Africans in America

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Africans in America
part one
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Where in Virginia were African slaves prevalent?
prevalent occurring most often
African slaves listen to a slave preacher in the
slave quarters of Carters Grove Plantation.
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African slaves lived mostly in the Tidewater
region of Virginia.
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Why were African slaves found mostly in the
Tidewater region?
Slaves work on their family garden in the slave
quarters.
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Africans were living mostly in the Tidewater
area, because that is where the larger
plantations were.
Here we see a re-enactment of slaves going to
work on a Tidewater plantation. They had to get
up very early in the morning and work very hard
all day for no pay.
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Why were so many slaves needed in the Tidewater
region of Virginia?
slaves being sold by auction
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Slaves clean fish on a Tidewater plantation.
So many slaves were needed because the Tidewater
plantations were expanding.
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Why were the Tidewater plantations expanding?
the big house, where the plantation (and slave)
owner lived
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Tidewater plantations were expanding because
people could make so much money from tobacco.
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But tobacco took many people working long hours,
to grow a big crop that would bring in lots of
money.
This is an old painting of Jamestown farmers
growing their own tobacco, without the help of
African slaves.
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If Virginia tobacco farmers wanted to make a lot
of money, they had to raise a lot of tobacco.
That meant they had to farm a lot more land, and
they needed a lot of cheap labor.
Re-enactors play the parts of slaves in the slave
quarters (living areas) of Carters Grove
Plantation.
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Where did African slaves come from?
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African slaves came mostly from the west coast of
Africa.
This area of Africa was even called the Slave
Coast, because so many slaves were sent to the
Americas from there.
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In Africa, these people had their own families,
villages, customs, and culture.
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They were often kidnapped and forced to march
miles to a slave ship.
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Then they had to ride for weeks in horrible
conditions to get to America.
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The route of slave ships across the Atlantic
Ocean came to be known as the Middle Passage.
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The Africans who survived the Middle Passage were
sold to plantation owners, usually by auction.
a slave auction in Virginia
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On the plantations, slaves were trained to do
many different kinds of jobs.
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Most of the slaves in the Tidewater region worked
in tobacco fields, so the plantation owners could
make more money.
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Slaves in the Tidewater region lived in small
cabins with dirt floors.
inside a slave cabin
bedtime in a slave cabin
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By contrast, the big house was often quite
grand for that time.
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So we see that slavery was necessary for the
expansion of Tidewater plantations, so landowners
could raise more and more tobacco, to make more
and more money.
a tobacco field
a plantation house
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We also see that Africans were so very important
in the economic development of Virginia. Let us
remember their sacrifices with gratitude and
their endurance with greatest respect.
Peace to you and your family. Mrs. Wooding