African-American history starts in the 16th century
with African Slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón and progresses to when Barack Obama
was elected as the 44th and current President of the United States.
Between those landmarks there were other events and issues, both resolved
and ongoing, that were faced by African Americans. Some of these were
slavery, reconstruction, development of the African-American community,
participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial
segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.
A South Carolina African American History Monument
chronicling the experiences of African Americans in South Carolina now
stands on the grounds of the State House in Columbia. The bronze and
granite sculpture was dedicated in March 2001 and includes 12 panels that
depict milestones in South Carolina African American history. The monument
tells a story from the beginning of enslavement to the Middle Passage to
Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights era to the great
achievements of South Carolina’s African Americans in various professions.
(Wikipedia)
Typical Slave Ship
Only a few decades after the discovery of America by Europeans, demand
for cheap labor to work plantations made slave-trading a profitable
business. The peak time of slave ships to the Atlantic passage was between
the 18th and 19th century when large plantations developed in the British
colonies of North America.
In order to achieve profit, the owners of the ships divided their hulls
into holds with little headroom, so they could transport as many slaves as
possible. Unhygienic conditions, dehydration, dysentery and scurvy led to
a high mortality rate, on average 15% and up to a third of captives. Often
the ships, also known as Guineamen, transported hundreds of slaves, who
were chained tightly to plank beds.
NOTES
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1860
Slave Schedule Census can not be physically found for Anderson, Chester,
Chesterfield, Greenville, Horry, Kershaw, Landcaster, Laurens,
Lexington, Pickens, Richland, Spartanburg, Union & York Districts.
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Plantation nicknames were not normally shown in the 1860 Slave Schedule
Census.
-
Using
plantation nicknames to locate ancestors can be difficult because the
nickname of a plantation may have been changed throughout the years and
because the sizeable number of large farms must have resulted in lots of
duplication of plantation nicknames.
-
Plantation nicknames names, if known, will normally be listed as aka
(also known as).
-
In
1860 SC had ~500 plantations of 1,000+ acres or more. Very few of these
plantation locations have been GPS location mapped.
-
It's
assumed that if a plantation had over 100 enslaved workers, that there
would have normally been a separate cemetery provided for the workers.
On 9-22-1862 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
an executive order declaring that all enslaved Africans in America shall be
free from that day forth..!!!
Disclaimer: This Genealogy Project uses "Historically Correct Words" that
some individuals might now consider to be offensive.