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Prologue
- The University of Tennessee Press
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Prologue The era in which the Pierces, Tatnalls, and Zimmermans emerged between the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, is quite different from the modern era of the mid-twentieth to the early twenty-first century. In this prologue I provide a brief overview of the early history and times of Black South Carolina, Black Orangeburg, and the Black family in Orangeburg. In doing so, I hope to shed enough light on this era of history for younger readers to better understand the unique world that young Jello and her ancestors entered at birth and grew up in. It is a world very different from the twenty-first century that this very wise nonagenarian, Geraldyne Pierce Zimmerman, continues to enjoy. Early Black Carolinians The British province called “Carolina” was established in 1663 when King Charles II granted eight nobles a royal charter to settle the colony. During this early period, according to M. Eugene Sirmans, a marked preference for African labor existed long before the emergence of agricultural staples and plantations. Thus in 1671 the first West Africans were brought to this colony as slaves. By 1690 rice production required more labor and the population of African slave imports increased at a rapid pace. The colony prospered from its mass production of rice, indigo, and corn; in 1712 slavery was legalized, and by 1724 there were twice as many Africans as Whites in the colony.1 Tensions developed within Carolina Colony among its settlers, and in 1729, King Charles II divided the colony into two separate ones: North Carolina and South Carolina. In 1788, South Carolina became a state, and by 1790 the new state had 140,178 Whites and 107,094 slaves, the second highest number of slaves after Virginia. South Carolina passed harsh slave codes, xxii Prologue largely modeled after the British colony of Barbados because many of its slaves arrived via Barbados. Treatment of the slaves varied, but George Williams argued that in early South Carolina, many Whites “did not care any more for the life of a Negro slave than for the crawling worm in their path.” By 1860, South Carolina’s White population had increased to 291,300, while its nonWhite population totaled 412, 408.2 When slavery ended, South Carolina had to rebuild the superstructure and infrastructure destroyed during the Civil War. Research of the Reconstruction era, between 1866 and 1877, shows that most African Americans refrained from having contact with Whites out of fear and social deference. A small number actively enjoyed their new public equality as they rode streetcars or frequented restaurants, theaters, and other places deemed “open to all.” Post-Reconstruction South Carolina, however, revealed increasing white resentment directed toward African Americans as a host of new laws called “Black Codes” were passed. These laws restricted Blacks’ movements and controlled their lives, from where they worked, lived, and socialized to how they voted or married. According to Walter B. Edgar, post-Reconstruction South Carolina enforced the continued practice of racial discrimination by intensifying its effort to keep the races separate when it declared in its “1895 constitution ” that anyone having “one-eighth or more negro blood” was Black and “everyone else . . . white.” Thus when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, South Carolina was already positioned to move forward with legalizing racial segregation in all aspects of its social life and culture.3 As a result, Black South Carolinians lived under a permanent system of racial discrimination commonly referred to as Jim Crow segregation. In addition, their legalized inferior social status restricted them to work in the lowest-level jobs, reside in segregated areas of town, socialize only in designated areas, and continue behaving in the customary manner, showing grave deference to all Whites. According to Edgar, Blacks were expected to go to back doors and to address Whites as “Massa, Master, Miss, or Boss.” Had they used “Mr.” or “Mrs.,” they would have been considered impudent. Whites tried to avoid using “Mr.” or “Mrs.” when addressing Blacks, even in legal situations. Regardless of age, Whites addressed Black people by their first names. If a courtesy title were used, it would likely be “uncle, daddy, aunty, or mauma.” . . . White children learned not to use the terms “lady” or “gentleman” when referring to Black people. [3.235.42.157] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 10:44 GMT) xxiii Early Black Carolinians Though some protested against losing their “civil and political rights,” Edgar added, the “public...