Transcript The Emancipation Proclamation: Atlantic Connections and

The Emancipation
Proclamation: Atlantic
Connections and Movements
Mark Levengood
GHC Teaching Demonstration
July 15, 2010
Emancipation: Atlantic
Connections
• The Emancipation Proclamation should be
understood in the context of Atlantic economic,
political, and cultural connections
• Slave and free black actions were central –
pushed whites, including Lincoln, to act
• Common Atlantic issues: emancipation and
freedom, inseparable from issues of power
and race
• Issues and connections had continuing
importance in U.S., Atlantic, and world history
after the U.S. Civil War
Brief History of the U.S.
Emancipation Proclamation
• Lincoln’s mixed messages on abolition of slavery
• ‘House Divided’ speech, 1858, Senate Campaign: "A
house divided against itself cannot stand" – Union would
become all slave or free
• Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, 1861: “no purpose,
directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the
States where it exists.”
• By early 1862, Lincoln advised Union border states to
accept compensated abolition of slavery, delayed over 30
years, congressmen rejected it
• Later in 1862 had decided to announce E.P.
• How and why did this happen? – “contraband” slaves,
pressure from Republicans, Confederate military
victories, supported by slave labor
Brief History of E.P.
• Preliminary E.P., Sept. 22, 1862 – slaves will be freed in
states still in rebellion on Jan. 1, 1863 – ignored by
Confederate states
• Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. 1, 1863 –
– freed all slaves in rebellious states (excluded Union slaveholders
– Intention to enlist slaves in army and navy
• Lincoln: “military necessity, absolutely essential to the
preservation of the Union”
• “We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued. The
slaves [are] undeniably an element of strength to those
who [have] their service, and we must decide whether
that element should be with us or against us...The
Administraiton must set an example, and strike at the
heart of the rebellion.”
• E.P. made the Union army an army of liberation in
Confederate states
• Slavery not completely abolished until 13th Amendment
to Constitution, Dec. 18, 1865
Context: Atlantic Slave Economy
Slave trade
transported
slaves
throughout
Atlantic
World –
majority of
slaves
outside U.S.
Atlantic Political Context:
The British Example
• Confeds wanted British recognition, support
• Believed Brits would put economic interest, need for
cotton, first
• Some Brits happy to see U.S. republican experiment fail –
leftover animosities from Am. Revolution
• Pro-Confed. British: aristocrats, conservatives, some
textile owners
• Believed in social hierarchy – slaves deserved to be
enslaved, natural place
• But war did not initially hurt British econ. – had cotton
warehoused in Britain
• And British didn’t want to offend Union/U.S. if not sure
Confeds would win
Emancipation - Precedents
• Different forms of emancipation:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
State/govt. initiated
Resettlement to Africa
Barring slavery from territories
Result of military service
Result of revolution
Result of colonial independence movement
Result of revolt
Individual or small group – escape
Everyday forms of resistance and freedom
Painting Brainstorming
• Historical Document Analysis: What does
the painting tell you?
Precedents: Atlantic Abolitionists
• Britain had strong abolitionist movement
• Quakers in 18th and 19th centuries
• William Wilberforce and reformers in Parliament –
British slave trade abolished, 1807
• Abolition of slavery in colonies, 1830s
• Strong working-class support for abolition,
despite fears of textile unemployment
• British: if they could abolish slavery, then it was
right thing for U.S. to do
• Supported Eman. Proc. after Union victory at
Antietam and once they saw support for war
against slavery
Abolition: Common White Fears
• Fears about ex-slaves
– Are blacks capable of being free?
– Can they live peacefully with whites?
– Will they work if not forced to? – assumed
they were naturally lazy
– Will they work for wages?
– Will they assimilate into society?
– Fears of sexual relations with whites – racial
mixture
Precedents: Age of Revolution
• Revolutionary and Enlightenment beliefs had great
impact on slavery – liberty, freedom, equality, natural
rights
• Adam Smith – free labor and markets are best
• Lord Dunmoore – slaves would be freed if they fought for
Brits during Am. Revolution
• Some upper south owners freed slaves after Am.
Revolution
• Northwest Ordinance, 1787 – slavery banned from NW
territory
• Gradual Emancipation in northern states in late 18th- and
early 19th centuries
French and Haitian Revolutions
• Circulation of revolutionary ideals
throughout Atlantic
• Impact of French Rev. on slaves in Haiti
and other Atlantic slave societies
• Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804: only
successful slave revolt
• Haitian Revolt and Republic inspired
slaves throughout Atlantic
• Struck fear in whites – worst possible
outcome
Precedent: Religious Reformers
• Quakers and abolition
• 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings – Evangelical
Protestants
–
–
–
–
Equality under God
Individualism – individual religious experience
Some interracial religious groups
Reform movements – perfection of society
• Spurred some owners to manumit slaves
• Formation of Christian missionary and
colonization societies
• Slavery a moral evil; nation must purge itself of
evil (and often slaves too)
Colonizing Free Blacks
• Beliefs in black inequality and inability to
assimilate into U.S. society
• Ex-slaves or free blacks should return to
their “homeland” of Africa
• Cross-Atlantic colonization schemes
– Britain – Sierra Leone, 1787
– U.S. – Liberia, 1817
– France – Libreville
Slave Resistance: Searching for
Freedom throughout Atlantic World
• Slave resistance and agency
• Pushed whites and governments to act on
issues of slavery
• Diff. forms of resistance
– Escape
– Work
– Revolt
– Daily life, family, religion
– Public performance – claiming public space
• Image: Nighttime Funeral in
antebellum
south
• Nighttime
religious
meetings
• Celebrations
• Theft or
gathering of
food and drink
• Relationships
across
plantations
Maroons in Atlantic World
Nighttime Meetings and Escapes
Documents:
Black Christianity & Spirituals
• THE COMING DAY
"I want to go to Canaan,
I want to go to Canaan,
I want to go to Canaan,
To meet 'em at de comin' day.
O, remember, let me go to
Canaan, (Thrice.)
To meet 'em, &c.
O brudder, let me go to
Canaan, (Thrice.)
To meet 'em, &c.
My brudder, you-oh !remember (Thrice.)
To meet 'em at de comin' day."
• MY ARMY CROSS OVER
"My army cross over,
My army cross over.
O, Pharaoh's army drownded !
My army cross over.
"We 'll cross de mighty river,
My army cross over;
We 'll cross de river Jordan,
My army cross over;
We 'll cross de danger water,
My army cross over;
We 'll cross de mighty Myo,
My army cross over. (Thrice.)
O, Pharaoh's army drownded !
My army cross over."
Documents:
Black Christianity & Spirituals
•
MANY THOUSAND GO.
"No more peck o' corn for me,
No more, no more,No more peck o' corn for me,
Many tousand go.
"No more driver's lash for me, (Twice.)
No more, &c.
"No more pint o' salt for me, (Twice.)
No more, &c.
"No more hundred lash for me,
(Twice.)
No more, &c.
"No more mistress' call for me,
No more, No more,No more mistress' call for me,
Many tousand go."
•
WE 'LL SOON BE FREE.
"We 'll soon be free,
We 'll soon be free,
We 'll soon be free,
When de Lord will call us home.
My brudder, how long,
My brudder, how long,
My brudder, how long,
'Fore we done sufferin' here?
It won't be long (Thrice.)
'Fore de Lord will call us home.
We 'll walk de miry road (Thrice.)
Where pleasure never dies.
We 'll walk de golden street (Thrice.)
Where pleasure never dies.
My brudder, how long (Thrice.)
'Fore we done sufferin' here?
We 'll soon be free (Thrice.)
When Jesus sets me free.
We 'll fight for liberty (Thrice.)
When de Lord will call us home."
African-American Religion and
Emancipation
• Message of spirituals?
Painting Brainstorming
• Historical Document Analysis: What is the
message of the painting?
• How did escaped slaves impact Civil War?
– contrabands
History of Public Resistance
and Performance
• Context of owner surveillance and control – attempts
to limit gatherings in groups, fear of slave revolt
• Slaves, free blacks, post-slavery black Americans
celebrated Emancipation Day as reminder of
continued fight for racial, social, and economic
equality
• Claiming public sites or spaces when they did not
have any formal power or rights
• Examples
– John Canoe or Jonkonnu
– Pinkster and Negro Election Day
– Public religious, political, musical expression
• Often poked fun at whites through dress and mimicry
Everyday acts of resistance –
What are they talking about?
Summary
• Emancipation Proclamation resulted from
history of:
– Atlantic slave economy
– Circulation of ideals of freedom and equality
– Circulation of religious ideals
– Precedents of abolition and emancipation in
other slave societies
– Pressure from slaves in various forms:
runaways, revolts, everyday resistance
Post-Slavery Connections
• Goals of Emancipation continue into the present
• Common goals: fight racial and economic
exploitation; fight for democracy and equality
• Public expression and celebrations
– Juneteenth and Emancipation Day celebrations
throughout the Atlantic
• Radicalism and Reform in the Black Atlantic or
African-Atlantic
–
–
–
–
Anti-colonial activists
Civil rights activists
Human rights activists
Labor activists
Emancipation Day, 1863,
South Carolina
Juneteenth
Musicians at the Austin, Texas,
Emancipation Day picnic, June 19,
1900
Ex-slaves at the Austin, Texas,
Emancipation Day picnic, June 19,
1900
Emancipation Day Parade,
Richmond, VA, 1904/5
Black Atlantic Radical: Robert
Wedderburn, 1762-1830s?
• Jamaican slave mother, white plantationowner
father
• Free from birth
• In British Navy experienced wage labor
and saw mistreatment of sailors – an
Atlantic working class
• Lived in London with ex-slaves, Irish,
and other lower-class Brits
• Converted to Methodism, then Unitarianism, became
preacher, radical Christian = equality under God
• Became revolutionary anti-monarchist
• Published anti-slavery pamphlet, 1824
• Free speech activist, jailed, prob. died in prison
• United anti-slavery and working-class radicalism
Zombies!
• What is a zombie?
Zombies: Atlantic Radicals?
• Product of Atlantic economic, social, and cultural
history and connections
• Loosely based on West African and Haitian
vodun (voodoo) religious practices, combined
with Christian and other influences
• Africa – Caribbean – Britain – U.S. – World
• Stories and myths - critical of power, control,
loss of freedom
• Began under slavery
• Emancipation as evolving issue – new forms of
power and control – wage labor, colonialism, Jim
Crow, Cold War,…
Film, White Zombie, 1932
• Meaning?
Fela Kuti, Zombie, 1977
• Nigerian Afrobeat
musician
• Influenced by U.S.
Black Power
movement
• Anti-colonial activist
• Activist for Nigerian
democracy, against
govt. repression
Michael Jackson’s Thriller
• How is Thriller an emancipatory tale?
• How does Thriller deal with white fears?
Image of Integration:
The American Dream
Image of Integration: Public Culture
Image of Religious Mystery:
Black Christianity and Folk Traditions
Image of Black Urban Culture:
Street Performance
Outcomes
• After this lesson, you should be able to:
– Describe the long historical view and context of
Emanc. Proclamation
– Provide understanding of international relations – U.S./
British relations on Civil War & ‘slave problem’
– Describe Emancipation’s precedents and antecedents
– Provide diff. definitions and forms of emancipation
– Describe slave pressure on whites with examples of
resistance and slave definitions of freedom
– Make connections between past emancipation
movements and continuing importance of issues of
race, power, freedom in Atlantic and world history
Further Resources
• U.S. Emancipation Timeline:
http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/chronol.htm
• Library of Congress E.P. site:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/EmanProc.html