The African Texans

Chapter 2. Enslaved African Americans before the Civil War

Enslaved African Americans ▼▼▼          Enslaved African Americans before the Civil War SLAVERY DEVELOPED on a limited scale in Texas under Spain, and it appeared to be dying out by the nineteenth century. In the s, after Mexico gained independence, the Mexican government abolished slavery but allowed settlers from the United States to bring slaves into Texas as indentured servants. Thus, slavery continued under another name. White Americans, primarily from the South,used slaves mainly as agricultural workers on farms and plantations growing cotton, sugar cane, and food crops such as corn. By the time of the Texas Revolution in  the number of slaves had grown to about . The new republic legalized slavery, as did the state government when Texas accepted annexation to the United States in . Slaveholders and slave traders brought a growing number of AfricanAmericans to Texas between  and .Slaves numbered over ,— percent of the state’s population. The growth rate of the slave population far surpassed the growth rate of the white population. Some bondsmen had walked hundreds of miles to Texas, often connected by ropes that limited the possibility of escape. Slave women faced the dangerous moment of giving birth in a wagon along the trail, while others grieved the death of a child they had to leave in a roadside grave. Other enslaved people came to Texas on crowded ships, sometimes in chains, including slaves smuggled ashore fromAfrica,Cuba,and otherWest Indies islands.Slaveholders African Texans ▼▼▼  The Weekly Telegraph of Houston in  ran advertisements selling slaves. Institute of Texan Cultures illustration no. - Many slave women worked in the main house cooking in large, open hearths. Institute of Texan Cultures illustration no. - moving to Texas often brought entire families of slaves, but other owners and traders sold family members separately. Jeff Hamilton found himself up for auction at the age of thirteen.“I stood on the slave block in the blazing sun for at least two hours . . . my legs ached. My hunger had become almost unbearable . . . I was filled with terror, and did not know what was to become of me. I had been crying for a long time.”1 Slave mothers pleaded or threatened suicide in an effort to keep their children. Enslaved African Americans ▼▼▼  The log cabin home of an African American in Texas. Institute of Texan Cultures illustration no. - Slaves received no pay for their labor, beyond the basic necessities of food and clothing. They generally built their own cabins and raised and cooked their own food using what their owners did not want.Hog jowl,the small intestines of the hog (chitterlings),or pigs’ feet supplemented with wild greens from the field served as the basis of many meals. Small game such as possum, squirrel, and rabbit as well as fish were added to the meals when available.Other readily available foods like cornmeal, sweet potatoes, sorghum, black-eyed peas, and beans rounded out their diet. Many of the black women worked as cooks in the homes of their owners. The cooking of these early black women has influenced the dietary habits of many Texans through the decades: ham hocks and black-eyed peas served with cornbread and sweet potato pie are still favorites. African Texans ▼▼▼  Women and children also worked in the fields along side the men hoeing and picking cotton, which they then spun and wove into cloth for making clothes. Because slaveholders received the profits of slave labor and slaves received few other rewards as incentives , slaveholders needed elaborate controls to make their slaves work hard. Two types of controls existed: a series of laws adopted by the Republic of Texas and later by the state government, and punishments inflicted by individual slaveholders. By law, slaves could not travel without a pass from their owners, possess weapons,gather in large groups,or have liquor without permission . Neither could they physically or verbally resist white control and supervision. Those who fought back, revolted, or tried to escape could be executed or whipped. Slaveholders had the authority to whip and punish slaves as they saw fit, although executing or maiming a slave could cause some legal problems as well as the lost value of the slave as property. They could chain slaves, sell them, and control their work time. Slaves could not legally marry, so a slave could be sold and, as a result, separated from family members entirely at the owner’s discretion. Another common method of exerting control...