They were shipped from ports in West Africa to European colonies in the Americas. Place on a roasting pan, and bake until soft, perhaps an hour or two, depending upon the size of your sweet potato. Internal economy focused political struggle, and consumption was deeply woven into the tragic and tangled fabric of the master-slave relation. What the Slaves Ate. Booker T. Washington was born a slave on the Burroughs plantation in Franklin County, Virginia on April 5, 1856. When the pot of greens was eaten, there would still be the flavorful broth, called potlicker. 2, 23; Ibid., 3, pt. I did find references to collard greens and cabbage in the course of my research, yes. For the women who wrote and preserved the receipt books, these recipes, the products of African foodways, were something worthy of remembering, re-creating, and establishing as Americana. Planter James Goodloe posed two questions to readers of the Southern Cultivator in 1860. We need to forget about this so we can heal, said an elderly white woman, as she left my lecture on the history of enslaved cooks and their influence on American cuisine. For further explication of my own views, see Kathleen M. Hilliard, Masters, Slaves, and Exchange: Powers Purchase in the Old South (2014) and Bonds Burst Asunder: The Transformation of Internal Economy in Confederate Richmond, in Commodification, Community, and Comparison in Slave Studies, eds. 6 cups (1 1/4 liter) chicken stock The juice from the crushing of the cane was then boiled or clarified until it crystallized into sugar. More troubling to slaveholders, enslaved people also bought stolen goods in a thriving interracial network of underground exchange. However, they did have cornbread. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2009. This cornbread was crumbled into the bottom of the bowl to soak up the last bits of savory flavor. Ethiopias gomen wat and Ghanas kontomire stews both resemble the stewed collard greens of the American South. Availalbe for use through Wiki Commons. Boiling ground grains into a porridge called polenta was a longtime Roman and Italian practice, which they quickly adapted to corn when that originally came over from America. A reason many did not make it to the colonies at all was disease and illness. Not according to biology or history. "Slave owners sent back and got seeds for what the slaves were used to eating, because they weren't used to the food here in America. "Those conversations need to happen so everyone has a voice at the table. Growing up on Sapelo Island, Georgia, Cornelia Walker Bailey never thought of red peas as anything special. The Bantu people originated in Central Africa, near Nigeria and the Congo. Required fields are marked *. Slaveholders wrestled with the implications of such behavior, sometimes outlawing slave spending outright, but more often looking to manipulate it to their own advantage. Just found your series! That meant the slaves could plant for themselves," says. As described by Carol Graham, a former slave from Alabama: Greens was cooked in a big black washpot jus like yo boils clothes in now.. Part of the National Museums Liverpool group. Want to read more articles just like these? Enslaved people suffered, yetas bidding in Richmonds auction houses showsthey recognized opportunity as well. ~:J3c5T~84.6kcA9jrapbZWVP~t,KERdK2Zp28i6B Jollof rice, a classic staple in Nigeria and Ghana morphed into Jambalaya. He urged masters to pay for the goods themselves, always rewarding more liberally those that have performed their duty best. Other slaveholders took a more relaxed approach, allowing slaves to make purchases with their own money, but restricting when and where they could trade. Fewer than one-third of Southern families owned slaves at the peak of slavery prior to the Civil War. Choosing to buy control of ones own body affirmed a slaves status as chattel, even as that commodity transaction broke the chains of servitude completely. To honor their legacy, let us remember the role they play in our nations food history. But Bailey says her favorite way to eat the peas is in a traditional dish with stewed meat and okra, another plant that originated in Africa. 3: 81. Serve with plain white rice, perhaps cooked with a little extra water, so that it softens a bit more than usual, and if you have it, dash some pepper sauce over it to liven up the flavor. When working on her master's thesis, Cromwell buried herself in documentslegislative records, tax rolls, newspaper clippings, and primary sources other scholars had reviewed hundreds, if not thousands of times beforeand was able to discern that female Muslim Nigerian slaves, working as fruit sellers and market vendors on behalf of their owners, helped shape the overall economic structure of the American South with long-distance price fixing and aggressive sales techniques. In Bailey's family, the tiny red legume, with its thin, firm shell; creamy interior; and sweet, buttery flavor was just another staple she and her family planted, harvested, and cooked. Some plantations also went a step further and distilled the molasses, the liquid left after the sugar is boiled or clarified, to make rum. The plantation system was based on slave labor and it was marked by inhumane methods of exploitation. The slave diet was very simple. X11ej9G}R)\.}F5aj??*? As Frederick Douglas recounts I have often been so pinched with hunger, that I have fought with the dog. KATHLEEN HILLIARD is an associate professor of history at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa and the author of Masters, Slaves, and Exchange: Power's Purchase in the Old South (2014). They intentionally brought it to provide sustenance to slaves during the journey. They had it in stews and stuffvery, very similar to what we eat here," she says. The sugar was then shipped back to Europe. Enslaved cooks brought this cuisine its unique flavors, adding ingredients such as hot peppers, peanuts, okra, and greens. In a large pot, bring to a boil: The seeds of the 1969 UNC food service worker strike. The stories of enslaved cooks teach us that we can love our country and also be critical of it, and find some peace along the way. Plantation slavery was not exclusive to the Americas. What good could it possibly do them? More importantly, he must have thought, What good does a slave with money do me? Plenty, he and others like him imagined. Throughout history domestic service was probably the major slave occupation. In Ghana and Nigeria, fufu is a starchy mash used to sop up the broth at the bottom of bowl of stew. These large homes marked a moment of transition, when English cultural norms took hold on the Virginia landscape. 2, 297. This letter was clearly written, and later published, to give the public a firsthand view of how southern slaves were treated. Manufactured goods, of higher value, were then sold both to Africa and the New World. In Nigeria, the Igbo people made a practice of burying their root vegetables to store them for long periods of time. Too dear to purchase legally, watches in particular found a ready trade, highlighting an important characteristic in the consumption of stolen goods. During the time of slavery, African Americans brought with them the food traditions from their native lands. The first plantations occurred in the Caribbean islands, particularly, in the West Indies on the island of Hispaniola, where it was initiated by the Spaniards in the early 16th century. It is to ignore the story of Chef Hercules, or the real story of Aunt Jemima. Maize, rice, peanuts, yams and dried beans were found as important staples of slaves on some plantations in West Africa before and after European contact. Bats and agaves make tequila possibleand theyre both at risk, This empress was the most dangerous woman in Rome. African rice often accompanied slave voyages. They might change the appearance of an itemremoving an owners mark, for example, or tailoring a piece of clothingor they could hide the item away, saving it for future use. Cultivation of sugar had to follow a precise scientific system to profit from the production. This week I was reviewing Muster, Payrolls and List of Effectives for Capt Gross Scruggs company of the Fifth Virginia. I am wondering, however, about the timing of Mr. Some of this produce and meat supplemented their rations. licorice. 90. Goodloe, for example, advised slaveholders to allow supervised shopping trips. Eco-friendly burial alternatives, explained. But to be an American is to live in a place where contradictions are the very fibers that bind a complicated heritage divided sharply by race. Organization of American Historians The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Only about 6% ended up in the North American colonies, while the majority were taken to the Caribbean colonies and South America. "Everybody needs to keep in touch with their ancestors, and through food is one of the best ways to get close," she says. Can we bring a species back from the brink? Most slaves were fed heavily on corn, and there were just a few areas in the new nation where rice was so plentiful that it supplanted corn in their diets. What is wind chill, and how does it affect your body? The system had a good many benefits, as Georgia slaveholder Thomas Clay explained. The system was largely run by European merchants[6]. The plantation owners then turned to enslaved Africans for labor. Slaveholders imagined themselves as models of economic propriety and their memoirs reveal much moralizing over choices made by their slaves. Corn was one of the most versatile crops eaten by American Slaves. 5 0 obj Purchased most often were cloth and sewing suppliescalico, cambric, muslin, shirting, and occasional bits of silkand ready-made clothing and accessories such as shoes, caps, hats, coats, dresses, shawls, shirts, and cravats. Okra is found in many African dishes, especially in the stews they serve out of big cauldrons. During the slave trade, they brought with them their appreciation for okra, including it in stews that are signature to Soul food. At the top of that list is Atlanta chef Linton Hopkins, who has concocted several ways to serve her peas at his acclaimed southern-upscale Restaurant Eugene, including in his version of Hoppin' John. The roughly 5,000-year-old human remains were found in graves from the Yamnaya culture, and the discovery may partially explain their rapid expansion throughout Europe. These purchases took careful planning. These have been a great deal of fun to work on, and I love getting feedback from readers. What did slaves eat on plantations? But from its most famous to its anonymous practitioners, the story of Southern cuisine is inseparable from the story of American racism. Culinary historian and author Jessica Harris says food traditions hold symbols and meaning that serve as a historical roadmap. "I had quite a few okra dishes when I went to West Africa. On the plantation, enslaved people continued their harsh existence, as growing sugar was gruelling work. They were also found in Africa and Asia were also based on slavery. In 1740 the Havana Company was formed to stimulate agricultural development by increasing slave imports and regulating agricultural exports. Worse, they did not know the value of a dollar, allowing vendors to take advantage of their lack of consumer savvy. They lived in the kitchen, sleeping upstairs above the hearth during the winters, and outside come summertime. Cool enough to handle, and then peel the skins off and discard. I also love making Gluten-Free Cornbread and Southern Corn Pudding for family gatherings. Susan McIntosh remembered that, in contrast to the coarse and rough shoes provided by her masters, she and her companions bought calico, muslin and good shoes, pants, coats and other nice things for their Sunday clothes.[4] In his 1859 autobiography, escaped slave Charles Ball described this process in more detail, elaborating spending priorities. Throughout the Western Hemisphere, the plantation served as an institution in itself, characterized by social and political inequality, racial conflict, and domination by the planter class. [8] A. T. Goodloe, Management of Negroes, Southern Cultivator, 18 (1860), 130. Over and over again, we see slaveholders attempt to justify their rule by pointing out the inadequacies of enslaved consumers. as if a thousand needle points were pricking [his] flesh. Knowledge that masters material worlds differed so greatly from their own could worsen discomfort. Contrary to the overwhelming image of the grand Southern plantation worked by hundreds of slaves, most agricultural units in the South up until about two decades before the Civil War were small . For a guest, this must have been delightful: biscuits, ham, and some brandy, all made on site, ready to eat at 2:30 a.m. or whenever you pleased. They may well have also added greens like collards, but this is really quite a nourishing meal. For decades, the bang of the gavel had broadcast both triumph and tragedy in Virginias capital as propertylivestock, furniture, human soulstraded in the citys busy auction houses. Most sources agree that the slaves were generally expected to get by on what was left from the slaveholders larders, supplemented with what they could raise on their own, provided that their owners permitted it. Take, for example, Georgia planter James Towns, whose end-of-year celebrations always included a pay day for good behavior. Prohibition on the College Campus Bob Payne, Sorghum Production during the Great Depression, Suspension of All UNC Dances During Prohibition Era, Goochs Cafe Advertisement featured in the Yackity Yack, 1925 Alison McKinney, The Dramatic Closing of the Tar Heel Cafe, The Daily Tar Heel Persuasive Article on the Success of the Prohibition, January 26, 1932, A Recipe from Marion Browns The Southern Cook Book, Tar Heel Investigates Local Food Situation As Price Panel Releases Violation Decisions, Extensive Effects of Food Rationing on UNC Students, Carolina Alumni Review Article Discusses GI Bill and Changes in Lenoir Dining Hall, Restaurants in Chapel Hill- The Carolina Inn, Leaflet written by the participants of the Holy Week fast. The process for converting plain corn to the more-digestible hominy, which involves soaking in lye (extracted from ashes), was taught to the earliest settlers by the Native Americans. cook them over fire or wrap in leaves and ash-roast. One or more sweet potatoes or yams. Sweet potatoes are hearty vegetables that grow well in less ideal soil, which made them an ideal crop for enslaved people and lower class whites. The actual origins of Callaloo are widely contested. Given the difficulty of saving such an enormous sum, why not spend cash more immediately on food and clothing to make daily life less miserable? Others hoped that property ownership might induce enslaved people to work harderfor themselves and, by extension, their masters. Number of slaves in the Lower South: 2,312,352 (47% of total population) 4,919 million. But to openly wear or use purloined goods was to risk detection and punishment. The process of turning a person into a house servant or field hand was called "seasoning." 112 N. Bryan Ave., Bloomington, IN 47408 Food supplies The plantation owners provided their enslaved Africans with weekly rations of salt herrings or mackerel, sweet potatoes, and maize, and sometimes salted West Indian turtle.The enslaved Africans supplemented their diet with other kinds of wild food. Something I said, or perhaps everything I said, upset her. On plantations, African American slaves did the same thing. Your email address will not be published. According to the 1840 United States Census, one out of every four families in Virginia owned slaves. Yet even the most thriftless and impoverished must have cherished the thought of that most conspicuous and politically subversive form of consumption. She earned admirationand job offersfrom Presidents Garfield, Arthur, and Cleveland, who sampled her fabulous meals of terrapin and canvasback duck, Lynnhaven oysters and crab salad, hominy cakes and fabulous confections, prepared when Jones worked as a cook at New York clubs in the late 1870s. We should acknowledge, too, that the corn and rice would not likely have appeared on the same plate together. West African rice and beans dishes, called waakye in Ghana and thiebou niebe in Senegal, became the Souths Hoppin John. Agricultural journals and plantation records burst with strategies and advice. :"Zc35I*Ga^ The master class scraped to make ends meet. For masters and bondpeople alike, the internal economy both challenged the institution of slavery and shored it up. [iii] Covey, Herbert, and Dwight Eisnach. Colonists tried to use Native Americans for labor, but they were susceptible to European diseases and died in large numbers. "Okra is connected indelibly with the American South," says Harris. But their enslaved ancestors were forced to eat whatever was provided to them by the slave owners. These corn mushes and breads became the Soul Food staples of grits and cornbread. Offerings such as pepper pot, okra stew, gumbo, and jambalaya became staples on American dining tables. How much was their labor-power worth in a market that was weighted against free people of color? For more than 200 years, Southern plantation owners relied on enslaved Africans and their descendants to work in their fields and houses, to help raise their children, and to provide food and . Sugarcane is harvested about 18 months after planting and the plantations usually divided their land for efficiency. Frederick Douglas describes a similar use of corn: Our food was coarse cornmeal boiled. Angelique "Sobande" Moss-Greer, herbalist, certified holistic nutritionist and great-granddaughter of a slave, says that many slave owners would not allow . % "Black people have been in the room, but for so long they were so good at being invisible" that they were easy to leave out of the historical record, Harris says. The slaves in America didnt have fufu or injera. Hercules and Hemings were the nations first celebrity chefs, famous for their talents and skills. . Once a task was finished, that persons labor was complete for the day. The plantation system peaked in the first half of the 18th century, but later on, during the middle of 19th century, there was a significant increase in demand for cotton from European countries, which means there was a need for expanding the plantation in the southern parts of United States. When does spring start? Life was harsh for enslaved people, and as a result, many people resisted slavery through. During the 19th century, there were moments of widespread fear that these cooks would poison them, and we know from court records and other documents that on at least a few occasions enslaved cooks did slip poisons like hemlock into their masters food. Enslaved cooks brought this cuisine its unique flavors, adding ingredients such as hot peppers, peanuts, okra, and greens. Drawing water, hewing wood, cleaning, cooking, waiting on table, taking out the garbage, shopping, child-tending, and similar domestic occupations were the major functions of slaves in all slave-owning societies. The groundbreaking promise of cellular housekeeping. What slaveholders valued as durable and hearty, bondpeople often characterized as rough and plain. Guests wrote gushing missives about the meals in they ate while visiting these homes. Such paradoxes troubled more than a few, but practical concerns and a desire for labors just reward pushed them to work extra hours, save cash, and put plans in motion to make freedom theirs. Most slave purchasing reflected this tension between necessity, luxury, and potential danger. But the country began recalibrating its memories of black cooking even before the Civil War, erasing the brutality and hardships of slavery from a story of Old Southern graciousness. Food items included alcohol, sugar, molasses, flour, coffee, rice, spices, butter, cheese, bacon, candy, cakes, and tea. Collard leaves are wrapped around a savory rice filling with toasted pecans. Watches, in other words, were meant to be displayed. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Alicia Cromwell is a doctoral student at the University of South Carolina. sesame. In the rice-growing lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia, enslaved men and women usually labored according to the task system. Under this scheme, planters or overseers assigned each laborer a daily task, hoeing a portion of field, for example, or pounding so many mortars of rice. While the missus may have helped design the menu, or provided some recipes, it was the enslaved cooks who created the meals that made Virginia, and eventually the South, known for its culinary fare and hospitable nature. Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive. 2 tbsp (30 ml) bacon fat, Add: One of Earth's loneliest volcanoes holds an extraordinary secret. In December 1864, other sounds seemed equally troubling. Their comfort is promoted, he reasoned, and it removes the temptation to visit dram shops. Most importantly, it affords the master an excellent opportunity of judging the thrift of each negro.[10] Here was a powerful opportunity for masters not only to monitor slave spending but to criticize it, too. In Brazil, plantations were called casas grandes and suffered from similar issues. 9eBOn The Southern Colonies: Plantations and Slavery, Plantation System. Each of these plant-based foods impacted the history of our eating traditions. Ice Cream and Oppression when food becomes the measure of equality. As consumers, slaves challenged slaveholders looking to maintain mastery. Then, other foods made available to slaves are listed, including: bacon, molasses, potatoes, poultry, and eggs. Her essay derives from that book and her current book project Bonds Burst Asunder: The Revolutionary Politics of Getting By in Civil War and Emancipation, 18601867. It was put into a large wooden tray or trough, and set down upon the ground. Few of us sit down to a plate of food and contemplate the historical significance of it. yams. They constructed potato holes, often near the fire, where they would bury their sweet potatoes. It is often smoked or roasted at Fall Pumpkin festivals. Colonial and antebellum elite Southerners understood fully that enslaved people cooked their food. In 1665, there were fewer than 500 Africans in Virginia but by 1750, 85 percent of the 235,000 slaves lived in the Southern colonies, Virginia included. Grits are today considered a staple of the Southern diet, but they were, in fact, a classic merger of the Old World and the New. The sweet potato, indigenous to North America, is quite similar in texture and appearance (to the point that many modern cooks have trouble distinguishing them), and its believed that slaves simply used them just as they had yams in Africa.[iii]. What did the slaves eat? New York, New York: Berg, 2012. Learn how your comment data is processed. [i] Rutledge, Sarah. Though the modern dish of the Carolinas, Hoppin John, was not described in print until the publication in 1847 of Sarah Rutledges Carolina Housewife[i], its roots are believed to lie in the Senegalese dish, thibou nib[ii]. In many areas, however, it was customary for slaves to work Saturday afternoons and Sundays on their own time, devoting daylight hours to cash-earning activities similar to that of their lowcountry brethren. It was to the economic advantage of owners to keep their working slaves healthy, and those of reproductive age reproducing. In cotton and tobacco regions, enslaved people more often worked from sunup to sundown under the close eye of a driver or overseer. [6] Esther S. Davis, Memories of Mulberry (1913), 15. Sugar plantations everywhere were disproportionate consumers of labor, often enslaved, because of the high mortality of the plantation laborers. The next time you sit down to a piece of cornbread, a stewed gumbo, or a roasted sweet potato, take a moment to reflect on the story of this food. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Plantation, "How Slavery Helped Build a World Economy", http://abolition.e2bn.org/slavery_42.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slave_plantation&oldid=1115516973. Slaveholders lamented the theft of plantation stores, noting that slaves traded purloined corn, cotton, and bacon for goods of their choosing or cash outright. Certainly, enslaved people found timepieces desirable because they were useful, but also because they were markers of wealth and status. If a traveler showed up, day or night, bells would ring for the enslaved cook to prepare food. Think leafy greens and black-eyed. Reckoning with it can be cumbersome, but its also necessary. How did enslaved people earn money and what did they buy? What do slaves want with money? he asked rhetorically. Growing numbers of researchers, many of them African-American, are bringing to light the uncredited ways slaves and their descendants have shaped how Americans eat. Well cook three representative dishes, each of which can help us understand a slightly different aspect of the food experiences of the Revolutionary Era slave. What foods did slaves bring to America? For most, these questions were no more than abstractions, as few enslaved people managed to purchase themselves. They often ate the entrails and appendages of farm animals, including pig's feet, cow's tongue, liver and oxtail. Part of a feature about the archaeology of slavery on St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, from the International Slavery Museum's website. "We have a waiting list that's almost a yard long," she says, adding that they should have enough to go around, at least this year. There, hed steal some of boiled Indian corn kernels used to feed the cows and pigs. Seemingly unimportant trades ruined old relations and wove together new webs of economic, social, political, and cultural life in a thousand stressed communities. There was waste and urine throughout the hold; this caused the captives to get sick and to die from illnesses that could not be cured. [1]. Rice is not native to the United States. It's possible it was incorrectly annotated. Gibbs, Robert. Again, simple preparation is likely to be the most authentic, and interviews with slaves of later periods[iv] indicate that they would simply wrap the sweet potatoes in leaves, place them in the coals and let them roast. What did the slaves eat on the plantation?Slavery and the Making of America . Hercules was taught by the well-known New York tavern keeper and culinary giant Samuel Frances, who mentored him in Philadelphia; Hemings traveled with Jefferson to Paris, where he learned French-style cooking. 30. The slaves then had to adapt their African rice dishes to fit the limited ingredients they had in America. ", Bailey, back on Sapelo, agrees. F. from the Cameron Papers, Letter from John and Ebenezer Pettigrew to Charles Pettigrew, October 3, 1795, Lenoir Family Papers Account of Corn, 1785, Business Invoice from the Cameron Papers, 1774, Fiddle Headed Teaspoon, late 1700s / early 1800s, Distilling Method for Corn Whiskey Lenoir Papers (1790s), Newspaper Advertisement from The Pennsylvania Gazette (Dec 5, 1771), Accounting Record of Spice Purchases for the Household of William Lenoir (May 30, 1772), Sunflower Oil Recipe and Mangel-Wurzel Cultivation, Financial Document The Lenoir Family Papers, Excerpt from A Tour in the United States of America, Blums Farmers and Planters Almanac for the year 1870, Star Brand Fertilizers Advertisement in The Danbury Reporter, Liquid standard presented to UNC in 1883, Planting Fruit Trees to Secure Success by Abigail Bowdish, The Bennehan Familys Sugar and Rum Purchases, Mary Ann Bryan Masons Mrs. Masons New Cookery.