in the colonies, some developed distinctive dialects such as Gullah. Gullah was a spoken language of Africans that developed in the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. Other customs such as making sea grass baskets and music were important to the slaves’ extension of their previous culture into the New World. While slave owners began to feel threatened by this growing population of slaves and decided to implement slave codes to regulate the behavior of slaves in the colonies. Some slaves in the north were able to work additional jobs in order to purchase their freedom. A child born to a mother in slavery would become a slave. However, if a mother’s freedom was purchased her children would also become free as their status followed their mother’s linage. Many free Africans found work in the north as artisans and apprentices. Later, some slaves would fight in the American Revolution in hopes of receiving freedom in return for their sacrifice. |