SLAVERY, ANTISLAVERY AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Peter A. Bunten Mid-Hudson Antislavery History Project INTRODUCTION • 400th Anniversary • Continuing Legacy Subject Popularity – Barnes & Noble Current Titles Slavery + A-A History 3,392 Underground Railroad 464 Vietnam War 2,357 George Washington 2,198 Abraham Lincoln 1,819 Thomas Jefferson 1,193 WWII 27,782 “WHAT INTERESTS US?” Where do you fit in Family history? Civil War? Underground Railroad? Research? MID-HUDSON ANTISLAVERY HISTORY PROJECT Research Interpretation Programs CLASS SCHEDULE • I – April 2 Background and Introduction • II – April 9 Mid-Hudson Valley Focus • III – April 16 Resistance and Runaways • IV – April 23 Legacy and Learning: Antislavery Songs From Olaudoh Equiano To John Bolding WHAT DID WE LEARN? THE IMPORTANCE OF AGENCY - Enslaved men and women - Resistance IN THE BEGINNING … AFRICA AND THE AMERICAS FROM AFRICA TO THE AMERICAS THE SLAVE TRADE IN TWO MINUTES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra6Bs_VpsBw THE MIDDLE PASSAGE The Most Dangerous Part of the Journey CONDITIONS OF TRAVEL CONDITIONS OF TRAVEL- 2 RESISTANCE FROM THE START SLAVE SOCIETIES AND SOCIETIES WITH SLAVES • Southern Colonies and Slavery • Slavery in the North • Customs and Laws SLAVE MARKET PLAQUE BOUND BY SLAVERY New England and the West Indies FROM CUSTOM TO CODE: THE HARDENING OF BLACK ENSLAVEMENT Growing demand for labor Ready supply from West Indies and Africa Resistance White fear Free blacks and mulattoes Custom Becomes Law: The Virginia Example (i) 1630s - It was "customary practice to hold some Negroes in a form of life service." 1639 - All persons except Negroes are to be with Arms and Ammunition. 1640 - John Punch, a runaway indentured Servant, first documented slave for life. 1662 - Slavery was recognized in the statutory law of the colony. 1662 - Children considered the same status as the mother. 1667 - Baptism does not bring freedom. 1670 - Blacks or Indians could no longer own white indentured servants. Custom Becomes Law: The Virginia Example (ii) 1680 - Act to prevent slave insurrections. Blacks could not congregate in large numbers. Must obtain written authorization to leave a plantation - could not remain at another plantation longer than 4 hours. 1691 – Intermarriage between blacks and whites prohibited. 1691 - No Negro or Mulatto may be set free unless the owner pays for the transportation out of the colony. 1692 - Negroes must give up ownership of horses, cattle or hogs. 1692 - Separate courts for the trial of slaves charged with a capital crime, thus depriving them of the right of a trial by jury. THE REVOLUTIONARY GENERATION Choosing - Slaveholding Founders - Ideal of Freedom, limited government - Colonial economies tied to slavery - Anti-Black prejudice INTO NEW YORK.