Although slavery clearly touched the lives of many white Arkansans, most slave-owners possessed only a few. on the 1860 census, the free census for 1860 should be checked, as almost 11% of African Americans were enumerated as Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2006. Durning, Dan. A Weary Land: Slavery on the Ground in Arkansas. American chattel slavery was a unique institution that emerged in the English colonies in America in the seventeenth century. Linking Freedmens Bureau Marriage Records In Arkansas, superintendents issued marriage certificates, occasionally performed the ceremonies themselves, and made regular reports to the assistant commissioner in Little Rock. . The diet was barely adequate, as the death rate of the enslaved relative to whites showed. An ancestor not shown to hold slaves on the 1860 slave census could have held slaves on an earlier census, so those films can be checked also. Documenting African Americans in the Records of Military Agencies. Arkansas County, included the following: Georgia, up 80,000 to 545,000 (17%); Texas, up 70,000 (38%); North Carolina, It is possible to locate a free person on the Arkansas County, Arkansas census for 1860 and not know whether that person was also listed as a slaveholder on the slave census, because published indexes almost always do not include the slave census. The diet of people in slavery varied from plantation to plantation but mostly consisted of pork and corn supplemented with some vegetables grown on the farm. Unfortunately, that was not the case. By law, an enslaved person was subject to all laws involving personal property. It is estimated by this transcriber that in 1860, slaveholders of 200 or more slaves, while constituting less than 1 % of the total number of U.S. slaveholders, or 1 out of 7,000 free persons, held 20-30% of the total number of slaves in the U.S. If your ancestor was a free black during that time he would be found in the general 1850 and 1860 census, instead of the slave schedules. The link on the title above will take you to a page at Amazon where you can order the manuscript. Omaha, NE: National Park Service, 2006. Howard, Rebecca A. Pulaski County saw an increase of 10,000 in the colored population in those ten years, but no other County in the State Read our Privacy Policy. PLANTATION NAMES. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. up 31,000 (8%); Florida, up 27,000 (41%); Ohio, up 26,000 (70%); Indiana, up 25,000 (127%); and Kansas up from 265 to Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2015. Online at https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1729&context=lawreview (accessed April 20, 2021). In cases where a master allowed slaves to carry arms and hunt, they added wild game and fish to their diet. Fugitives from Injustice: Freedom-Seeking Slaves in Arkansas, 18001860. Rate and review titles you borrow and share your opinions on them. Slaves 100 years of age or older were supposed to be named on the 1860 slave schedule, but there were only 1,570 slaves of document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Slavery and the Arkansas Supreme Court. University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Journal 19 (Spring 1997): 413464. Jackson Countians Value Slavery. Stream of History 53 (2020): 1223. Invariably, the earliest white settlers who moved into Arkansas brought slave property with them to work the areas rich lands, and slavery became an integral part of local life. Statutes restricted their movement, required passes to leave their home plantation, limited their rights of assembly, and prohibited their possession of firearms, clearly indicating that whites saw their property as restless and potentially dangerous. Whether or not the ancestor is found to have been a slaveholder, a viewing of the slave census will provide an informed sense of the extent of slavery in the ancestral County, particularly for those who have never viewed a slave census. Stafford, L. Scott. As the enslaved population grew, it also constituted a larger and larger portion of the total population, growing from eleven percent in 1820 to twenty-five percent by 1860. the township where the slaves were enumerated, the name of the township and the first census page on which they were Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2021. by a total of 235 slaveholders, and those slaveholders have not been included here. The enslaved played a major role in the economic growth of the territory and state. If you have a genealogy business or resource, we'd love to add you to our listings! FORMAT. Less is known about slave society and culture, although it is clear that slaves successfully created unique institutions among themselves despite the limits imposed on them. U.S. Slaves were 2d ed. Field slaves then labored at building and repairing fences, clearing land, and performing a wide variety of other plantation chores. These items are quite fragmentary and they are by no means a complete record of family life before emancipation, but they have been useful to historians and sociologists who have examined them because data about the slave family is not generally plentiful.Freedmans Bank Records More than 480,000 records of Freedmans Savings and Trust, which served thousands of former slaves between 1865 and 1874. The 1860 U.S. Census was the last U.S. census showing slaves and slaveholders. . Additional support provided by the Arkansas Community Foundation. O.?, 58 slaves, Douglas Twp., page 12, DUBOSE, Alfred B. C., 113 slaves, Old River Twp., page 22, DULIAN?, Price? L.?, 68 slaves, Old River Twp., page 23B, SHARED?, William C., 95 slaves, Douglas Twp., page 3B, SMITH, Emily, Wid., 70 slaves, Douglas Twp., page 5, SMITH, Thomas, 86 slaves, Douglas Twp., page 10, WILBOURN, Elizabeth C., 55 slaves, Polk Twp., page 26B, WILKERSON, Isaac, 50 slaves, Arkansas Twp., page 30, WILLIAMS, Joseph R., 144 slaves, Old River Twp., page 20B. The vast majority of slaves worked as field hands, usually from sunrise to sunset every day of the week except Sunday. only about one sixth more than what the colored population had been 100 years before.) The majority of those enslaved probably did not see it that way. The Law colony failed within two years, but a small number of inhabitants, including some who probably were enslaved, remained in the area for the rest of the French and Spanish territorial periods. Try using the location as an alternate keyword in the Find box and search without a location in the Near box. colored population during that time, and were therefore more likely possible places of relocation for colored persons from These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Mastering Farm and Family: David Walker as Slaveholder. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Spring 1999): 6179. The transcriber noticed no such slave on this Shafer, Robert S. White Persons Held to Racial Slavery in Antebellum Arkansas. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 44 (Summer 1985): 134155. Pierce, Michael. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Slavery and the Defining of Arkansas. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Spring 1999): 123. can be difficult because the name of a plantation may have been changed through the years and because the sizeable number A Slaves Life Online at http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/discover_history/upload/Fugitives-from-Injustice-Freedom-Seeking-Slaves-in-Arkansas.pdf (accessed February 10, 2020). Where did freed slaves go if they did not stay in Arkansas? later, the County was listed as having 17,584 whites, over a four fold increase, but the 1960 total of 5,757 "Negroes"was . Bondswomens Work on the Cotton Frontier: Wagram Plantation, Arkansas. Agricultural History 89 (Summer 2015): 388401. To see this page as it is meant to appear, please enable your Javascript! about a 10% increase. McNeilly, Donald P. The Old South Frontier: Cotton Plantations and the Formation of Arkansas Society, 18191861. These trends continued through the territorial period and up to the Civil War. These cookies do not store any personal information. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2018. African Americans in the 1870 census was obtained using Heritage Quest's CD "African-Americans in the 1870 U.S. Federal Strong Unionist sentiment delayed that action, but ultimately the outbreak of war between the United States and the Confederacy in April of 1861 turned the tide in favor of secession locally. Aaron Hurvey Aaron Hurvey, an escaped slave, is one of 5,526 recorded black soldiers who joined the Union Army in Arkansas during the Civil War. Economics of Slavery research techniques involving all obtainable records of the holder. 17,000 (6,400%). White Fear of Black Rebellion in Antebellum Arkansas, 18191865. In The Elaine Massacre and Arkansas: A Century of Atrocity and Resistance, 18191919, edited by Guy Lancaster. Craig, Robert D. Civil War Breaks the Shackles of Slavery. Stream of History 53 (2020): 2440. Prior to the Louisiana Purchase, there were few slaves in Arkansas; after 1836 though, the numbers increased as white settlement moved west from the South-East.Most slaves resided in the agricultural areas, especially the early plantations, however, there were slave owners, and hence slaves, in every county in Arkansas at one time or another prior to the Reconstruction period. Particularly in the case of these larger slaveholders, the data seems to show in general not many freed slaves in 1870 were using the surname of their 1860 slaveholder. . listed. 3,923 whites, no "free colored" and 4,921 slaves. Whatever job the enslaved performed, the owner usually attempted to extract as much labor from them as possible. The page numbers used are the rubber stamped numbers in the upper right corner of every set of two pages, with the Van Deburg, William L. The Slave Drivers of Arkansas: A New View from the Narratives. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 35 (Autumn 1976): 231245. If the surname is found, they can then view the microfilm for the details listed regarding the sex, age and color of the slaves. As the above chart indicates, every county in Arkansas, from the moment of its establishment, recorded the enslaved population in the three censuses taken following the states admission to the Union. If you have a genealogy-related site youd like people to find, please contact [emailprotected] and well list your business in our directory. Their presence contributed to the peculiar formation of local culture and society. Thanks for visiting! In the secession crisis during the winter of 18601861, following the election of President Abraham Lincoln and the secession of South Carolina, Arkansas leaders such as Congressman Thomas Hindman and Governor Henry Rector pushed for the state to leave, too. Documenting African Americans in the Records of Military Agencies In the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), there are vast quantities of records in numerous record groups (RGs) pertaining to the participation of African Americans in the military. White sources affirm that slave labor often was harsh. Bearing Witness: Memories of Arkansas Slavery: Narratives from the 1930s WPA Collections. the census was enumerated. Legal Protection for Slavery previous stamped number and a "B" being used to designate the pages without a stamped number. You are the visitor to this page. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000. One negro, Sarah one horse named Collier, one cow and one calf named Pink: Slave Records from the Arkansas River Valley. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 69 (Winter 2010): 325345. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. showed a significant increase. Colored Troops regiments during the Civil War.Freedmens Bureau Records The records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands include some unusual but valuable items marriage certificates of recently freed slaves and registers and other records containing information about slave families. Excluding slaves, the 1860 U.S. population was 27,167,529, with about 1 in 70 being a slaveholder. We showcase libraries, societies, and genealogy businesses so researchers will find these great resources and the industry will flourish. By the 1870 census, the white population of Arkansas County was almost Twenty counties were created after 1860 from parts of earlier counties; therefore, not every county existing today is shown on the chart. Orville Taylor traces the growth of slavery from John Laws colony in the early eighteenth century through the French and Spanish colonial period, territorial and statehood days to the beginning of the Civil War. Enslaved people lived in every county and in both rural and urban settings in antebellum Arkansas. Smith, Ted J. that can found at http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/ . All hands went back into the fields in August, however, when picking began and stayed there often until the end of the year. The frequent need of enslavers to resort to physical punishment to secure obedience also indicates the refusal of individuals held in slavery to be satisfied with their condition. An Arkansas Fugitive Slave Incident and Its International Repercussions. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 16 (Summer 1957): 139149. By the eighteenth century, slavery had assumed racial tones as white colonists had come to consider only Africans who had been brought to the Americas as peoples who could be enslaved. The agent at Arkadelphia, however, also recorded the color of the persons marrying, the color of their parents, the number of years they had lived with another person, the reason for the separation, and the number of children by the previous union. Many of these records have been put online by Ancestry and are provided below in their own section: Ancestry African American Databases. Arkansas Slave Narratives The Writers Unit of the Library of Congress Project processes material left over from or not needed for publication by the state Writers Projects. Some of the enslaved did not engage in field work, however. Even when such aids exist, they are fragmentary or too general to determine if the described records are pertinent to the topic of African Americans. This meant that they had no legal identity of their own, making it impossible for them to engage in contractual relations for labor, business, or even marriage. Taylor, Orville W. Negro Slavery in Arkansas. source film personally to verify or modify the information in this transcription for their own purposes. Where did all the freed slaves go? addressed in this transcription. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. precise comparison, the affect of the boundary changes should be fully calculated. Lankford, George E. Austins Secret: An Arkansas Slave at the Supreme Court. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 74 (Spring 2015): 5673. He describes the various facets of the institution including the slave trade, work and overseers, health and medical treatment, food, clothing, housing, marriage, personal morality, legal regulation and discipline, and the free black and manumission. Unfortunately, the Bureau only ended up helping tens of thousands of former slaves; however, the records it did leave are considered to be one of the finest sources available for African American research between 1865 and 1872; that time known in U.S. history as the Reconstruction Period. Walz, Robert. it is beyond the scope of this transcription. In comparing census data for different years, Thompson, George H. Slavery in the Mountains: Yell County, Arkansas, 18401860. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 39 (Spring 1980): 3552. free in 1860, with about half of those living in the southern States. But archivists ability to respond effectively to reference requests is hampered by the lack of finding aids on records of military agencies, particularly records created immediately before and after World War II. Many more probably benefited from slavery, however, as leasing the enslaved was not an uncommon practice. Freed slaves, if listed in the next census, in 1870, would have been reported with their full name, including The existence of slavery ultimately helped to determine the political course of the territory and state until the end of the Civil War and slaverys abolition in 1865 with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Through that decade, convinced that a rising Republican Party in the North threatened the future of the institution, leading Arkansas politicians joined others from the South in demanding protection of slavery and threatening a disruption of the Union if the institutions future was not guaranteed. A Rough, Saucy Set of Hands to Manage: Slave Resistance in Arkansas. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 71 (Spring 2012): 121. For the most part, the enslaved attempted to establish family life in the slave quarters even though the law prevented legal marriage. The last U.S. census slave schedules were enumerated by County in 1860 and included 393,975 named persons holding 3,950,546 unnamed slaves, or an average of about ten slaves per holder. Your email address will not be published. For more 2022 Encyclopedia of Arkansas. The largest number of enslaved were the property of the owners of large plantations in the states lowlands, particularly in the rich valley and delta lands along the states waterways. . Required fields are marked *. enumerated in 1860 without giving their names, only their sex and age and indication of any handicaps, such as deaf or blind Consequently, the Arkansas bureau records contain a relatively large quantity of marriage information. The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2018. Numerous statutes made it clear that the white community knew their slaves were human beings and could not be dealt with in the same way as livestock. All blacks were enumerated after 1870 in the general census. All Rights Reserved. Additional support provided by the Arkansas General Assembly. For more information, contact 501-918-3025 orcalsfoundation@cals.org. Estimates of the number of former slaves who used the As a percentage of the population, slave populations ranged from less than one percent (in Newton County) to over eighty percent (in Chicot County) in 1860. . surname of a former owner in 1870, vary widely and from region to region. Slaves quickly transformed the beliefs of their masters, however, into a faith emphasizing equality before God and ultimate release from slavery. Slavery made possible the rapid expansion of the cotton frontier within Arkansas, and slave labor contributed greatly to the states material wealth, adding at least $16 million to the economy each year and making Arkansas the sixth largest cotton producer in the United States by 1860. Enslaved adults with skills such as carpentry or blacksmithing could bring enormous prices, with some such slaves costing as high as $2,800. FORMER SLAVES. Slaves clothing was usually manufactured on the plantation out of coarse or low-quality cloth. Using plantation names to locate ancestors Jones, Kelly Houston. (As a side note, by 1960, 100 years Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. The term "County" is used to describe the main subdivisions of the State by which Arkansas African American Cemeteries Online, Homemakers Survey of Nevada County Arkansas Cemeteries, 1866 Treaty with Cherokee Nation Articles Pertaining to African Cherokee Citizens and Ending Slavery in the Nation, Arkansas Genealogy and Historical Societies, Old Potter Cemetery, Potter Junction, Arkansas, Old Dallas Cemetery, Old Dallas, Arkansas, Lott Burgy Cemetery (searchable database). We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2019. Arkansas County, accounting for 2,542 slaves, or 51% of the County total. West, Cane W. Learning the Land: Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in the Southern Borderlands, 15001850. PhD diss., University of South Carolina, 2019. TERMINOLOGY. About Us | Contact Us | Copyright | Report Inappropriate Material Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540, European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860, Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874, Post-Reconstruction through the Gilded Age, 1875 through 1900, Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940, World War II through the Faubus Era, 1941 through 1967, Exploracin y asentamiento europeos, 15411802, Compra de Luisiana a principios de la estabilidad, 18031860, Guerra civil a travs de la reconstruccin, 18611874, Perodo Posterior a la Reconstruccin hasta la Edad Dorada, 18751900, La segunda Guerra Mundial hasta la Era de Faubus, 19411967, http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/discover_history/upload/Fugitives-from-Injustice-Freedom-Seeking-Slaves-in-Arkansas.pdf, https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1729&context=lawreview, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood (1803 - 1860), Life in the Arkansas Territory (Grades 5-8), ARKANSAS SLAVE CENSUS COMPARED TO TOTAL POPULATION: 1840, 1850, 1860 (BY COUNTY). Plantation names were not shown on the census. Census", available through Heritage Quest at http://www.heritagequest.com/ . 1,000 acres or more, the largest size category enumerated in the census, and another 307 farms of 500-999 acres. Enslaved peoples were held involuntarily as property by slave owners who controlled their labor and freedom. Black and White on Slaverys Frontier: The Slave Experience in Arkansas. In Race and Ethnicity in Arkansas: New Perspectives, edited by John A. Kirk. No Country for Old Men: Patriarchs, Slaves, and Guerrilla War in Northwest Arkansas. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 75 (Winter 2016): 336354. 72201. The 1850 census indicated that the death rate among the enslaved in Arkansas was 1.83 per thousand, considerably lower than the overall national average of 2.13. Adventures. Manumission in the Arkansas River Valley: Three Case Histories. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 66 (Winter 2007): 422443. Following the holder list Slavery in Washington County, Arkansas, 18281860. MA thesis, University of Arkansas, 1995. However, the data should be checked for the particular surname to see the extent of the matching. Encyclopedia of Arkansas These prices were comparable to approximately $2,200, $20,000, and $61,000 in 2002 dollars. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2014. Due to variable film quality, handwriting interpretation questions and Unfortunately, this manuscript does not appear in complete form online. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. A religious life also developed within the slave community, especially variations on Protestant Christianity. An 1825 law created the slave patrol, an institution that enforced such limits across the countryside, the existence of which further indicated the contradictory character of white perceptions of their slave property. Little Rock, AR. Slavery in Independence County. Independence County Chronicle 41 (AprilJuly 2000). (function(){window['__CF$cv$params']={r:'7330a81b4dda7e38',m:'xcetOcBWZmi.WKFBDLCpnK.lOaXQyj1SJ0IagZFhq6M-1659210976-0-AcV2fqV63QlpSoBPLrmNna90IJKJosTNnT9JKbEv8kO2qVX0YTwY4da6XlR0ThIio5YNyiKd72ZRrLF2ktBaN+M2wAnIJICHW0TDYHXHQ/nVc1TdZItkolXAcZtCdbusdnauO5Js458ocS+xv0+QeVw=',s:[0x266b7523ae,0x1b04c308ae],}})(); RootsWeb is funded and supported by If an African American ancestor with one of University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Slaverys Origins in Arkansas Thanks for visiting! Heirs inherited slaves upon an owners death. Some planters allowed slaves to tend small patches of their own. PURPOSE. Deeben, John P. Defending the Legal Rights of Former Slaves: Records of the Freedmens Bureau Courts in Arkansas. Arkansas Family Historian 60 (Spring 2022): 813. Much is known about slavery from the perspective of whites, but less is known about the enslaved themselves, especially from their point of view. Despite the power of the enslaver, however, slaves proved to be very resourceful at controlling their working conditions within limits. Elisha Worthington of Chicot County was the states largest slave owner, holding more than 500 people on the eve of the Civil War. LARGEST SLAVEHOLDERS FROM 1860 SLAVE CENSUS SCHEDULES, SURNAME MATCHES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS ON 1870 CENSUS. Historians have debated whether or not slavery was profitable for the South, but in Arkansas there is no question that slave labor produced profits for some individual enslavers. Historian Orville Taylor estimated that roughly one in four white Arkansans either owned slaves or lived in families that did. Hello, I am looking for the Owners who had a large group of Slaves in Columbia and Union County, Arkansas, The person of interest was from James and John Peters who once was a slave owners in this area and the Man who came from the Plantation of Peters was Dawson Peters, he was born in 1825 in South Carolina and may have come from a different Plantation before Peters who moved from South Carolina. At this point, usually in July, crops generally did not require intensive cultivation, and field work ended. changes in County boundaries, such as the taking of part of Arkansas County in 1871 to form part of Lincoln County, have Slavery served primarily to provide labor for the states economy, and the enslaved added greatly to its development. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. A final research tool for African Americans looking for their Arkansas ancestors would be the Arkansas History Commission, which with help from the Arkansas Black History Advisory Committee collects business records, church records, diaries, journals, letters, lodge records, personal memoirs, photographs and other related documents. Chartered by Congress in early 1865 for the benefit of ex-slaves, the surviving records relating to the bank and its collapse are a rich source of documentation about the African American family. I found a copy of the book online which allows a preview of the actual written pages at Google Books: see Negro Slavery in Arkansas. This article sheds light on some of the more relevant military records which would assist researchers tracing their African American roots. . In the end, only the use of force made possible this critical labor system through the antebellum years. The patrol, upon which all adult white men served periodically, policed the countryside, punishing enslaved people who were off a farm or plantation without a pass, searching for runaways, and ensuring against slave revolts and other forms of resistance.