The Emancipation Proclamation: Atlantic

Connections and Movements

Mark Levengood

GHC Teaching Demonstration

July 15, 2010

Emancipation: Atlantic Connections

• The Emancipation Proclamation should be understood in the context of Atlantic economic, political, and cultural connections

• Slave and free black actions were central – pushed whites, including Lincoln, to act

• Common Atlantic issues: emancipation and freedom, inseparable from issues of power and race

• Issues and connections had continuing importance in U.S., Atlantic, and world history after the U.S. Civil War

Brief History of the U.S. Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln’s mixed messages on abolition of slavery• ‘House Divided’ speech, 1858, Senate Campaign: "A

house divided against itself cannot stand" – Union would become all slave or free

• Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, 1861: “no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists.”

• By early 1862, Lincoln advised Union border states to accept compensated abolition of slavery, delayed over 30 years, congressmen rejected it

• Later in 1862 had decided to announce E.P.• How and why did this happen? – “contraband” slaves,

pressure from Republicans, Confederate military victories, supported by slave labor

Brief History of E.P.• Preliminary E.P., Sept. 22, 1862 – slaves will be freed

in states still in rebellion on Jan. 1, 1863 – ignored by Confederate states

• Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. 1, 1863 – – freed all slaves in rebellious states (excluded Union slaveholders– Intention to enlist slaves in army and navy

• Lincoln: “military necessity, absolutely essential to the preservation of the Union”

• “We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued.  The slaves [are] undeniably an element of strength to those who [have] their service, and we must decide whether that element should be with us or against us...The Administraiton must set an example, and strike at the heart of the rebellion.”

• E.P. made the Union army an army of liberation in Confederate states

• Slavery not completely abolished until 13th Amendment to Constitution, Dec. 18, 1865

Context: Atlantic Slave Economy

Slave trade transported slaves throughout Atlantic World – majority of slaves outside U.S.

Atlantic Political Context: The British Example

• Confeds wanted British recognition, support• Believed Brits would put economic interest, need for

cotton, first• Some Brits happy to see U.S. republican experiment fail –

leftover animosities from Am. Revolution• Pro-Confed. British: aristocrats, conservatives, some

textile owners• Believed in social hierarchy – slaves deserved to be

enslaved, natural place• But war did not initially hurt British econ. – had cotton

warehoused in Britain• And British didn’t want to offend Union/U.S. if not sure

Confeds would win

Emancipation - Precedents

• Different forms of emancipation:– State/govt. initiated– Resettlement to Africa– Barring slavery from territories– Result of military service– Result of revolution– Result of colonial independence movement– Result of revolt– Individual or small group – escape– Everyday forms of resistance and freedom

Painting Brainstorming

• Historical Document Analysis: What does the painting tell you?

Precedents: Atlantic Abolitionists

• Britain had strong abolitionist movement• Quakers in 18th and 19th centuries• William Wilberforce and reformers in Parliament –

British slave trade abolished, 1807• Abolition of slavery in colonies, 1830s• Strong working-class support for abolition,

despite fears of textile unemployment• British: if they could abolish slavery, then it was

right thing for U.S. to do• Supported Eman. Proc. after Union victory at

Antietam and once they saw support for war against slavery

Abolition: Common White Fears

• Fears about ex-slaves– Are blacks capable of being free?– Can they live peacefully with whites?– Will they work if not forced to? – assumed

they were naturally lazy– Will they work for wages?– Will they assimilate into society?– Fears of sexual relations with whites – racial

mixture

Precedents: Age of Revolution

• Revolutionary and Enlightenment beliefs had great impact on slavery – liberty, freedom, equality, natural rights

• Adam Smith – free labor and markets are best• Lord Dunmoore – slaves would be freed if they fought for

Brits during Am. Revolution• Some upper south owners freed slaves after Am.

Revolution • Northwest Ordinance, 1787 – slavery banned from NW

territory• Gradual Emancipation in northern states in late 18th- and

early 19th centuries

French and Haitian Revolutions

• Circulation of revolutionary ideals throughout Atlantic

• Impact of French Rev. on slaves in Haiti and other Atlantic slave societies

• Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804: only successful slave revolt

• Haitian Revolt and Republic inspired slaves throughout Atlantic

• Struck fear in whites – worst possible outcome

Precedent: Religious Reformers

• Quakers and abolition• 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings – Evangelical

Protestants– Equality under God– Individualism – individual religious experience– Some interracial religious groups– Reform movements – perfection of society

• Spurred some owners to manumit slaves• Formation of Christian missionary and

colonization societies• Slavery a moral evil; nation must purge itself of

evil (and often slaves too)

Colonizing Free Blacks

• Beliefs in black inequality and inability to assimilate into U.S. society

• Ex-slaves or free blacks should return to their “homeland” of Africa

• Cross-Atlantic colonization schemes– Britain – Sierra Leone, 1787– U.S. – Liberia, 1817– France – Libreville

Slave Resistance: Searching for Freedom throughout Atlantic World• Slave resistance and agency• Pushed whites and governments to act on

issues of slavery• Diff. forms of resistance

– Escape– Work– Revolt– Daily life, family, religion– Public performance – claiming public space

• Image: Night-time Funeral in antebellum south

• Nighttime religious meetings

• Celebrations• Theft or

gathering of food and drink

• Relationships across plantations

Maroons in Atlantic World

Nighttime Meetings and Escapes

Documents: Black Christianity & Spirituals

• THE COMING DAY

"I want to go to Canaan,I want to go to Canaan,I want to go to Canaan,To meet 'em at de comin' day.O, remember, let me go to Canaan, (Thrice.)To meet 'em, &c.O brudder, let me go to Canaan, (Thrice.)To meet 'em, &c.My brudder, you-oh !-remember (Thrice.)To meet 'em at de comin' day."

• MY ARMY CROSS OVER

"My army cross over,My army cross over.O, Pharaoh's army drownded !My army cross over.

"We 'll cross de mighty river,My army cross over;We 'll cross de river Jordan,My army cross over;We 'll cross de danger water,My army cross over;We 'll cross de mighty Myo,My army cross over. (Thrice.)O, Pharaoh's army drownded !My army cross over."

Documents: Black Christianity & Spirituals

• MANY THOUSAND GO.

"No more peck o' corn for me,No more, no more,-No more peck o' corn for me,Many tousand go.

"No more driver's lash for me, (Twice.)No more, &c.

"No more pint o' salt for me, (Twice.)No more, &c.

"No more hundred lash for me, (Twice.)No more, &c.

"No more mistress' call for me,No more, No more,-No more mistress' call for me,Many tousand go."

• WE 'LL SOON BE FREE.

"We 'll soon be free,We 'll soon be free,We 'll soon be free,When de Lord will call us home.My brudder, how long,My brudder, how long,My brudder, how long,'Fore we done sufferin' here?It won't be long (Thrice.)'Fore de Lord will call us home.We 'll walk de miry road (Thrice.)Where pleasure never dies.We 'll walk de golden street (Thrice.)Where pleasure never dies.My brudder, how long (Thrice.)'Fore we done sufferin' here?We 'll soon be free (Thrice.)When Jesus sets me free.We 'll fight for liberty (Thrice.)When de Lord will call us home."

African-American Religion and Emancipation

• Message of spirituals?

Painting Brainstorming

• Historical Document Analysis: What is the message of the painting?

• How did escaped slaves impact Civil War?– contrabands

History of Public Resistance and Performance

• Context of owner surveillance and control – attempts to limit gatherings in groups, fear of slave revolt

• Slaves, free blacks, post-slavery black Americans celebrated Emancipation Day as reminder of continued fight for racial, social, and economic equality

• Claiming public sites or spaces when they did not have any formal power or rights

• Examples– John Canoe or Jonkonnu– Pinkster and Negro Election Day– Public religious, political, musical expression

• Often poked fun at whites through dress and mimicry

Everyday acts of resistance – What are they talking about?

Summary

• Emancipation Proclamation resulted from history of:– Atlantic slave economy– Circulation of ideals of freedom and equality– Circulation of religious ideals– Precedents of abolition and emancipation in

other slave societies– Pressure from slaves in various forms:

runaways, revolts, everyday resistance

Post-Slavery Connections• Goals of Emancipation continue into the present• Common goals: fight racial and economic

exploitation; fight for democracy and equality • Public expression and celebrations

– Juneteenth and Emancipation Day celebrations throughout the Atlantic

• Radicalism and Reform in the Black Atlantic or African-Atlantic– Anti-colonial activists– Civil rights activists– Human rights activists– Labor activists

Emancipation Day, 1863, South Carolina

Juneteenth

Musicians at the Austin, Texas, Emancipation Day picnic, June 19,1900

Ex-slaves at the Austin, Texas, Emancipation Day picnic, June 19,1900

Emancipation Day Parade, Richmond, VA, 1904/5

Black Atlantic Radical: Robert Wedderburn, 1762-1830s?

• Jamaican slave mother, white plantation- owner father

• Free from birth• In British Navy experienced wage labor

and saw mistreatment of sailors – an Atlantic working class

• Lived in London with ex-slaves, Irish, and other lower-class Brits

• Converted to Methodism, then Unitarianism, became preacher, radical Christian = equality under God

• Became revolutionary anti-monarchist• Published anti-slavery pamphlet, 1824• Free speech activist, jailed, prob. died in prison• United anti-slavery and working-class radicalism

Zombies!

• What is a zombie?

Zombies: Atlantic Radicals?

• Product of Atlantic economic, social, and cultural history and connections

• Loosely based on West African and Haitian vodun (voodoo) religious practices, combined with Christian and other influences

• Africa – Caribbean – Britain – U.S. – World • Stories and myths - critical of power, control,

loss of freedom• Began under slavery • Emancipation as evolving issue – new forms of

power and control – wage labor, colonialism, Jim Crow, Cold War,…

Film, White Zombie, 1932

• Meaning?

Fela Kuti, Zombie, 1977

• Nigerian Afrobeat musician

• Influenced by U.S. Black Power movement

• Anti-colonial activist• Activist for Nigerian

democracy, against govt. repression

Michael Jackson’s Thriller

• How is Thriller an emancipatory tale?

• How does Thriller deal with white fears?

Image of Integration: The American Dream

Image of Integration: Public Culture

Image of Religious Mystery:Black Christianity and Folk Traditions

Image of Black Urban Culture: Street Performance

Outcomes

• After this lesson, you should be able to:– Describe the long historical view and context of

Emanc. Proclamation– Provide understanding of international relations – U.S./

British relations on Civil War & ‘slave problem’– Describe Emancipation’s precedents and antecedents– Provide diff. definitions and forms of emancipation– Describe slave pressure on whites with examples of

resistance and slave definitions of freedom– Make connections between past emancipation

movements and continuing importance of issues of race, power, freedom in Atlantic and world history

Further Resources

• U.S. Emancipation Timeline: http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/chronol.htm

• Library of Congress E.P. site: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/EmanProc.html