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Slavery at Popes Creek

In 1619, African-Americans arrived at Point Comfort, Virginia. Initially
these immigrants were indentured servants, but within a matter of years,
they were converted into slaves. Soon the "peculiar institution" of
African- American slavery was

established throughout all of Britain's North American colonies, but
especially in the South. By the time of George Washington's birth, in
1732, more than fifty percent of Virginia's population was black.

**Colonial Slavery**

Slavery existed worldwide for thousands of years among various nations.
Race, creed, sex, color, national origin, and the wages of war and
religion were factors in the determination of the institution of slavery
at any given time in history.

In the beginning years of the New World settlement, Dutch and Portuguese
ships bought enslaved Africans, prisoners of war, from the victorious
tribes who captured them.

Africans were not the first slaves in this hemisphere. The Europeans
enslaved natives in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America
since the arrival Columbus in 1492.

Slavery was illegal when the first Africans came to Virginia in 1619.
This changed as relations between colonists and natives of this
continent deteriorated into frequent war-like skirmishes. Natives would
never provide the labor base for growing tobacco, which was Virginia's
gold.

European indentured servants came in unlimited supplies, but after
working a number of years to pay their passage to the New World, they
were free to go. Enslaving Africans solved Virginia's labor shortage.
Unlike indentured servants, Africans had almost no hope of attaining
freedom.

**Popes Creek Plantation Slaves**

A planter's wealth was measured in part by the number of slaves he
owned. In the 1730's a healthy worker was worth 30-35 pounds. When
Augustine Washington, George's father, died in 1743, he left a property
inventory, which included sixty-four slaves that were scattered on his
various estates.

This inventory reveals their names, sex, age and estimated value.
Familial relationships were rarely indicated. Twenty or so slaves worked
the fields and household of the Washington's at Popes Creek Plantation
during the three and a half years George lived at the small tobacco
farm.

**Tobacco -- A Way of Life**

Popes Creek Plantation was one of many along the Chesapeake Bay region's
"Tobacco Coast." Tobacco brought Virginia, Maryland and Britain great
wealth. Tobacco was in high demand, stored easily, and served as
currency, bartering tool, and primary colonial export.

This labor-intensive crop required one able-bodied man per cultivated
area. Pests and disease were constant plagues and tobacco depleted soil
nutrients rapidly.

Annually, Washington's slaves raised ten to fifteen acres of

tobacco. The process never ended. Crop rotation to revive poor soil was
rare in the Colonial era. When a field ceased to produce quality
tobacco, slaves clear-cut trees, removed stumps, and tilled new fields.

Seeds were planted late in winter. Tobacco required constant care with
slaves weeding, worming, and suckering the growing plants in the field.
The slaves worked from sun up to sun down making sure the tobacco was
harvested, hung on sticks in sheds to cure, and then packed into
hogshead barrels for shipping.

**Crafts and Skills**

Most Popes Creek slaves were needed in the tobacco fields. Some tobacco
farms had a variety of talented on-site craftsmen such as coopers to
make hogshead barrels for tobacco packing and shipping.

A blacksmith, capable of repairing tools, making nails and cooking
implements, was a rare luxury on small plantations. Most metal goods had
to be imported from England or other European markets.

Some slaves learned to make and repair shoes, furniture, and dishes.

Among house servants were cooks, grooms, laundresses, seamstresses, and
housemaids.

Buying goods and services from traveling tradesmen, ships, or in town
was preferable to assigning workers tasks unrelated to producing the
cash crop or keeping food on the table.

**African Roots**

Africans were chained together for the journey to the New World. From
the time they were bought, traded for, or captured, placed in iron cuffs
in the ship's hold, and sold, they remained bound. They had no material
possessions. The people of varying African tribes brought their
cultures.

Slaves sang and danced the dances of their native lands. Drums, gourds,
and banjos are native to Africa.

African staples influenced Virginia food, such as black-eye peas, okra,
yams, and watermelon. Saffron, red pepper, and basil made southern
cooking the first unique American cuisine. Deep fat frying and one-pot
meals are traced to Africa as well.

Their fables and anecdotes, history, music, children's names, and many
of their religious beliefs came with them from their homelands
throughout Africa.

**Popes Creek Kitchen Slaves Exhibit**

Servants or slaves normally slept in the same build in which they
primarily worked. House slaves normally slept in a hallway in the
master's house, the cook slept in the kitchen, and farm workers slept in
the barn or small huts near the fields. This allowed slaves or servants
to devote the maximum amount of time to their assigned duties.

The few personal items possessed by the slaves were kept near their
pallet or bed. The quarters in the Colonial Kitchen shows a largely
barren room with an iron betty lamp and a chamber pot.

Few slaves perceived themselves as living in a "home," but instead they
merely had a place to sleep and store personal items. Most field slaves
slept on dirt floors in crude, unheated buildings with only piles of
straw for warmth.

The purchase price paid by the master for a slave and the slave's
individual skills determined their quality of life. Clothing, sleeping
space, and food were doles according to the slavery caste system
promoted by plantation owners and perpetuated among slaves.

**On Going Research**

In 1992, Mt. Vernon archeologist, Dennis Pogue, analyzed artifacts
unearthed near the Memorial House herb garden and concluded the items
were not slave related. As of today, little is known about the
plantation's slaves.

Research of larger and similar sized plantations indicate slave
communities were set away from the main house, screened from the
master's view by distance, fencing, or vegetation.

Park Rangers at George Washington Birthplace National Monument are
continually researching the history of the Washington family slaves in
hopes of erecting new exhibits that depict their lives.

Potential plans for the park include an interpretive exhibit, which
recreates a colonial plantation slave quarters to be located in the
Historic Area. The staff also hopes to design a permanent slavery
exhibit to be located inside the Visitor Center.

*Except as noted, all images courtesy George Washington Birthplace
National Monument.*