Religion was a common tie that bound the South together in the early nineteenth century. Evangelical Protestantism became the prominent form of religion in the South. The First Great Awakening occurred between 1730 and 1760 and the Second Great Awakening took place between 1800 and 1830; both of these revivals brought new religions to the forefront and inspired a newfound interest in them. The...
Religion was a common tie that bound the South together in the early nineteenth century. Evangelical Protestantism became the prominent form of religion in the South. The First Great Awakening occurred between 1730 and 1760 and the Second Great Awakening took place between 1800 and 1830; both of these revivals brought new religions to the forefront and inspired a newfound interest in them. The...
Solomon Bayley touched the tender side of slavery in his narrative. Torn away from his enslaved family in Delaware and carried off in a wagon, Bayley jumped to freedom. It was only the chance to buy back his wife and son that motivated Bayley. On his adventure he was forced to journey by foot through Virginia, and ran into scheming slaves and slave owners. Bayley finally made it to the slave markets...
Henry Watson woke up one morning by himself. His mother, who had put him to bed the night before, was not next to him. He began to worry; he had never been without his mother before, even a day. After all he was still a child. He scurried out of bed and looked around. He asked several other slaves, who knew his mother well, of her whereabouts. Every single one gave him a blank stare; no one said...
In the year 1813 right outside Fredericksburg, Virginia, a slave was born. The name of the slave was Henry Watson. Henry was born into slavery by his late mother, Letty. Like most slaves he had no recollection of his age, he had heard that the age of a slave is kept by the different seasons of the year. If a child were to ask of their age, the answer would be similar to this quote “this planting...
Harriet Jacobs recalled her grandmother as not only a maternal figure to her but to many other children on the plantation as well. She did something quite literally maternal: she served as a wet nurse, required to nurse numerous children on the plantation that were not her own. When sold she was marketed for her capabilities to nurse. Jacobs served many masters and nursed numerous children. While...
“Mortals! Hear the sacred cry: ‘Freedom, freedom, freedom!’ Hear the noise of broken chains, see the noble Equality enthroned.” The opening lines of Argentina’s national anthem, indicates the country’s citizen-driven political struggle for equality. Adopted on May 11, 1813, known as the Himno Nacional Argentino, the anthem becomes a siren for political independence...
Samuel Mims had built a fort not far from Mobile, a part of Mississippi Territory. On August 30, 1813, the commandant of the Fort wrote to Governor Claiborne that the fort was impregnable because it was protected in a very good way. However, the same day, some Red Sticks (the English term for a faction of Creek Indians who led a resistance movement which culminated in the outbreak of the Creek War...
A letter from Mrs. Harriet Lucas Huger to her friend Mrs. William Lowndes reveals three things: one, that she had a lot of extra leisure time; two, that she had a sick father about whom she was concerned; and three, that she did not like the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Though her concern for her father's ill health was quite natural, it was quite surprising to learn of her distaste for...
In the early years of the nineteenth century many people came to Spanish Florida. Some were forced to come to Florida to work on plantations and others like Zephaniah Kingsley sought to make their own fortunes by obtaining land and establishing those plantations. During this time alliances and politics were shifting and though some of the enslaved would later become free landowners, they had to...