Part 5

No sooner than Santo Domingo was found to be a paradise of wealth than the other islands were made ready for the unwilling African. He was carried to the mainland of Panama, where Balboa was surprised to find a colony of Negroes whose origin has baffled the mind of the most learned men of that age. To this day no solution has been found for the problem of the coming of these Negroes of Quareca. Gomora says, "That Conquistador entered the Province of Quareca; he found no gold, but some blacks who were slaves of the lord of the place. He asked this lord whence he had received them, who replied that men of that color lived near the place, with whom they were constantly at war. "These Negroes," adds Gomora, "exactly resemble those of the Guinea; and no others have since been seen in America. It may be stated here that every hypothesis has been advanced to show that these men must have been people other than Negroes, but since the natives of the kingdoms of Congo and Guinea were known to have enjoyed friendly relations with each other and sailed the rivers in large oared boats, it is very probable that some of them crossed the Atlantic in like manner as the Caribs in their piraguas traveled from the islands to the mainland and vice versa. The nearest distance from Brazil to Africa is along the Tropic of Cancer, and any number of large boats may have lost their bearing in a storm and got ship-wrecked on the American mainland. This hypothesis is well within the range of probability in view of the fact that the trade winds blow from east to west and the Gulf Stream flows rapidly, and is noted for periodical variation in its course.

The Negroes that were originally carried into Santo Domingo from Spain became devoted to the early priests, for it must be conceded that the Jesuits were the friends who maintained a benevolent attitude toward these outcast sons of men. One of these Negroes, known as Estevanico, was the discoverer of the Seven Cities of Cibola, and what is known as Arizona and New Mexico. Negroes were in Mexico with the vanguard of the Spaniards, and to that country must be credited one of the earliest Negro poets. He lived in Mexico City, and was, by trade, a carpenter and maker of artificial flowers, and was always sought by the elite, because of his ready wit and quickness to rhyme on any theme given him.

Wherever the English ruled we have had to combat a very prejudiced and arrogant system of oppression. In the Spanish and French colonies the rule was milder, in consequence of a system of judicial laws which predicated a better understanding as a solution of the complex relations between master and slave. The English have shown by their rule in the Island of Trinidad how much regard they have had for the rights of others guaranteed by treaty. For a case in point we may refer to the treaty of capitulation between the Spaniards and the English that took place February 18th, 1797. Article 12 of this treaty reads: "The colored people, who have been acknowledged as such by the laws of Spain, shall be protected in their liberty, persons and property, like other inhabitants; they taking the oath of allegiance, meaning themselves as becomes good and peaceable subjects of His Britanic Majesty" (16). The way the British respected this "Scrap of Paper" is shown in a book written by a free mulatto, a graduate of the Edinburgh University, and printed in London in 1824. Says this anonymous author: "And even the Spanish governor saw his country about to be divested of a possession she had held ever since the third voyage of Columbus, he did not forget the faith she had plighted to the colored population, but exacted from the invaders security for the continuance of the equality of rights and privileges with the whites by the 12th article of the capitulation" (p. 16).

It would have been a glory to Britain to have emulated in those days the benevolent plan of France and Spain in improving the condition of their slaves; and to open a way for the admission of reason, religion, liberty and law among creatures of our kind who were deprived of every advantage, of every privilege, which as partakers of our common nature they were capable of and entitled to (Ramsay).

We have been instructed to look at the Negro as "idle, worthless, indolent and disloyal," but a careful examination of the West Indies and South America does not show this to be true. Many instances of advancement by hard industry can be noted in any of the many spots of the New World. There is not a single field of industrial activity in which the descendants of the African have not contributed their mite toward an improvement of the conditions which the gold seekers and pleasure hunters were wont to overlook. The commercial activities, the irrigation of fields, the working of the mines where the labor of Negro slaves and free men was paramount, the untold number of ships loaded down with merchandise and precious metals wending their way to Europe to support monarchies and provide pleasure for parasites, all this depended upon the unrequited toil of Negroes, which cannot be computed in dollars and cents because it would form a ladder, like Jacob's, which would reach to the very gates of Heaven.

Under the institution of slavery which curbed the aspirations of the Negro, it was not possible to expect the race to have shown any capacity except for hard labor in the fields which the lash accelerated. In most islands there was nothing else but agriculture fields to be cleared and developed with religion to mitigate and console the workers. The profits which were uppermost in the minds of the masters were gathered regularly and yielded handsomely.

The African people have been one of the earliest acquainted with cotton. A careful examination of available historical material shows that while Europe was still dressing in goat skins and grass goods the Negro peoples of Africa had been using cotton goods. Miss Kingsley relates that the cloth loom was invented by natives of the Eboe tribe, but many varieties of looms were common to the people of the Soudan. The prevailing color of the cloth from Guinea is blue and it is distinctly quaint, so enduring and pleasing that it has been handed down from the hoary ages to the present day. The dyes of the natives obtained from vegetable matter and other unknown primitive processes, have always won the admiration of the appreciative world. Europeans have admired the quality and durability of these cloths. The work of African looms in their primitive frames can be seen in the Museums of Natural History in London, Paris, Berlin and New York. They are indeed fine specimens of African handiwork and authorities have said that they would do credit to any Manchester or Birmingham looms.

It is said that native cloth manufactured at Kano is not very old and that it probably came from the Songhay country, but according to El Bekri, the Arab historian, and other ancient geographers, the art of weaving was very flourishing on the Upper Nile, especially in the town of Silla from very ancient times and as early as the eleventh century, the cotton cloth was called in this region by the same name it bears to this day, namely, "shigge."

The English West Indies exported to Britain during the year 1760 9,535,010 pounds of cotton. By 1787 this amount had increased to 18,716,445 pounds; in 1801 to 42,090,765, and in 1811 it was 41,735,555, according to William Irving, Inspector General of the London Customhouse.

It has been stated that just before the war of American independence the slaves in the sugar colonies did not exceed the fortieth part of the inhabitants of the British Empire, yet they contributed in that neglected state perhaps a sixth part of the revenue. The British Isles contained a population of nearly 11,500,000; North America, 2,600,000 with 400,000 slaves, which made 3,000,000; the West Indies 82,000 freemen and 418,000 slaves.

The Negroes under the terrifying and debasing influence of slavery were able to improve their condition by that cheerful spirit which holds them together even in these days of dark clouds, with a silver lining. The cheerfulness of these sons of Africa has been their redeeming quality through all their privations and sufferings; their chants and songs, whether in the hearing of their masters or among themselves, were full of soul and feeling. They kept body and soul together after the arduous day's labor under the torrid rays of the sun. Whereas the Indians gave way under the milder system of slavery, the Negroes grew stronger under its despotism. They were able in the production of sugar cane to become experts in the tempering of the cane juice for the various degrees of sugar, which today require analytical chemists to supervise its improved manufacture and Negroes were in charge of this delicate branch of the industry on many plantations. In the distillation of rum they were proficient and many were excellent mechanics.

In the production of cocoa, in Venezuela, Suriname and Trinidad, the labor of Negroes gave it such an impetus and stability that the eminent Humboldt, in his travels through South America could not but speak in the highest terms of those plantations that devoted their time to the improvement of this industry.

Since the bringing of the Mocha coffee into Santo Domingo as an experiment, with the brawny arm of the black son of toil the production of coffee has reached the incredible amount of 100 millions of pounds, and, in Brazil, where to balance the supply and demand the government provides an excellent system which permits the exportation of only the amount necessary for the world's consumption each year.

The pearl fisheries of America lost their commercial importance with the wave of Emancipation by the nations whose souls were steeped in ignominious sin. But in the earliest days it was one of the most lucrative industries. The work was done exclusively by Negroes who were expert swimmers and divers, capable of holding their breath a long time in ten or fifteen fathoms of briny water, while searching for pearl-bearing shells. There was always great danger from man-eating sharks and the octopus, which killed and mangled many expert divers. In numberless Spanish galleons were carried the riches which have been reported from time to time in official papers as having paid the fifths to the coffers of the state. For instance, Southey says that "a fleet that sailed from Hispaniola in 1526 carried to Spain 501,082 gold dollars, 350 marks of ordinary pearls, 183 Cubagua pearls and 5 gold stones."

In the field of arms there is no question whatever in the mind of the present generation whether the Negroes have added any glory to the respective nations under which they fought, or, when for their self-preservation it was necessary to fight against Spain, Holland, France and Britain. One of the earliest successful insurrections was that of Chief Araby in the year 16-- and in 1772-7, before the American war of independence, the Negroes of Suriname took to the hills and fought the Hollanders tooth and nail for five consecutive years. The Spaniards in Santo Domingo were defeated, Great Britain was humiliated and obtained success only when she followed General Abercrombie and Sir John Moore's advice, and employed Negro troops under promises of manumission as is shown in the St. Lucia campaign. The first attempt to employ these troops brought about a fierce outcry of protest in which the several island legislatures, especially those of Barbadoes and Jamaica "poured forth the most prophetic declaration of innumerable evils to come if the British government persisted in its purpose to substitute even in part, black for white soldiers."

The formation of the First West India Regiment under the British was the aftermath of the Savannah war in 1779. "It was made up of white loyalists and Negro slaves" and "so well entertained that in the year 1816 there were eight regiments in existence. In Jamaica there were stationed the 2d Regiment, with 198 sergeants and 3,050 blacks, and the 5th Regiment was stationed at Bahamas with rank and file of 4,526 during the year 1816. Their formation was due to the ravages of disease among the European forces, for during the years 1796-1802 were lost 17,173 men of the original force of 19,676 under Major General Sir John Moore, which sailed from England to put down the Negro spirit that had its birth in Haiti.

But it was not only Haiti that was worrying the British. Jamaica with the Maroons was another problem without a radical solution until Major General Walpole promised them protection under a secret treaty which was moderate in its language, but painful in the method of its application, just as the British have always been when dealing with the Negro race. It must be said in fairness to General Walpole that he was opposed to the cruelties practiced on the Maroons after they had surrendered their arms and confided in his good faith for a strict compliance with the terms of the treaty. Walpole said he "felt that a treaty even with savages should be observed" (p. 236). But notwithstanding the evil spirit towards the Maroons their uprising has brought about a better feeling and respect to the black people of Jamaica and, because of this material spirit, it must be admitted they enjoy to this day a larger measure of freedom and economic privileges than the other West Indian islands under the British rule.

The name of Haiti will always stimulate us to revere the memory of men who have stamped their names on the scroll of time, for not only did that island strike the first effective blow for the liberation of the black slave, but, having accomplished this purpose, the Haitians aided in the liberation of all America from the yoke of Europe. The service rendered by President Petion to Simon Bolivar in making possible the freedom and independence of South America is splendidly shown in the granite and bronze monument which adorns the square in Caracas dedicated to the memory of the ablest Haitian president by the people of Venezuela.

Music found expression in the vibrating chord tempered with the dull thumping of drums in their characteristic rhythm which could be heard for miles during the night and in the peculiar songs and chants of the Negroes. To the white man who could not understand their customs it was barbaric and rude and was treated with indifference and at times with contempt. But it has been shown by Mrs. Kemble, who was a keen observer during her residence in Georgia, that the Negro songs had merit and that there was something mystic which could not easily open itself--its peculiar musical charm--to the white man. This music and chants were common to every part of America where the sons of Africa had been carried by the slave hunters, and even to this day musical instruments, peculiar to the original tribes, are extant in many of the islands beyond the seas.

During the evening slave seances took place when the master thought everything was silent and calm, because the field work had been satisfactorily performed and the harvest had been gathered and there was a profit which would carry him to Europe to squander it in riotous living. But at night, like the firefly, the Negro was recreated and refreshed in song his soul, and dreamed of a future freedom from the involuntary thraldom of which he was a victim.

The story tellers gathered a motley crowd around them and the hours of eventide were spent in instructive recitals of the Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit and other folk-lore stories, the heritage of African minds. These stories are known in every vale and dale of joy and tears in America; they have soothed the hours of toil and consoled the broken-hearted. "They have been called the traditional literature of Africa. Some of the Uncle Remus stories would form no bad addition to the fairy stories of the world. But the race of old mammies or nurses who used to tell them to delighted youthful audiences is fast passing away"--in fact, have passed away--and we are satisfied, not knowing any better, to read them in the modern reconstructed form as given by Joel Chandler Harris and other poor imitators who have won fame and honor in the field of literature without incurring the onerous charge of imitation. Bosman refers to the Old Mammy or Anancy stories in his work on Africa, and it is said that in Accra "there are men who have a repertoire almost as copious as the Arabian Nights, and to which Europeans listen with curiosity and wonder, if not with admiration." Richard Burton was a great man and a distinguished writer, who agrees with Koelle, who says, "I was amongst them in their native land, on the soil which the feet of their fathers have trod, and heard them deliver in their own native tongue stirring extempore speeches, adorned with beautiful imagery, of half an hour or an hour's duration; or when I was writing from their dictation, sometimes two hours in succession, without having to correct a word or alter a construction in twenty or thirty pages; or when in Sierre Leone I attended examinations of the sons of liberated slaves (from America) in algebra, geometry, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, etc.--then, I confess, any other idea never entered my mind but that I had to do with _real men_". (Wit and Wisdom from West Africa.")

In Brazil, the Negro chieftain, Henrique Diaz, is revered for the able assistance which he rendered in checking the incursions of the Dutch, and Koster in his travels through that country speaks of Negro and mulatto regiments known as the Henrique regiments in memory of so worthy and capable a leader.

In the city of Paramaribo the Negro Gramman Quacy had the good fortune in 1730 to discover the valuable properties of the root known by the name of Quacie bitter. In 1761 it was made known to Linnaeus by d'Ahlbergand, the Swedish naturalist who had written a treatise upon it.

During the years 1811-12 the British government had reports from their various possessions in America exclusive of Jamaica, showing a slave population of 343,859 and 27,259 free men of color, so that about eight per cent of the total colored population were free. When we consider the handicap that slaves had under English law with its intricate and involved questions of entail we can appreciate the efforts of these reputed savages to have been able not only to achieve their freedom but to succeed in becoming an integral part of the country, with an eagle's foothold in agriculture.

Porto Bello and Cartagena in Colombia were the ports of entry for the slave trade, the channel by which not only Panama was supplied with Negroes but from whence the traders were allowed to bring with them such quantity of provisions as was thought necessary both for their own use and that of their slaves of both sexes. Here was the Appian road through which the Spaniards carried the slaves into Peru to work the gold mines; and they became so useful that in the celebrated Sanabria mines Negroes were used exclusively during the night and Indians in the day time. Ulloa, during his visit to Lima, found that people of African descent formed the greater part of the population of Lima, and they were, as a rule, mechanics and worked side by side with the Europeans who did not consider the contact disgraceful to them, since cleanliness was the ruling passion of the Negroes.

General Pelage, "an agricultural slave" when General Moore stormed St. Lucia, was Governor of Guadeloupe until 1803, when he resigned and returned to France to lead his soldiers against Spain, where he was killed at the head of his regiment.

It is a remarkable fact that the first native American to be consecrated a Bishop was a Negro. He was Right Reverend Francisco Xavier de Luna y Victoria, Bishop of Panama, of which see he took possession in August, 1751. He founded and maintained the cathedral at his own expense, and was later removed to the see of Trujillo in Peru. His mother, who had been a slave devoted her time to the sale of charcoal in order to attain her ambition to see her son become an eminent man. This devotion has been characteristic of the African woman and every reward and praise won on the new continent has been due to her sacrifices.

In the Spanish countries under the more liberal manumission laws a very much higher proportion of free people of color existed from the very earliest times. In Cuba of the total population in 1811 about 274,000 were whites, 212,000 slaves and 114,000 free persons of color, rather less than two slaves to one freeman. In the United States at the same time the slave population of 1,191,364 is more than six times the free population of 186,446 (total U. S., 7,239,814). The conditions in Cuba were characteristic of the Spanish and Portuguese countries and explained the total abolition of slavery as well as the more rapid assimilation of the colored people in the economic and political life of those countries.

With the records such as this the Negro found himself at the close of the eighteenth century a vital factor in every phase of the development of Latin America. I have not attempted to treat his services in the Southern States of the North American Union for the facts here are too well known to require discussion within the limits of the present article. Suffice it to say that the position which the Negro and his mixed progeny of European or Indian blood had won in South America, they have also earned, if even they have not as yet received, due recognition therefore in North America.

With a firm faith in our ability and the consciousness of our inalienable title to a worthy share in the development of the New World. We may look forward with confidence to the inevitable reward of industry sustained by the courage which demands that an honest toiler shall not be despoiled of the fruits of his labor. We may expect therefore that as Negro slavery began in the West Indies and South America and crept northward, so also will come to the United States the gradual dissolution of the problem of color in the general problems of a progressing human race.

William Pickens. The Constitutional Status of the Negro from 1860-1870

The second decade of the latter half of the nineteenth century was the most epochal period in American legal history since the time of the national constitution. So far as the American Negro is concerned, this period marks the greatest possible changes in legal and constitutional status. Three years before the opening of this decade the highest court of the nation had declared the Negro to have only the status of the lower animals, while at the close of the decade the Negro had acquired a status in the organic law of the land which entitled him to membership in the Supreme Court itself. In this period the Negro changed from a chattel to a person, from an animal to a man, from a slave to a citizen,--so far as the supreme law of the land is concerned.