On January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was signed- Africans before living in the Americas

On January 1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was signed- Africans before living in the Americas

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation only covered 10 states that were rebellion in 1863. It did not cover the the over half-million enslaved Africans in the slave-holding border states: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri which were in the Federal control. Tennessee was in Union control and was exempted. A portion of Virginia was exempted as those counties were forming the new state of West Virginia. As well as some of the coastal cities in Virginia that were under Federal control were exempted. The city of New Orleans and a number of other parishes in the state of Louisiana were exempted due to U.S. Federal control. The enslaved Africans living in these areas remained enslaved. It also did not cover enslaved people held in Indian Territory-Oklahoma. The Cherokee National Council, representing the pro-Union faction of the divided Cherokee nation in Oklahoma, passed an act that freed those enslaved in the Cherokee nation, who were mostly of mixed Cherokee-African descent. Unlike Lincoln’s plan, the Cherokee emancipation made no provisions for including the Freedmen as citizens of the Cherokee nation.

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Video: The Emancipation Proclamation

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Video: Lincoln’s argument against slavery of enslaved Africans

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Video: the life of an enslaved family in the District of Columbia

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There are many different accounts written by Europeans on the life of Africans prior to the transatlantic slave trade. This is just one of them. This work is the property of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use.

This is only a portion of the book and not a complete version.

Thoughts Upon Slavery
By John Wesley , A.M (1703-1791)
Published 1774 London
Re-printed 1778 in Philadelphia, with notes, and sold by Joseph Crukshank

Chapter II

That part of Africa whence the negroes are brought, commonly known by the name of Guinea, extends along the the coast, in the whole, between three and four thousand miles. From the river Senegal, (seventeen degrees north of the line) to Cape Sierra Leona, it contains seven hundred miles. Thence it runs eastward about fifteen hundred miles, including the Grain-Coast, the Ivory-Coast, the Gold-Coast, and the Slave-Coast, with the large kingdom of Benin. From thence it runs southward, about twelve hundred miles, and contains the kingdoms of Congo and Angola.

Concerning the first, the Senegal-Coast, Mons. Brue, who lived there sixteen years, after describing its fruitfulness near the sea, says, “The farther you go from the sea, the more fruitful and well-improved is the country, abounding in pulse, Indian corn, and various fruits. Here are vast meadows, which feed large herds of great and small cattle. And the villages which lie thick, shew the country is well peopled.” And again: “I was surprized, to see the land so well cultivated; scarce a spot lay un-improved: The low lands divided by small canals, were all sowed with rice: The higher grounds were planted with Indian corn, and peas of different sorts. Their beef is excellent; poultry plenty and very cheap, as are all the necessaries of life.”

As to the Grain and Ivory Coast, we learn from eye witnesses, that the soil is in general fertile, producing abundance of rice and roots. Indigo and cotton thrive without cultivation.–Fish is in great plenty; the flocks and herds are numerous, and the trees loaded with fruit.

The Gold-Coast and Slave-Coast, all who have seen it agree, is exceeding fruitful and pleasant, producing vast quantities of rice and other grain, plenty of fruit and roots, palm-wine, and oil, and fish in great abundance, with much tame and wild cattle. The very same account is given us of the soil and produce of the kingdoms of Benin, Congo and Angola–From all which it appears, That Guinea in general, far from being an horrid, dreary, barren country, is one of the most fruitful, as well as the most pleasant countries in the known world. It is said indeed to be unhealthy. And so it is to strangers, but perfectly healthy to the native inhabitants.

Such is the country from which the negroes are brought. We come next to enquire, What sort of men they are, of what temper and behaviour, not in our plantations, but in their native country. And here likewise the surest way is to take our account from eye and ear witnesses. Now those who have lived in the Senegal country observe, it is inhabited by three nations, the Jaloss, Fulis, and Mandingos. The king of the Jaloss has under him several ministers, who assist in the exercise of justice. The chief justice goes in circuit through all his dominions, to hear complaints and determine controversies. And the viceroy goes with him, to inspect the behaviour of the Alkadi, or Governor of each village. The Fulis are a numerous people; the soil of their country represented as rich, affording large harvests, and the people laborious and good farmers: Of some of these Fuli blacks who dwelt on the river Gambia, William Moor the English factor gives a very favourable account.–He says, they are governed by their chief men, who rule with much moderation. Few of them will drink any thing stronger than water, being strict Mahometans. The government is easy, because the people are of a good and quiet disposition; and so well instructed in what is right, that a man who wrongs another is the abomination of all.–They desire no more land than they use, which they cultivate with great care and industry: If any of them are known to be made slaves by the white men they all join to redeem them. They not only support all that are old, or blind, or lame among themselves; but have frequently supplied the necessities of the Mandingos, when they were distrest by famine.

The Mandingos, says Mons. Brue, are rigid Mahometans (Muslims), drinking neither wine nor brandy. They are industrious and laborious, keeping their ground well cultivated, and breeding a good flock of cattle. Every town has a governor, and he appoints the labour of the people. The men work the ground designed for corn; the women and girls, the rice-ground.–He afterwards divides the corn and rice among them: And decides all quarrels if any arise. All the Mahometan negroes constantly go to public prayers thrice a day: there being a priest in every village, who regularly calls them together: Some authors say it is surprizing to see the attention and reverence which they observe during their worship.–These three nations practise several trades; they have smiths, sadlers, potters and weavers. And they are very ingenious at their several occupations.–Their smiths not only make all the instruments of iron, which they have occasion to use, but likewise work many things neatly in gold and silver. It is chiefly the women and children who weave fine cotton cloth, which they dye blue and black.

It was of these parts of Guinea, that Mons. Adanson, correspondent of the royal academy of sciences at Paris from 1749 to 1753, gives the following account, both as to the country and people. “Which way soever I turned my eyes, I beheld a perfect image of pure nature: An agreeable solitude, bounded on every side by a charming landscape; the rural situation of cottages, in the midst of trees; the ease and quietness of the negroes, reclined under the shade of the spreading foliage, with the simplicity of their dress and manners: The whole revived in my mind the idea of our first parents, and I seemed to contemplate the world in its primitive state. They are generally-speaking, very good-natured, sociable and obliging. I was not a little pleased with my very first reception, and it fully convinced me, that there ought to be a considerable abatement made, in the accounts we have of the savage character of the Africans.” He adds, “It is amazing that an illiterate people should reason so pertinently concerning the heavenly bodies. There is no doubt, but that with proper instruments, they would become excellent astronomers.”

The inhabitants of the Grain and Ivory-Coast are represented by those that deal with them, as sensible, courteous, and the fairest traders on the coasts of Guinea. They rarely drink to excess: If any do, they are severely punished by the king’s order. They are seldom troubled with war: If a difference happen between two nations, they commony end the dispute amicably.

The inhabitants of the Gold and Slave-Coast likewise, when they are not artfully incensed against each other, live in great union and friendship, being generally well-tempered, civil, tractable, and ready to help any that need it. In particular, the natives of the kingdom of Whidah are civil, kind, and obliging to strangers.–And they are the most gentleman-like of all the negroes, abounding in good manners towards each other. The inferiors pay great respect to their superiors:–So wives to their husbands, children to their parents. And they are remarkably industrious: All are constantly employ’d; the men in agriculture, the women in spinning and weaving cotton.

The Gold and Slave-Coasts are divided into several districts, some governed by kings, others by the principal men, who take care each of their own town or village, and prevent or appease tumults.–They punish murder and adultery severely; very frequently with death.–Theft and robbery are punished by a fine proportionable to the goods that were taken. All the natives of this coast, though heathens, believe there is one GOD, the author of them and all things. They appear likewise to have a confused apprehension of a future state. And accordingly every town and village has a place of public worship.–It is remarkable that they have no beggars among them: Such is the care of the chief men, in every city and village, to provide some easy labour, even for the old and weak. Some are employ’d in blowing the smiths bellows; others in pressing palm-oil; others in grinding of colours. If they are too weak even for this, they sell provisions in the market.

The accounts we have of the natives of the kingdom of Benin is, that they are a reasonable and good-natured people, sincere and inoffensive, and do no injustice either to one another or to strangers.–They are civil and courteous: If you make them a present, they endeavour to repay it double. And if they are trusted, till the ship returns next year, they are sure honestly to pay the whole debt.–Theft is punished among them, although not with the same severity as murder. If a man and woman of any quality, are taken in adultery, they are certain to be put to death, and their bodies thrown on a dunghill, and left a prey to wild beasts. They are punctually just and honest in their dealings; and are also very charitable: The king and the great lords taking care to employ all that are capable of any work. And those that are utterly helpless they keep for GOD’S sake; so that here also are no beggars. The inhabitants of Congo and Angola are generally a quiet people. They discover a good understanding, and behave in a friendly manner to strangers, being of a mild temper and an affable carriage.–Upon the whole therefore the negroes who inhabit the coast of Africa, from the river Senegal to the southern bounds of Angola, are so far from being the stupid, senseless, brutish, lazy barbarians, the fierce, cruel, perfidious savages they have been described, that on the contrary, they are represented by them who had no motive to flatter them, as remarkably sensible, considering the few advantages they have for improving their understanding:–As very industrious, perhaps more so than any other natives of so warm a climate.–As fair, just and honest in their dealings, unless where whitemen have taught them to be otherwise:–And as far more mild, friendly and kind to strangers, than any of our forefathers were. Our forefathers! Where shall we find at this day, among the fair-faced natives of Europe, a nation generally practicing the justice, mercy, and truth, which are related of these poor black Africans? Suppose the preceding accounts are true, (which I see no reason or pretence to doubt of) and we may leave England and France, to seek genuine honesty in Benin, Congo, or Angola.

Chapter III

We have now seen, what kind of country it is, from which the negroes are brought: And what sort of men (even whitemen being the judges) they were in their own country. Enquire we, Thirdly, In what manner are they generally procured, carried to, and treated in America.

First, in what manner are they procured?

Part of them by fraud. Captains of ships from time to time, have invited negroes to come on board, and then carried them away. But far more have been procured by force. The Christians landing upon their coasts, seized as many as they found, men, women and children, and transported them to America. It was about 1551, that the English began trading to Guinea: At first, for gold and elephants teeth, but soon after, for men. In 1566, Sir John Hawkins sailed with two ships to Cape Verd, where he sent eighty men on shore to catch negroes. But the natives flying, they fell farther down, and there set the men on shore, “to burn their towns and take the inhabitants.” But they met with such resistance, that they had seven men killed, and took but ten negroes.

……It was some time before the Europeans found a more compendious way of procuring African slaves, by prevailing upon them to make war upon each other, and to sell their prisoners.–Till then they seldom had any wars: But were in general quiet and peaceable. But the white men first taught them drunkenness and avarice, and then hired them to sell one another. Nay, by this means, even their kings are induced to sell their own subjects.

So Mr. Moore (factor of the African company in 1730) informs us, “When the king of Barsalli wants goods or brandy, he sends to the English governor at James’ fort, who immediately sends a sloop.–Against the time it arrives, he plunders some of his neighbours towns, selling the people for the goods he wants. At other times he falls upon one of his own towns, and makes bold to sell his own subjects.” So Mons. Brue says, “I wrote to the king (not the same) “if he had a sufficient number of slaves I would treat with him. He seized three hundred of his own people, and sent word, he was ready to deliver them for the goods.” He adds, “Some of the natives are always ready” (when well paid) “to surprize and carry off their own countrymen. They come at night without noise, and if they find any lone cottage, surround it and carry off all the people.”–Barbot, (another French factor) says, “Many of the slaves sold by the negroes are prisoners of war, or taken in the incursions they make into their enemy’s territories.–Others are stolen. Abundance of little blacks of both sexes, are stolen away by their neighbours, when found abroad on the road, or in the woods, or else in the corn-fields.

Here it may be well to give a particular account of that transaction in the very words in which it is transmitted to us by early historians, as it is a clear proof, that it was solely from a desire of gain that the English first undertook to seize and bring the unhappy Africans from their native country; and is a clear and positive refutation of those false arguments frequently advanced in vindication of the slave trade, viz. That the first purchase of negro slaves by the English, was from motives of compassion, with views of saving the lives of some of those blacks who being taken prisoners in battle, would, if not thus purchased, have been sacrificed to the revenge of their conquerors: but this plea is manifestly false; from all the accounts we have of the disposition of the negroes in those early times, they appear to have been an innocent people, gentle and easy in their nature, rather averse to war, as is the general disposition of the natives of these warm climates; till being corrupted by an intercourse with the Europeans, and stimulated by the excessive use of spirituous liquors, they were induced to join them in their cruel depradations against their unhappy countrymen. The account given of that transaction by Thomas Lediard in his naval history, at page 141, is in the following words:

“That Sir John Hawkins in his several voyages to the Canary Islands, understanding that negroes were a very good commodity in Hispaniola, (then settling by the Spaniards) and that they were easy to be had in great numbers on the coast of Guinea. Having opened his mind to his friends, he soon found adventurers for his undertaking; amongst whom were Sir Lionel Docket, Sir Thomas Lodge, and others: and having fitted out three small vessels, manned only with 100 men, he departed from the coast of England in October 1562, and sailed first to Teneriffe, where he took in several refreshments; from thence to the coast of Guinea, where he got in possession, partly by the sword, and by other means, upwards of three hundred of the natives, besides several commodities which that country afforded: with this booty he set sail for the island of Hispaniola in the West-Indies; where he disposed of his negroes. Two years after, he went another voyage on the coast of Guinea; there he staid several days at the island Sabula, where every day they took some of the inhabitants; burning and ravaging their towns: when having compleated their number of negroes, they set sail for the West-Indies.”

But in what numbers and in what manner are they carried to America?–Mr. Anderson in his History of trade and commerce, observes, “England supplies her American colonies with Negro slaves, amounting in number to about an hundred thousand every year.” That is, so many are taken on board our ships; but at least ten thousand of them die in the voyage: About a fourth part more die at the different Islands, in what is called the Seasoning. So that at an average, in the passage and seasoning together, thirty thousand die: That is, properly are murdered. O earth, O Sea, cover not thou their blood!

“The Commander of the vessel sent to acquaint the king, that he wanted a cargo of slaves. The king, promised to furnish him, and in order to it, set out, designing to surprize some town, and make all the people prisoners. Some time after, the king sent him word, he had not yet met with the desired success: Having attempted to break up two towns, but having been twice repulsed: But that he still hoped to procure the number of slaves. In this design he persisted, till he met his enemies in the field. A battle was fought, which lasted three days. And the engagement was so bloody, that four thousand five hundred men were slain upon the spot.”

When they are brought down to the shore in order to be sold, our surgeons thoroughly examine them, and that quite naked, women and men, without any distinction: Those that are approved are set on one side. In the mean time a burning iron, with the arms or name of the Company, lies in the fire, with which they are marked on the breast. Before they are put into the ships, their masters strip them of all they have on their backs: So that they come on board stark naked, women as well as men. It is common for several hundreds of them to be put on board one vessel; where they are stowed together in as little room, as it is possible for them to be crowded. It is easy to suppose what a condition they must soon be in, between heat, thirst, and stench of various kinds. So that it is no wonder, so many should die in the passage; but rather, that any survive it.

Thomas Philips in his account of a voyage he made to Guinea, and from thence to Barbadoes, with a cargo of slaves relates,

“That they took seven hundred slaves on board. When they were brought in the vessel, the men were all put in irons, two and two shackled together, to prevent their mutinying or swimming ashore. The negroes, he says, are so loath to leave their own country, that they have often leapt out of the canoe, boat and ship, into the seas, and kept under water until they were drowned, to avoid being taken up, and saved by the boats which pursue them.”–They had about twelve negroes who willingly drowned themselves; others starved themselves to death– Philips was advised to cut off the legs and arms of some to terrify the rest; (as other captains had done) but this he refused to do: From the time of his taking the negroes on board, to his arrival at Barbadoes, no less than three hundred and twenty died of various diseases: Which the author says, “was to their great regret, after enduring much misery and stench, so long, among a parcel of creatures nastier than swine: No gold-finder, says Philips, can suffer such noisome drudgery as they do who carry negroes, having no respite from their afflictions so long as any of their slaves are alive.” How unreasonable was it in Philips, thus to reflect on negroes; could such a number be crowded together in so warm a climate, even if they had all been healthy, without being extremely offensive: How much more when so many lay sick, dead and dying. He speaks of the English people’s great sufferings by nastiness, stench, and….. but he forgets the sufferings of the poor blacks, which must have been incomparably greater than their’s; not to mention the painful sorrow, and anxiety of mind these distressed creatures must have laboured under.

…..When the vessels arrive at their destined port, the Negroes are again exposed naked, to the eyes of all that flock together, and the examination of their purchasers: Then they are separated to the plantations of their several masters, to see each other no more. Here you may see mothers hanging over their daughters, bedewing their naked breasts with tears, and daughters clinging to their parents, till the whipper soon obliges them to part. And what can be more wretched than the condition they then enter upon? Banished from their country, from their friends and relations for ever, from every comfort of life, they are reduced to a state scarce any way preferable to that of beasts of burthen.

As to the punishments inflicted on them, says Sir Hans Sloan, “They frequently geld them, or chop off half a foot: After they are whipped till they are raw all over, some put pepper and salt upon them: Some drop melted wax upon their skin. Others cut off their ears, and constrain them to broil and eat them. “For Rebellion,” (that is, asserting their native Liberty, which they have as much right to as the air they breathe) “they fasten them down to the ground with crooked sticks on every limb, and then applying fire by degrees, to the feet and hands, they burn them gradually upward to the head.”*

Sir Hans Sloan after describing the severe tortures practiced on the negroes, sums up the pains they are made to suffer under the terms of exquisite and extravagant.

Now must not the reasonable and humane nature of those who order these dreadful tortures, as well as those who execute them, be changed into devilish, who can thus put their fellow creatures to such extravagant, such exquisite torment? And for what? Often, even for that which their tormentors themselves would have done if in their situation. If thro’ the exertion of barbarous and unjust laws, the natural attendant on slavery, these our hapless fellow men are doomed to die, yet in their deaths, let it at least be remembered that they are men. We hear with horror and detestation of some such execution in the inquisitions and under some tyrannic governments; but these inhumanities are certainly contrary to the genius and disposition of the British nation, and quite abhorent of its laws, which do not allow of tortures either in punishment, or to extort confessions. Sir I Dalrymple in his memoirs says that the Parliament in the declaration of right asserted, that pitying and respecting humane nature, no cruel and unusual punishment should be inflicted.

How Britons can so readily admit of a change in their disposition and sentiments, as to practice in America what they abhor and detested in Britain, can be accounted for on no other principle, but as being the natural effect of slave-keeping, which as the celebrated Montesquieu observes, “insensibly accustoms those who are in the practice of it, to want all moral virtues, to become haughty, hasty, hard hearted, passionate, voluptuous and cruel. The evil attendant on the condition of the poor slaves will end with their lives, and the merciful father of the family of mankind will doubtless look on their deep affliction, and where their hearts are thereby humbled, requite them good in another state of existence for their sufferings in this: but with respect to their lordly oppressors, this horrible abuse of their fellow men, will doubtless extend its baneful influence even into the regions of eternity. It is surprising that the thoughtful people, where slavery prevails, should so little advert to its dreadful consequent effects to themselves and families, particularly on the necessity they are in of sending away their offspring from under their own paternal care, in very early life, lest their tender minds should be corrupted, and every noble and generous sentiments eradicated by the oppression and cruelty they are daily witnesses of.–That parents should be thus incapacitated and deprived of the opportunity and satisfaction of forming the minds of their offspring to virtue and happiness, but that this most sacred and delightful trust must be left to the care of the hireling and the stranger, must to every tender thinking parent, appear an evil of so afflictive a nature, and so contrary to the divine order, that no human advantage can compensate for.

The author of the history of Jamaica, wrote about the year 1740, in his account of the sufferings of the negroes, says, The people of that island have indeed the severest ways of punishing; no country exceeds them in a barbarous treatment of their slaves, or in the cruel methods by which they are put to death. After confirming what is before said he adds, “They starve them to death, with a loaf hanging over their mouths. I have seen these unfortunate wretches gnaw the flesh off their shoulders, and expire in all the frightful agonies of one under the most horrible tortures. He adds, I incline to touch the hardship which these poor creatures suffer in the tenderest manner, from a particular regard which I have to many of their masters; but I cannot conceal their sad circumstances entirely: the most trivial error is punished with terrible whipping. I have seen some of them treated in that cruel manner, for no other reason but to satisfy the brutish pleasure of an overseer, who has their punishment mostly at his discretion. I have seen their bodies all in a gore of blood, the skin torn off their backs with the cruel whip, beaten pepper and salt rubbed in the wounds, and a large slick of sealing-wax dropped leisurely upon them. It is no wonder, (adds this author) if the horrid pain of such inhuman tortures incline them to rebel.” The same author gives us extracts of some of the laws of Jamaica relating to the punishment of slaves, taken as he says, from a general collection of the plantation laws, the printed statutes, or the secretary’s office, viz.

“If any slave by punishment from his owner for running away, or other offence, suffer in life or limb, none shall be liable to the law for the same; but whoever shall kill a slave out of wilfulness, wantonness, or bloody mindedness, shall suffer three months imprisonment, and pay fifty pounds to the owner of the slave. If the party so offending be a servant, he or she shall have on the bare back thirty-nine lashes, and also (after the expiration of the term with his or her master or mistress) shall serve the owner of the deceased slave the full term of four years. If any person kill a slave stealing or running away, or found at night out of his owner’s ground, road, or common path, such person shall not be subject to any damage or action for the same.

“Those that go out in parties to reduce the negroes, shall receive from the treasurer for every rebellious negro that shall be killed, bringing in his head to any justice, forty pounds; for every negro taken and brought in alive, and not maimed, ten pounds, to be paid by the owner, who is hereby obliged under the penalty of fifty pounds, to transport such slave so taken; and in case the owner cannot be found, then the treasurer shall pay the ten pounds, receive the slave, sell and transport him, and retain the produce to be employed in the said service,”

The following advertisement was taken from one of the North-Carolina news papers.

“Run-away last November, from the subscriber, a negro fellow named Zeb, about 36 years of age, about 5 feet 8 inches high, a very good cooper by trade, &c.–As he is outlawed, I will pay twenty pounds proclamation money out of what the act of the assembly allows in such cases, to any person who shall produce his head severed from his body, and five pounds proclamation money if brought home alive.” – John Mosley
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European maps of Africa

These maps do not note the existing kingdoms, empires and cities states that existed on the continent prior to European exploration.

Map Source: Princeton University Library

Click images to enlarge

Africa 1554
From Münster’s Cosmographia uniuersalis (Basel, 1554). [Historic Maps Collection]

Africa 1584
From Ortelius’s Theatrum orbis terrarum (Antwerp, 1584). [Historic Maps Collection]

Africa 1644
From the second volume of Blaeu’s Le theatre dv monde; ov Novvel atlas contenant les chartes et descriptions de tous les païs de la terre (Amsterdam, 1644).

Africa 1710
A large 1710 decorative map by a German-born English mapmaker known for a number of influential maps.

Africa 1805

Africa 1852

Africa 1885

Africa 1890

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Video: BBC- Kingdoms of Africa – The Asante (Ashanti)

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Traditional African religion
In the video about the Asante (Ashanti) the researcher in the documentary mentions the statue of Osei Tutu, the founding ruler of the Asante (Ashanti) Empire, as a baby in the lap of his mother. The researcher mentions the resemblance to Mary and the child Jesus. What the researcher does not mention is the relationship between Traditional African Religion in West Africa with the religion of ancient native black Egyptians.
Ancient Egyptian religion
Statue of Isis (the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian’s/Kemet Goddess Aset, Iset, js.t.)
Isis is the daughter of Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky) and the sister and wife of Ausar (Osiris), who is the first son of Geb and Nut
Isis is also the mother of Heru (Horus) the child

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Video: BBC-West African Empire of Mali
The term animism, used in this documentary, is used by some historians and those who do anthropology of religion to refer to some indigenous traditional religions that are not: Abrahamic religions (including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism (modernly Daoism) or Shintoism. Many traditional religions of Africa have relationships to the religion of ancient Egypt.

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Video: BBC- Kingdoms of West Africa

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Video: BBC- Kingdoms of East Africa’s Bunyoro and Buganda

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Video: BBC- Kingdoms of Africa – Great Zimbabwe

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