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Lesson Plans for Week of 10.316
For Annie Hinson
Standard(s)
Monday: -8-1.4: Explain the significance of enslaved and free Africans in the developing culture and economy of the South and South
Carolina, including the growth of the slave trade and resulting population imbalance between African and European settlers; African
contributions to agricultural development; and resistance to slavery, including the Stono Rebellion and subsequent laws to control
slaves.
Tuesday: 8-1.4: Explain the significance of enslaved and free Africans in the developing culture and economy of the South and South
Carolina, including the growth of the slave trade and resulting population imbalance between African and European settlers; African
contributions to agricultural development; and resistance to slavery, including the Stono Rebellion and subsequent laws to control
slaves.
Wednesday: 8-1.5: Explain how South Carolinians used their natural, human, and political resources uniquely to gain economic
prosperity, including settlement by and trade with the people of Barbados, rice and indigo planting, and the practice of mercantilism.
Thursday: 8-1.5: Explain how South Carolinians used their natural, human, and political resources uniquely to gain economic prosperity,
including settlement by and trade with the people of Barbados, rice and indigo planting, and the practice of mercantilism.
Friday: Test
Focus Activity
Monday: Fixed vs. Growth Mindset video – which are you? Why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e4smtpKcuI
Tuesday: maze
Wednesday: write a story that includes the words/phrases, population imbalance, slave codes, slave resistance
Thursday: Explain the idea that South Carolina is a colony of a colony.
Friday: I will perform well on this test because I studied
I will do just ok on this test because I listened in class.
I will improve my study skills for the next test.
Bell Work
Monday: An African Cowboy? Tuesday: How rice made some incredibly rich – a quick re-searchlet Find the stats in the “Blue” book on shelf.
Wednesday: Naval Stores – Carolina Tar Heels
Thursday: Indigo process
Friday: none
Strategy
Monday: Annotation
Excerpted from
Cow Hunters of Colonial South Carolina
by Christine Bell
African American Cowboys, ca. 1890
Picture a cowboy, riding the range, roping and
herding cattle. Did you picture an African, or an
enslaved person? The story of the cowboy begins
in the earliest colonies of the South, but they were
called cow hunters, and many were enslaved. In
the last will and testament of Thomas Drayton,
dated August 24, 1724, the first four enslaved men
listed were the cattle hunters. Who were these
cattle hunters, and what did they do? The story of
the cattle hunters, and the cowpen keepers, or
cowpen managers who supervised them is nearly
as old as the Colonies themselves.
The colony of Carolina was founded in 1670 by
titled Englishmen (Proprietors) who hoped to
produce plantation crops for export to England.
During the first thirty years, as the colonists
experimented to find export crops suitable to the
soils and conditions of the new land, they were
sustained by the production of food crops and the
raising of livestock. The Proprietors supplied the
new Carolinians with cattle and hogs from Virginia,
New York and Bermuda, and horses from New
England. The raising of livestock soon became successful, as the mild winters allowed the animals to find native forage throughout the
year, and the cattle populations began to rapidly increase. In the early years of settlement, livestock were permitted to forage for food
in the woods during the day, and were then enticed back to the plantations or farms at night with handouts (Otto 1987).
From the pen to which the cattle were brought into at night, the term cowpen evolved to mean ranch, or the site of the early openrange operations. South Carolina cowpens were cleared areas commonly 100 to 400 acres in extent, with a large enclosure for cattle,
pens for horses and hogs, a garden tract for food crops, and dwellings and other buildings for the manager, his family, and the hands,
often enslaved. The owner usually had title to the cowpen land but not the acreage over which the cattle ranged (Dunbar 1961).
Advertisement for Sale of Drayton’s Cowpen, 1795
With Kind Permission of GenealogyBank.com
The cowpen keepers or cowpen managers were usually white, but the cattle hunters were most often black. Many of the slaves
brought to the colonies came from areas in Western Africa such as Ghana and Gambia where cattle were herded. Scientists using
DNA analysis have determined that cattle were domesticated and being tended by humans as long as 6000 to 8000 years ago in
Africa (Bradley et al 1996). Plantation owners with large herds of cattle often found that enslaved people from these areas already
possessed great skills in herding animals. These enslaved men worked cattle in the tall grass ‘savannas,’ pine barrens and marshes of
the Carolinas, often on horseback.
Sometimes both the enslaved person and horse disappeared, escaping from the outlying areas of the cowpens. However, many
stayed and did the typical work of later cowboys: rounding up cattle for branding, marking and slaughter, and protecting the herds
from predators and dangerous conditions. They also used dogs, bullwhips and salt to control the cattle. The cow hunters also used fire
to clear scrub lands and create new grass savannas for the herds.
A small crew of cow hunters could manage a large and wide ranging herd of cattle. In 1692, records show that Barnard Schenkingh
had amassed 292 cattle, and listed five horses and three enslaved men to manage them. James Joyner also listed three cattle hunters
to manage his herd of 200. 134 of Schenkingh’s cattle were located on James Island, where they were tended by a single enslaved
herdsman (Otto 1987). Thus, raising livestock enabled early Carolina colonists to create income and personal wealth with uncultivated
land and minimal slave labor investment.
The most numerous and important cowpens were located in the inner coastal plain. The most prominent grazing areas were the
savannas and cane swamps west of Orangeburg in the Forks of Edisto, around the headwaters of the Salkehatchie (Saltcatchers)
River, and between the Salkehatchie and Savannah rivers. This was the classic cowpen area (Dunbar 1961). Salt beef and pork
produced in this region were exported mainly to the British West Indies. As early as 1680, Carolina shipped four tons of salt meat to the
island of Barbados. By 1700, Carolina had become a major supplier of salt meat to Barbados, Jamaica, and other British West Indian
colonies (Otto 1987).
Detail from Estate Inventory of Thomas Drayton, 1724
The importance of the cattle hunters to these operations is shown in the example of the early Georgia experiments with livestock. In
1733, some of the first settlers of the new colony were given pigs and cattle by their South Carolina neighbors to help them through the
difficult first season. The animals soon ran off into the woods, as the new colonists had neither the resources nor skills to manage them.
Both Carolina “black” cattle and descendants of the Spanish herds had moved into the area of the new Georgia colony, finding
plenty of grasses and forage to support them.
But without trained cattle hunters, horses and a system of cowpens, the Georgians were unable to round up these cattle even once a
year (Stewart 1991). It wasn’t until the 1750s, when land and slavery laws changed, that the Georgians adapted the practices of the
South Carolina cowpens and cow hunters to the environs of Georgia, and began to have success.
The cattle hunters of the Carolinas combined the expertise in cattle herding and management bequeathed to them by thousands of
years of West African herding ancestors with the ability to adapt these skills to a harsh new environment and enslaved living conditions.
Their contribution has been largely overlooked, but new research may help to bring their story into sharper focus. Picture that the next
time you think of a cowboy!
Tuesday: Sequencing – African Slaves and Rice
Determining the Facts
Reading 1: Rice Cultivation in Georgetown County
(Several words used to describe rice cultivation may be unfamiliar. Use a dictionary to look up
words that you cannot define from their context.)
The intricate steps involved in planting, cultivating, harvesting, and preparing rice required an
immense labor force. Planters stated that African slaves were particularly suited to provide that
labor force for two reasons: 1) rice was grown in some areas of Africa and there was evidence
that some slaves were familiar with the methods of cultivation practiced there, and 2) it was
thought that the slaves, by virtue of their racial characteristics, were better able than white
laborers to withstand the extreme heat and humidity of the tidal swamps and therefore would
be more productive workers. Rice cultivation resulted in a dramatic increase in the numbers of
slaves owned by South Carolinians before the American Revolution. In 1680, four-fifths of South
Carolina's population was white. However, black slaves outnumbered white residents two to
one in 1720, and by 1740, slaves constituted nearly 90% of the population. Much of the growing
slave population came from the West Coast of Africa, a region that had gained notoriety by
exporting its large rice surpluses.
While there is no consensus on how rice first reached the American coast, there is much
debate over the contribution of African-born slaves to its successful cultivation. New research
demonstrates that the European planters lacked prior knowledge of rice farming, while
uncovering the long history of skilled rice cultivation in West Africa. Furthermore, Islamic,
Portuguese, and Dutch traders all encountered and documented extensive rice cultivation in
Africa before South Carolina was even settled. At first rice was treated like other crops, it was
planted in fields and watered by rains. By the mid-18th century, planters used inland swamps
to grow rice by accumulating water in a reservoir, then releasing the stored water as needed
during the growing season for weeding and watering. Similarly, prior records detail Africans
controlling springs and run off with earthen embankments for the same purposes of weeding
and watering. Soon after this method emerged, a second evolution occurred, this time to
tidewater production, a technique that had already been perfected by West African farmers.
Instead of depending upon a reservoir of water, this technique required skilled manipulation of
tidal flows and saline-freshwater interactions to attain high levels of productivity in the
floodplains of rivers and streams. Changing from inland swamp cultivation to tidal production
created higher expectations from plantation owners. Slaves became responsible for five acres
of rice, three more than had been possible previously. Because of this new evidence coming
to light, some historians contend that African-born slaves provided critical expertise in the
cultivation of rice in South Carolina. The detailed and extensive rice cultivating systems
increased demand for slave imports in South Carolina, doubling the slave population between
1750 and 1770. These slaves faced long days of backbreaking work and difficult tasks.
A slave's daily work on an antebellum rice plantation was divided into tasks. Each field hand
was given a task--usually nine or ten hours' hard work--or a fraction of a task to complete each
day according to his or her ability. The tasks were assigned by the driver, a slave appointed to
supervise the daily work of the field hands. The driver held the most important position in the
slave hierarchy on the rice plantation. His job was second only to the overseer in terms of
responsibility.
The driver's job was particularly important because each step of the planting, growing, and
harvesting process was crucial to the success or failure of the year's crop. In the spring, the
land was harrowed and plowed in preparation for planting. Around the first of April rice seed
was sown by hand using a small hoe. The first flooding of the field, the sprout flow, barely
covered the seed and lasted only until the grain sprouted. The water was then drained to keep
the delicate sprout from floating away, and the rice was allowed to grow for approximately
three weeks. Around the first of May any grass growing among the sprouts was weeded by
hoe and the field was flooded by the point flow to cover just the tops of the plants. After a few
days the water was gradually drained until it half covered the plants. It remained at this level-the long flow--until the rice was strong enough to stand. More weeding followed and then the
water was slowly drained completely off the field. The ground around the plants was hoed to
encourage the growth and extension of the roots. After about three weeks, the field was hoed
and weeded again, at which time--around mid-June or the first of July--the lay-by flow was
added and gradually increased until the plants were completely submerged. This flow was
kept on the field for about two months with fresh water periodically introduced and stagnant
water run off by the tidal flow through small floodgates called trunks.
Rice planted in the first week of April was usually ready for harvesting by the first week of
September. After the lay-by flow was withdrawn, just before the grain was fully ripe, the rice
was cut with large sickles known as rice hooks and laid on the ground on the stubble. After it
had dried overnight, the cut rice was tied into sheaves and taken by flatboat to the threshing
yard. In the colonial period, threshing was most often done by beating the stalks with flails. This
process was simple but time consuming. If the rice was to be sold rough, it was then shipped to
the agent; otherwise, it was husked and cleaned--again, usually by hand. By the mid-19th
century most of the larger plantations operated pounding and/or threshing mills which were
driven by steam engines. After the rice had been prepared, it was packed in barrels, or tierces,
and shipped to the market at Georgetown or Charleston. In 1850 a rice plantation in the
Georgetown County area produced an average yield of 300,000 pounds of rice. The yield had
increased to 500,000 pounds by 1860.
Questions for Reading 1
1. Why did planters believe that slaves were particularly suited to rice cultivation? How was
that belief reflected in the population statistics of South Carolina in the first half of the 18th
century?
2. What is the evidence that slaves' contributed knowledge as well as manual labor to the
cultivation of rice? Do you think most planters probably did, or did not know, that the slaves
had already conceived many of these agricultural "advances"? Do you think that planters who
knew this would have more or less respect for the slaves? Would they be more or less likely to
support slavery? Why or why not?
3. What role did a "driver" play on a rice plantation and why was that role important?
4. What are the steps involved in rice cultivation, beginning with the preparation of the fields
through the packing of rice in barrels for shipment to market?
Reading 1 was compiled from J. Tracy Power and Sherry Piland, "Georgetown County Rice
Culture, c. 1750-c. 1910" (Georgetown County, South Carolina) National Register of Historic
Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the
Interior, National Park Service, 1987; and Judith Carney, "Rice, Slaves, and Landscapes of
Cultural Memory," Places of Cultural Memory: African Reflections on the American
Landscape, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 2001.
Continue
Wednesday: None
Thursday: none
Friday: None
Vocabulary
Monday: Mercantilism, Colony, Mother Country, Carolina Gold, Goose Creek Men
Tuesday: Stono Rebellion, slave resistance, Slave Code of 1740
Wednesday: Senegambia, slave trade, rice
Thursday: Indigo, Eliza Lucas Pinckney
Friday: Test
Arts Integration
Monday: Write a poem or create a piece of artwork to honor the Contributions of African slaves to the life of Carolina – Due Friday
October 7,
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Homework
Monday: Read and Annotate slave resistance
Tuesday: Read and highlight excerpt on West African economies
Wednesday: none
Thursday: Study for Test
Friday: None
Content
Monday: Mercantilism Role Play and Rice. Connect Barbados to Cattle
Tuesday: Stono Rebellion SRA
Wednesday: Wanted Africans with Experience.
Thursday: Eliza Lucas - SRA and Eliza’s other contributions
Friday: Test
Assessment
Monday: exit slip. Mercantilism is….
Tuesday: exit slip The Stono Rebellion resulted in …
Wednesday: exit slip Carolina colonists were choosy about the slaves they purchased by only purchasing those with …
Thursday: exit slip Explain the contributions of Elza Pinckney to Carolina
Friday: Test
Next Week:
The Great Divide, The Yemassee War and another Great Divide (how does this relate to upcoming Rev War?