Slavery has it roots in the earliest days of the colonial history of Virginia. Slavery was first introduced into the colony in 1619, when a captured slave ship arrived at Jamestown that “brought not any thing but 20. and odd Negroes”. The slaves dropped off at Jamestown came from Angola. African slavery in this first introduction into Virginia, was not yet an established institution. At this point and on up to about the fourth quarter of the 17th century, indentured servitude was the primary labor source in Virginia.
Indentured servants would be brought over having their passage paid for by plantation owners and would in turn usually serve a term of four to seven years in return for having their passage paid for. They would work for their master performing all sorts of work, including blacksmithing, building, farm labor, domestic housework and numerous other skilled work. In turn, masters would provide room and board and clothing for the term of service. Indentured servitude at times could be just as harsh as race-based slavery, but it was not the same. There was an end in sight. At the end of the term of service, indentured servants would be free to attempt to establish themselves by acquiring land and “making a go of it”. Sometimes, if a servant was lucky, their master would provide them with a small acreage of land that they could start themselves off with.
An interesting story is that of Anthony Johnson. He first arrived in Virginia in 1621, listed in documents as “Antonio a negro”, to work on a tobacco plantation. It is unclear if he was brought to Virginia as an indentured servant or a slave, but after several years of service, he obtained his freedom and had married a woman named Mary on the plantation he served at. He and Mary would go on to have four children and own 250 acres of land in Northampton County, on Virginia’s eastern shore, raising livestock. It was an uncommon occurrence for an ex-servant or slave, even among white former indentured servants, to go on to own their own land. Anthony and Mary would sell their land in 1665 and move to Maryland and lease a 300 acre tract of land. Anthony died in 1670 in Maryland. Though he became a private landowner, in the case of Anthony, race reared it’s ugly head. A court back in Virginia, in the year of Anthony’s death, ruled that because “he was a Negro and by consequence an alien,” the land owned by him in Virginia belonged to the Crown.
Anthony’s story was an exception. Most former indentured servants did not go on to prosper as Anthony did. Though slavery was not the primary source of labor in the early days of the colony, it was used. Later in the fourth quarter of the 17th century, there began a shift from indentured servitude being the primary labor source to slavery. Indentured servitude, though harsh, ended with the promise of freedom. Though indentured servitude did not end, the flow of indentured servants from England began to slow, which allowed for the growth of slavery in Virginia. A shift in economy and society in Virginia also caused this shift. Bacon’s Rebellion, a number of prominent historians have noted, according to Encylopedia Virginia, “was, in part, the result of discontent among former servants. By harnessing that discontent and, in the name of racial solidarity, pointing it in the direction of enslaved Africans, white elites could create a more stable workforce and one that was less likely to threaten their own interests. Other historians have observed that the flow of English servants began to dry up beginning in the 1660s and fell off dramatically around 1680, forcing planters to rely more heavily on slaves. Slavery did not end indentured servitude, in other words; the end of servitude gave rise to slavery.” In 1705, Virginia enacted a series of laws known as the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 (formerly An act concerning Servants and Slaves). These codes solidified slavery in Virginia and served as the foundation of Virginia’s slave legislation. For more on these codes visit Encyclopedia Virginia, “An act concerning Servants and Slaves” (1705) – Encyclopedia Virginia.
Chattel slavery was the main type of slavery used in the colonies, and later United States. This system was characterized by the treatment of enslaved persons as property, being stripped of their basic human rights, and exploited for their labor. The enslaved were bought, sold, and owned like any other piece of property.
Slavery was a restriction on the ways of life, what one could and could not do and when, who a slave could marry and who they could not marry. It was a harsh institution that worked millions of human beings to a point past exhaustion. In slavery, the condition of children followed that of the mother. If children were born of an enslaved woman, her children were enslaved. Likewise, if children were born of a free black woman, those children were free.
Enslaved people were expected to work in their jobs, whether they were in the fields or in domestic capacities, from sun-up until sun-down. Sometimes, if the moon was full, enslaved people would be required to work in the fields by moon light. Enslavers and overseers of the enslaved labor force were often harsh, and could mete out harsh forms of punishment, even for the slightest of infractions.
The enslaved were expected to work year-round. Some would have time off on Sundays as it was a day of required religious attendance. Early on in Virginia, the enslaved were allowed to gather with other enslaved people and have their own worship services with religious leaders who were themselves enslaved. Some enslaved people on the other hand were made to go to religious services with their white enslavers. In the churches of colonial Virginia, if there were balconies, the enslaved were seated there; if not, they were made to stand in the back during the service. But after events such as Gabriel’s Rebellion and Nat Turner’s Rebellion, enslaved people were further restricted from assembling and having religious gatherings performed by their own preachers; they would have to get religious instruction from white pastors.
The enslaved usually would get a couple or a few days off during Christmas, but not always. Some slave owners did not like to give their enslaved people time off during the holidays because they worried that it would give them a chance to try to escape. Others, such as the household enslaved people and cooks, would likely not have time off during the holidays as they would have to wait on their white enslavers and guests who may be visiting for the holidays.
Enslaved people were clothed and fed. Clothing though was often not comfortable and weather appropriate. Rations given to the enslaved were not sufficient enough of a diet for the work they were expected to perform. In some cases, slave owners would allow enslaved people to use a small plot of land to plant and tend their own gardens to supplement their diets. They would tend to their gardens after long, hard days of work and on Sundays in their leisure time. At Christmas time, sometimes owners would give their enslaved people extra rations.
Sometimes the enslaved would receive gifts during the holidays. At Christmas, enslaved women were usually given a length of low-quality cloth called osnaburg, a rough, course cloth, with which they would make clothing for men, women, and children. Children, a piece of fruit such as an orange. Enslaved men would sometimes be gifted alcohol. Household enslaved people could be tipped by visitors and guests who were waited on by them, but these occurrences were rare.
Enslaved people would use their leisure time to tend to their personal gardens, socialize, play games, play music and dance. Sometimes the enslaved could get passes to go to market and sell some of what they grew in their gardens and any other items such as chickens, eggs, and any other items they produced on their own time. In a few instances, the owners would even purchase items from their enslaved peoples such as fruit or vegetables from their gardens or eggs from their poultry.
The Kennon family of Old Brick House were not known for having kept diaries or journals, and because of official documents lost at the end of the Civil War when Richmond burned, records of slavery at Old Brick House are few and far between. But what information is available, paints something of a picture of the role slavery played at Old Brick House and Conjurer’s Neck.
References
Morgan, Edmund S. Virginians at Home: Family Life in the Eighteenth Century. Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1952.