1. Africans in Early SC
8-1.4: Explain the significance of enslaved
and free Africans in the developing
culture & economy of the South and
South Carolina, including the growth of
the slave trade and resulting population
imbalance between African and European
settlers; African contributions to
agricultural development; and resistance
to slavery, including the Stono Rebellion
& subsequent laws to control slaves.

2. Plantation System
• SC’s economy was
based largely on the
plantation system
• Most crops were very
labor intensive
• Indentured servants in
VA were the first to
do this type of labor in
the colonies
• By the time of SC’s
settlement new settlers
no longer took these
contracts

3. • Plantation owners tried to use the natives as a
labor force, but they easily escaped & the
males were not accustomed to cultivating the
land like their female counterparts

4. Slave Trade
• English settlers from Barbados brought the
first African slaves to SC
• More slaves were acquired through the
“Middle Passage”- define

5. Slave Trade
• Slaves brought their knowledge of land
cultivation, tending cattle, & cultivating
rice from Africa
• They also knew how to harvest the thick
forest near the plantations, which were used
for trade
• Development of cash crops & the
plantation system caused the increase of the
slave trade in SC
• Large scale importation of slaves to SC
began in the 1630’s

6. Slave Culture
• Slaves brought their culture directly from
West Africa
(language, dance, woodcarving, folk
medicine, & basket weaving)
• They sang call & response songs as they
worked Video (8:12)
• They used drums to keep the pace while
working the fields & to communicate with
other slaves on nearby plantations (until they
were banned after the Stono Rebellion)

7. Slave Culture
• Yams (or sweet potatoes) became the staple
diet for southern slaves

8. Gullah
• Gullah was the spoken language & shared
culture of Africans that developed in the
Sea Islands off the coast of SC and
Georgia.
• Gullah language is the mixture of many
spoken languages combined with newly
created words
• Gullah is unique to the coastal region
because of the area’s geographical
seclusion & the large concentration of
Africans there
Gullah Story
Video

9. Worry over slave population
• 1698, the Assembly began to have
concerns about the number of slaves
• The demand for more slaves to keep SC’s economy
booming created an imbalance in the population
• Slaves outnumbered whites in most areas
• This raised concern over the ability to control the
slave population

10. Stono Rebellion
- A slave revolt near Charles
Town, increased this concern
• A small group of slaves wanted to escape to
St Augustine, FL. where the Spanish had
told them they would be free
• Broke into a store on the Stono River &
killed two white settlers
• Used their drums to call more slaves to join
them
• By day’s end, many settlers & slaves had
been killed

11. Stono Rebellion
• Video: Stono Rebellion

12. Result of Stono Rebellion
• Slave Codes (originally from Barbados)
were strengthen [Negro Act of 1740]
• Prohbited slaves from:
• Gathering without white supervision
• Learning to read or write
• Carry guns or weapons
• Harsher punishments to disobedient slaves
• & fined cruel slave owners for slave abuse
 Mostly ment to control minute by minute of slave
life
 EX: Slaves were not allowed to dress “above the
conditions of a slave”.

13. South Carolina Slaves
• SC had fewer free Africans than most other
colonies
• State legislature allowed owners to free, or
manumit, their slaves for good cause in the
early 1700’s
• In owners last will & testaments for faithful
service
• Or their mistresses and their children
• ***this was rare though because slaves were so
valuable

14. South Carolina Slaves
• Some slaves bought their freedom by
making money on the side using special
talents
• Free blacks were required by law to
leave SC within 6 months or be re-
enslaved and sold on the auction block
• Free blacks lived in urban areas where they
could make a living using their talents
• After the American Revolution restrictions
on the rights of owners to free their slaves
were further legislated