Table Of ContentSlavery in Small Things
Slavery in Small Things
Slavery and Modern Cultural Habits
James Walvin
Thiseditionfirstpublished2017
©2017JohnWiley&Sons,Inc.
RegisteredOffice
JohnWiley&Sons,Ltd,TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,
UK
EditorialOffices
350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148-5020,USA
9600GarsingtonRoad,Oxford,OX42DQ,UK
TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK
Fordetailsofourglobaleditorialoffices,forcustomerservices,andforinformationabout
howtoapplyforpermissiontoreusethecopyrightmaterialinthisbookpleaseseeour
websiteatwww.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.
TherightofJamesWalvintobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedin
accordancewiththeUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval
system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopying,recordingorotherwise,exceptaspermittedbytheUKCopyright,Designs
andPatentsAct1988,withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher.
Wileyalsopublishesitsbooksinavarietyofelectronicformats.Somecontentthatappears
inprintmaynotbeavailableinelectronicbooks.
Designationsusedbycompaniestodistinguishtheirproductsareoftenclaimedas
trademarks.Allbrandnamesandproductnamesusedinthisbookaretradenames,
servicemarks,trademarksorregisteredtrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.The
publisherisnotassociatedwithanyproductorvendormentionedinthisbook.
LimitofLiability/DisclaimerofWarranty:Whilethepublisherandauthorhaveusedtheir
besteffortsinpreparingthisbook,theymakenorepresentationsorwarrantieswith
respecttotheaccuracyorcompletenessofthecontentsofthisbookandspecifically
disclaimanyimpliedwarrantiesofmerchantabilityorfitnessforaparticularpurpose.Itis
soldontheunderstandingthatthepublisherisnotengagedinrenderingprofessional
servicesandneitherthepublishernortheauthorshallbeliablefordamagesarising
herefrom.Ifprofessionaladviceorotherexpertassistanceisrequired,theservicesofa
competentprofessionalshouldbesought.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataappliedfor.
9781119166207(hardback)
9781119166221(paperback)
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Coverimage:ArneThaysen/Gettyimages
Setin11.5/15.5ptMinionProbyAptaraInc.,NewDelhi,India
1 2017
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction:SlaveryinWesternLife 1
1 ASugarBowl:SugarandSlavery 11
2 CowrieShells:SlaveryandGlobalTrade 37
3 Tobacco:TheSlaveOriginsofaGlobalEpidemic 54
4 Mahogany:FashionandSlavery 82
5 StatelyHomesandMansions:TheArchitectureof
Slavery 104
6 Maps:RevealingSlavery 128
7 APortrait:PicturesinBlackandWhite 151
8 TheBrooks:SlaveShips 173
9 ABook:SlaveryandtheWorldofPrint 192
10 Chains:TheIronwareofSlavery 218
11 Cotton:SlaveryandIndustrialChange 239
Conclusion 262
Index 265
Acknowledgments
The idea for this book germinated at two places in the USA.
When I was researching the history of one particular painting
(J.M.W. Turner’s The Slave Ship) I encountered the astonish-
ing riches housed in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. At much
thesametime,IwasworkinginthecollectionsoftheColonial
WilliamsburgFoundation, Williamsburg,Virginia.Thebooks,
manuscripts, furnishings, tableware, and portraits housed in
theRockefellerLibraryandvariouslocationsaroundWilliams-
burg(andinstorage)providealavishversionoflifeincolonial
America. The longer I worked in Williamsburg, however, on
whatbecameannualvisits,thecleareritbecamethattherewasa
‘back-story’–acontext–tomanyoftheartifactsondisplay,but
onewhichoftengoesunnoticed.Somanyofthematerialobjects
deriveddirectlyorindirectlyfromtheeffortsofAfricanslaves,
or provided an entre´e into the story of the lives of enslaved
AfricansintheAmericas.Yetwhothinksofslaveswhenlooking
atabeautiful18th-centurysugarbowl,orapieceofmahogany
furniture?
This simple question applies not only to North America
but is equally relevant (and perhaps even more so) in Britain
itself.Galleries,museum,privatecollections,statelyhomes,and
palaces – all these and more boast of and display items which
belongnotmerelytothestoryofwealth,style,andfashionable
viii Acknowledgments
taste, but to the astonishing history of African slavery in the
Atlanticworld.Thelink–betweenvoguishtasteandbrutalslav-
ery – generally goes unnoticed. This simple point set me off
in search of the background. What is the connection between
AfricanslaveryintheAmericasandthedevelopmentofkeyfea-
turesofWesterntasteandstylefromthe17thcenturyonward?
Thisbooktriestoofferananswer.
Like all my earlier books, what follows has been made pos-
siblebythehelp,co-operation–andfriendship–ofpeopleon
bothsidesoftheAtlantic.AttheColonialWilliamsburgFoun-
dation James Horn proved a stout friend and supporter over
many years. He and his colleagues, notably Inge Flester and
more recently Ted Maris Wolfe, but above all the staff in the
Rockefeller Library, have always made my visits fruitful and
enjoyable.
I made an initial effort to explain my ideas at a Conference
on‘VisualizingSlaveryandBritishCultureinthe18thcentury’
at Yale University in November 2014. There, David Blight and
hiscolleaguesattheGilderLehrmanCenterprovidedtheirtra-
ditional warm welcome, and an invigorating forum for what I
said.RichardRabinowitzagainshowedthathisfriendshipdoes
notobstructhiscriticalandimaginativeapproachtothestudy
ofhistory.Overmanyyears,myworkintheUSAhasbeenmade
possible – and worthwhile – by the kindness of a number of
friends: Tolly and Ann Taylor, and Marlene and Bill Davis in
Williamsburg, Bill and Elizabeth Bernhardt in New York City,
andFredCrotonandSelmaHoloinLosAngeles.CarylPhillips,
always willing to listen and to lend invaluable support, seems
untroubled by my tendency to talk as much about football as
history.Throughthickandthin,allthesefriendshavelistened
more patiently than I have a right to expect. Above all others,
and as on so many other occasions, Jenny Walvin has lived at
Acknowledgments ix
closequarterswithmycurrentinterests,andmakeseverything
possible.
In Hull, John Oldfield and David Richardson, and Richard
HuzzeyinLiverpoolhaveprovedgreatsupporters.Mostimpor-
tantofall,PeterCoveneyatWileyacceptedtheinitialproposal
for this book, and was hugely influential in seeing it through,
though he had moved on before it appeared. The anonymous
reviewers he commissioned to read the draft manuscript pro-
videdinvaluablehelpinmakingwhatfollowsaninfinitelybet-
ter book than the one they read initially. This book was also
improved by the efforts of Fiona Screen, an exemplary copy
editor.
Foryears,KatieCampbellandMichaelDavenporthavepro-
vided a welcoming home-from-home in London. This time,
Michael did not live to see the book materialize. I would have
givenacopytohim,butnow,alas,Icanonlydedicateitfondly
tohismemory,echoinghisfavoritephrase,aswetoppeduphis
whiskyglass,‘Untout,toutpetitpeu.’
JamesWalvin
March2016
Introduction
Slavery in Western Life
Our understanding of slavery has been totally transformed in
the past fifty years. Between 1960 and 1964 I studied history
asaBritishundergraduate.OrratherIstudiedBritishpolitical
history.Istillhaveallmyundergraduatenotesandessays,and
looking through them, and thinking about what I was taught
(and on the whole taught well), I am now struck by how curi-
ouslyinsular–how‘British’(Englisheven)–werethehistorical
issuesonoffer.Whathasbecomemymajorhistoricalpreoccu-
pation – slavery – was not even mentioned. In lectures, tuto-
rials,seminars,andessays,Icanrecallnomentionwhatsoever
aboutslavery–notone.ThebookofdocumentsusedforaSpe-
cial Subject on the American Revolution mentions slavery on
a mere 19 of the 368 pages, and even then largely in passing.1
It was of course a very long time ago, and historical interests,
trends–fadseven–havechangedsubstantially:somehavesim-
ply come and mercifully gone. In large measure the curricu-
lum we studied was a reflection of how our teachers perceived
and presented the subject, and what they thought suitable for
undergraduatestudy.Atthetimeslaverywasonlyoneofmany
topics which effectively did not exist in British undergraduate
studies but which, today, are in great demand. The absence of
SlaveryinSmallThings:SlaveryandModernCulturalHabits,FirstEdition.JamesWalvin.
©2017JohnWiley&Sons,Inc.Published2017byJohnWiley&Sons,Inc.
2 Introduction
slavery, in common with other areas of history, was partly a
reflection of prevailing knowledge (or lack of it) and the
consequent paucity of appropriate literature. There were no
obvious books or studies of British slavery that would have
provided students with the necessary materials. Equally, the
teaching staff were interested in other historical problems for
theirownresearchcareers.Socialhistory,forexamplehadonly
beguntomakeitsfirsttransformativeimpactinBritain.Itwas
hardly surprising, then, that slavery did not even register as a
noiseoff-stage.
Today, fifty years later, if any history department were not
offering courses on slavery this would be viewed as seriously
remiss, and undergraduates and graduate students turn to the
history of slavery because of its inherent interest and because
oftheintellectuallyexcitingprospectsavailable.Slaveryisnow
accepted as a defining historical element in the shaping of the
Western world in the post-Columbus period, its importance
amply confirmed by a massive (and growing) accumulation of
research evidence from all corners of historical enquiry. Even
science (in the form of DNA) now lends itself to the study of
slavery.
The story of the study and teaching of slavery in the USA
in the sameperiod has taken a very different trajectory. More-
over,whathappenedtherewastohavemajorconsequencesfor
thestudyofslaveryinBritain(andtheCaribbean).IntheUSA,
slaveryhasanimmediatepresenceandapowerfulhistoricalres-
onance, and naturally enough there has been a long, imagina-
tive, and often fiercely contested historiography of slavery. For
decades,argumentsaboutslaveryspawneddistinctandsharply
dividedschoolsofhistorians.TheslaveSouthhaditsscholarly
defenders,andtheirinfluencespreadfarbeyondacademe.They
gave intellectual sustenance to the world of segregated US life
and politics, and even helped to shape a romanticized view of
Introduction 3
theSouththatpermeatedpopularculture.Butallthatbeganto
sag,andeventuallycollapse,inthelate20thcentury,underthe
sheerweightofscholarshipintothesocialhistoryofslavery.By
theturnofthecentury,ithadbecomeindisputablethatslavery
in the USA was not simply an interesting, regional issue – not
solelyamatterfortheSouth,withconsequencesfortheNorth.
On the contrary, slavery was exposed as a central institution
in the development of the modern USA.2 Indeed, the modern
American state came into being in 1787 arguing about slavery.
Inevitably,debatescontinueamonghistorians,butthedayshave
gone when slavery could be regarded as a peripheral, largely
Southernissue.Whathashappened,inthespaceofanacademic
lifetime,isthatthestudyofslaveryhasshiftedfromthemargins
tooccupyapivotalpositioninUShistoricalconcerns(withall
thepoliticalandculturalconsequencesthatfollow).
While Americans have for decades wrestled with the ques-
tionofslaverythroughouttheirhistory,theBritish,ontheother
hand, suffered a prolonged bout of forgetfulness about their
ownentanglementwithslavery,andonlyrecentlyseemtohave
emergedfromthishistoricalamnesia.Atfirstsight,thisforget-
fulness about slavery (which lasted effectively until the 1960s)
seemsveryoddindeed,thoughwhatunderpinneditnowseems
clear enough. Most significant perhaps, and unlike the North
American version, British slavery was not a domestic matter.
Whereas in 1860 the USA was home to four million people of
African descent – all of them slaves or freed slaves – Britain’s
slave population had evolved thousands of miles away from
Britain itself. There had been, it is true, a small black presence
in Britainfor centuries, and slavery itself had existed, however
small-scaleandmarginal,despitevariouslegalchallenges,right
uptofullemancipationin1833.
Yet the British, despite having no substantial slave popu-
lation at home, had been responsible for scattering millions
