The ‘1870s Slave Wall’

Most black people doing research get frustrated when they hit what I referred to as the “1870’s slave wall.” The “slave wall” is sometimes the end of most family tree searches, because most slave owners often did not record their slaves’ names or information because of their status as property prior to the abolishment of slavery in 1865.

By Luana M. Graves Sellars

Researching African-American ancestral roots has its own particular set of challenges, since African-Americans cannot always discover the African country that they came from through traditional research methods or through DNA testing. Ancestral research for many black people is complicated by the impact of the slave experience on record-keeping and document retrieval.

Most black people doing research get frustrated when they hit what I referred to as the “1870’s slave wall.” The “slave wall” is sometimes the end of most family tree searches, because most slave owners often did not record their slaves’ names or information because of their status as property prior to the abolishment of slavery in 1865. As a result of the rich traditions and determination to preserve the Gullah culture and community, blacks who trace their ancestry back to a location within the Gullah / Geechee Corridor now have something tangible that they can connect to.

For example, although it may be impossible to identify which specific village in Africa a family line comes from, an analysis of slave records from the port of Charleston shows that 32 percent of Lowcountry slaves came from Angola, while 27 percent came from Senegambia (Senegal and Gambia), 32 percent from the Winward Coast — which includes Liberia, the Ivory Coast and Ghana, 6 percent from Sierra Leone and 3 percent from Madagascar and Mozambique.

These percentages include both enslaved people transported to the Lowcountry directly from Africa, as well as Africans enslaved in the Caribbean and transported to the Lowcountry. In fact, most of the slaves brought to South Carolina had previously spent time in the Caribbean, particularly the island of Barbados, to be “seasoned” to the climate and work.

Ultimately, the Lowcountry became one of the last places in the U.S. to stop importing slaves; based on ship cargo manifests, the last documented cargo of slaves to America arrived on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in 1858 — 50 years after slavery had been outlawed. These different African cultures and traditions eventually formed the basis of what we now call Gullah/Geechee culture.

© Lowcountry Gullah LLC and www.lowcountrygullah.com, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Lowcountry Gullah and www.lowcountrygullah.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

share this article:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

Here’s more

Gullah Geechee Strength, Perseverance and Resilience

When we think about slavery, we don’t usually consider the day to day or the gory details. The general knowledge of captivity, hard labor and cruelty are the basics, but for the most part, the actual experience that enslaved people went through are forgotten. Slavery inflicted generational trauma in so many different ways; fear, uncertainty, humiliation and mental and physical stressors.

Read More

The History and Traditions Behind Gullah Foodways

Gullah Geechee foodways is one of the oldest practices and traditions that’s still being practiced in America today. At its foundation, slavery and the foodways are deeply rooted in cultural West African ancestral ties, as well as adaptability, creativity and circumstance. The meals were and still are designed to be hearty and provide the necessary sustenance and strength to get one through an arduous and physical day. 

Read More

Pin It on Pinterest

error

Enjoying this blog? Please share :)