History of slavery in Florida
Slavery in Florida is more central to Florida's history than it is to almost any other state. Florida's purchase by the United States from Spain in 1819 (effective 1821) was primarily a measure to strengthen the system of slavery on Southern plantations, by denying potential runaways the formerly safe haven of Florida.
Few enslaved Africans were imported into Florida from Cuba in the period of Spanish colonial rule, as there was little for them to do—no mines, no plantations. Starting in 1687, slaves escaping from English colonies to the north were freed when they reached Florida and accepted Catholic baptism. Black slavery in the region was widely established after Florida came under British then American control. Slavery in Florida was theoretically abolished by the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln, though as the state was then part of the Confederacy this had little immediate effect.
Slavery in Florida did not end abruptly on one specific day. As news arrived of the end of the
Slavery before arrival of the Europeans
Enslavement predates the period of European colonization and was practiced by various indigenous peoples.[1] Florida had some of the first African slaves in what is now the United States in 1526,[2] as well as the first emancipation of escaping slaves in 1687 and the first settlement of free blacks in 1735.[3]
Spanish era
Exploration era (1513-1526)
The first European known to have explored the coasts of Florida was the Spanish explorer and governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de León, who likely ventured in 1513 as far north as the vicinity of the future St. Augustine, naming the peninsula he believed to be an island "La Florida" and claiming it for the Spanish crown.[4][5] It is likely that slaves were included in the voyage, but they were not recorded.
First Spanish occupation (1536–1763)
In 1528, a slave named Estevanico ("Little Steven") was brought to the area as part of the Narváez expedition, which then continued on to Texas.[7][8][9] More African slaves arrived in Florida in 1539 with Hernando de Soto.[10][11]
When the Spanish founded the colonial settlement of
In October 1687, eleven enslaved Africans made their way from Carolina to Florida in a stolen canoe, and were emancipated by the Spanish authorities. A year later, Major William Dunlop, an officer in the Carolinaa militia, arrived in Florida to ask for compensation for Spanish attacks on Carolina and the return of the Africans to their enslaver, Governor Joseph Morton. The Spanish chose to compensate Morton instead, submitting a report to King Charles II on the event. On November 7, 1693, Charles II issued a decree freeing all slaves escaping from English North America who accepted Catholicism, similar to the May 29, 1680 Spanish decree for slaves escaping from the Lesser Antilles and the September 3, 1680, and June 1, 1685, decrees for escaping French slaves.[3]
In the early 1700s,
Since 1688, Spanish Florida had attracted numerous
British Florida (1763–1783)
Second Spanish occupation (1783–1821)
The former slaves also found refuge among the
After the
The Spanish had established outposts in Florida to prevent others from having safe ports to attack Spanish treasure fleets in the Caribbean and in the strait between Florida and the Bahamas.[3] Florida did not produce anything the Spaniards wanted. The three garrisons were a financial drain, and it was not felt desirable to send settlers or additional garrisons. The Crown decided to cede the territory to the United States. It accomplished this through the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, which took effect in 1821.
Treatment of Blacks under Spanish rule
Under the Spanish, enslaved workers had rights: to marry, to own property, to buy their own freedom. They were not chattel. Free Blacks, as long as they accepted Catholicism, were not subject to legal discrimination. No one was born into slavery. Mixed "race" marriages were not illegal, and mixed "race" children could inherit property, as later Zephaniah Kingsley's inheritors had to fight successfully for.
Zephaniah Kingsley
During the second Spanish period, when slaves continued to escape from their British, then American owners and take refuge in Florida, the North American slave trade was to a large extent centered on Florida. Besides those seeking to recover escaped slaves, the newly enslaved could be freely imported to Florida from Africa, and planters and their representatives went to Florida to buy them and then smuggle them into the U.S.
At the center of Florida's slave trade was the colorful trader and slavery defender, Quaker Zephaniah Kingsley, owner of slaving vessels (boats). He treated his enslaved well, allowed them to save for and buy their freedom (at a 50% discount), and taught them crafts like carpentry, for which reason his highly-trained, well-behaved slaves sold for a premium. After Florida became American, Kingsley, after trying unsuccessfully to prevent Florida from treating free Blacks as unwelcome (see below), left for what at the time was Haiti (today the Dominican Republic).
Territorial Florida, under American rule (1821–1845)
The free Blacks and Indian slaves,
Free People of Color and Their Perceived Danger
In 1827
In
In 1830, free Blacks were 5.2% of Florida's African-American population; by 1860 they had declined to 1.5%.[24]: 10
Florida a slave state (1845–1861)
American settlers began to establish
Florida secedes and becomes Confederate state (1861–1865)
In January 1861, nearly all delegates in the Florida Legislature approved an ordinance of secession, declaring Florida to be "a sovereign and independent nation"—an apparent reassertion to the preamble in Florida's Constitution of 1838, in which Florida agreed with Congress to be a "Free and Independent State." According to William C. Davis, "protection of slavery" was "the explicit reason" for Florida's declaring of secession, as well as the creation of the Confederacy itself.[33]
Confederate authorities used slaves as teamsters to transport supplies and as laborers in
Escaped and freed slaves provided Union commanders with valuable
In May 1865, Federal control was re-established, and slavery abolished.
Human trafficking in the 20th and 21st centuries
After
Florida has a large agricultural economy and a large immigrant population, which has made it a prime environment for forced labor,
See also
- Negro Fort
- Ocoee massacre
- Perry massacre
- Rosewood massacre
- Plantations of Leon County, Florida
- Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park
- History of slavery in the United States by state
References
- ^ a b Lauber, Almon Wheeler (1913). "Enslavement by the Indians Themselves". Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States. Studies in history, economics and public law. Vol. 53 No. 3. Columbia University. pp. 25–48.
- ISBN 9780813018133.
- ^ ISSN 1131-5571– via dialnet.unirioja.es.
- ISBN 978-0-8173-5257-8.
- ISBN 978-1-4367-0883-8.
- ^ "St. Augustine's "Slave Market": A Visual History". Southern Spaces. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
- ISBN 067029814X.
- ISBN 9780826359827.
- ISBN 978-1-4834-8671-0.
- ^ Francis, J. Michael , Gary Mormino and Rachel Sanderson (2019-08-29). "Slavery took hold in Florida under the Spanish in the 'forgotten century' of 1492-1619". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Torres-Spelliscy, Ciara (2019-08-23). "Everyone is talking about 1619. But that's not actually when slavery in America started". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
- ISBN 978-1479837335.
- ^ Ethridge, Robbie Franklyn, and Sheri Marie Shuck-Hall. 2009. Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South. U of Nebraska Press.
- Florida Historical Quarterly. 94 (2): 192–221, at p. 195.
- ^ a b Miller, E: "St. Augustine's British Years," The Journal of the St. Augustine Historical Society, 2001, p. 38.
- ^ Rivers 2000, p. 6.
- ^ Alexander Deconde, A History of American Foreign Policy (1963) p. 127
- ^ Weeks (2002)
- ISBN 0813017726
- ^ Wu, Kathleen Gibbs Johnson (2009). "Manumission of Anna: Another Interpretation". El Escribano. St. Augustine Journal of History: 51–68.
- ^ "Notices of East Florida: with an account of the Seminole Nation of Indians, 1822, Open Archive, text available online, p. 42". Retrieved September 13, 2013.
- ^ Mulroy, Kevin. The Seminole Freedmen: A History (Race and Culture in the American West), Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007, p. 26
- ISBN 978-1-85828-828-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-8130-2400-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8021-2076-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g Smith, Julia Floyd (1973), Slavery and Plantation Growth in Antebellum Florida 1821-1860, Gainesville: University of Florida Press
- ISBN 9780813044620.
- ^ "Florida Population 1840-2000 by County". Exploring Florida (University of South Florida). Retrieved October 27, 2017.
- S2CID 149519589
- ISBN 978-0-87024-338-7.
- ^ Tebeau & Marina 1999, p. 157
- ^ "Key West slave ship depiction". Florida Memory.
- ISBN 9780743227711. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
- ^ Murphree, R. Boyd. "Florida and the Civil War: A Short History" Archived 2010-04-26 at the Wayback Machine, State Archives of Florida. Retrieved on June 5, 2008.
- ^ Murphree (2008)
- ^ Cordner, Sascha (August 22, 2014). "What Might Future Florida Human Trafficking Legislation Look Like For 2015?". Florida State University. WFSU.
- ^ a b Coonan, Terry S. (2003). "Human Rights in the Sunshine State: A Proposed Florida Law on Human Trafficking". Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 31 (2). Archived from the original on 2014-09-09. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ^ "The Unsavory Story Of Industrially-Grown Tomatoes". NPR. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10.
- ^ "United States Report: 1/1/2015 – 12/31/2015" (PDF). National Human Trafficking Resource Center. National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
Further reading
- Federal Writers' Project (1936–1938). "Florida Slave Narratives". University of South Florida Libraries.
- Dresser, Amos (1836). "Slavery in Florida. Letters dated May 11 and June 6, 1835, from the Ohio Atlas". The narrative of Amos Dresser : with Stone's letters from Natchez, an obituary notice of the writer, and two letters from Tallahassee, relating to the treatment of slaves. The letters are unsigned.
- Bates, Thelma (1927). "The Legal Status of the Negro in Florida". Florida Historical Quarterly. 6 (3). Retrieved April 2, 2021.
- Williams, Edwin L. Jr. (1949). "Negro Slavery in Florida". Florida Historical Quarterly. 28 (2). Retrieved April 2, 2021.
- Williams, Edwin L. Jr. (1949). "Negro Slavery in Florida, Part II". Florida Historical Quarterly. 28 (3). Retrieved April 2, 2021.
- Garvin, Russell (July 1967). "The Free Negro in Florida before the Civil War". JSTOR 30140212.
- Schafer, Daniel L. (Spring 1993). "'A Class of People Neither Freemen nor Slaves': From Spanish to American Race Relations in Florida, 1821-1861". .