Essay 3

Since olden times, the narrative of Blacks at sea has been tightly strung on the cusp of slavery. Yet has the narrative been true? I believe it to be and according to historian Jeffery Bolster’s Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail, men of descent from the African and Latin American states have been encapsulated in the narrative. These men had sailed the Atlantic Ocean from the times that many Europeans just began to travel to Africa and the New World. Hence were African Americans different from Africans and African Latinos that were discussed in Thornton and in McKnight and Garafalo books? Yes, but the emphasis of this paper is to discuss men of African descent, which were “creole” sailors of the golden age of piracy, which would strengthen the seafaring bonds of many future African American men of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century. And the new African American sailor or seaman would establish the driving force of freedom for all men and their families, thus the growth and stability of a new nation would begin with the help of the sailor of African descent.
In Jeffery Bolster’s book, he makes the case that African American sailors and seamen should be perceived as Americans first, African "creoles" second. During the golden age of piracy, many men from different countries who wanted to live by their own rules became privateers of merchant vessels. As the treatment of seamen was often cruel and not always certain of a trip back home then these privateers became freedom-fighting pirates. Most pirates lived up to the merciless reputation that was placed upon them. Most would steal and fight for a pirate booty of pieces of eight from the wealthy Spanish Armada, but their system of order or codes had developed into a democratic vote amongst the entire crew of the ship. African and European sailors of the Americas are portrayed in Bolster’s book working “ ‘In honest service quipped Captain Bartholomew Roberts, ‘there is thin Commons, low wages, and hard labor; in this Plenty and Saiety, Pleasure and Ease, Liberty and Power’ “(14). Sailors from Coastal Africa had knowledge of how to work a sailing vessel or smaller sailing craft; so many African men were kidnapped and enslaved by others. Pirates that marauded the Caribbean or Latin America could treat these talented seamen with unkindness, yet it would behoove the captain of a pirate ship, like Black Bart or Bartholomew Roberts, to have an unworkable crew. How could they raid another ship or island for the wealth of its contents? Thus to keep the civility of the ship and gain a pirate booty, in effect, all of the crew had the freedom to choose which task they would complete and they would all vote upon it. The vote of the crew was an amazing concept. This vote of a common man was not permitted in the society of the age, because an official vote had to be made by a gentleman whom was a property owner too. Thus Jeffrey Bolster’s argument of African American “Americanism” is the perception of liberty, as a vote on a pirate ship was the first displayed, repeated behavior of men of African descent. The men of African descent had a strong sense of the sea as a second home. Recall that many tribesmen thought of the spiritual world of the land but the sea- the Kalunga line. The Kalunga line was an invisible line of the distance of one’s soul could travel. Now the sea gave these men of African descent a broader world to discover. New possibilities had became accessed. The possibilities became new power for the men of African descent. No longer the voice unheard. Men like Olaudah Equiano, grew strong from the belly of a sailing vessel. But these new Black Jacks would be the voice crying out in the wilderness to the lost.

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essay 2

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, dedication to traditions of scholarship and literary production has ensured that knowledge of the past has survived for hundreds of years. Historian John Thornton argued for Africa’s reputation as self-sufficient, fervent bands of tribes that were keen as free countries or states, who were able to maintain an autonomous financial system, armed services and ethos. These African tribes had no real need to make contact with any European countries. Any relations between the Europeans was an act of charity exhibited by the African leaders and landlords (proprietors). And in the event of war, “judicial enslavement was one way of obtaining slaves, and judges… Jesuit observers believed that this was a common in Ndongo as early as 1600”(Thornton, 99). HThis leads to a very concise question: were Thornton’s views factual of the entire continent of Africa and Africans? In comparison to Thornton’s research, a historical investigation by Garafola and McKnight, was conducted as case studies in their book, Afro-Latino Voices. Their book analyzed sources of investigation of human enslavement of African and Latin American peoples. Garafola and McKnight reviewed and made accesible the letters of an infameous African queen- Nzinga (Dona Ana de Souza), Queen of Ndongo, in their book, Afro-Latino Voices.
According to Garafola and McKnight, the Portugese would establish several settlements, forts and trading post along the coastal strip of Africa. For example, on the island of Mozanbique, the Portugese had created a permenant settlement; as a result, they built the Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte by the date of 1522. The chapel was built upon the labour of slaves. “Africans responded to the increased demand over the centuries by providing slaves…slavery was wide spread in Africa, and its growth and development were largely independent of the Atlantic trade” (Thornton, 74). Thus Thorton argues that slavery had internal interactions ingrained in the hierarchies of African tribal societies. Directly, trade caused extended slavery and was changed in the large quantity of people becoming enslaved. In agreement, “if it did not take place, might just as been the result of economic growth in Africa, perhaps stimulated by commericial opportunity from overseas, perhaps growing in domestic economy” (Thornton, 91). Considering the associations between Portugese and Africans, as obtained in the case of Queen Nzinga Dona Ana de Souza, a rather self-sustaining African state of tribes is mobilizing away from the Portugese traders and settlers. “African legal systems did ensure security of tenure for petty cultivators”(Thornton, 84). Similar to the sharecroppers of North America, trade between African and Portugese permitted farmers to progress into a form of private labor ownership but not land. This concept of slavery as a humanized investment was equalivalent to landownership in Europe. As noted in Queen Nzinga letters, the kingdom of Ndongo was under constant attack from both the Portugese as well as neighboring agressors. Queen Nzinga realized that, to remain a viable African royal, Ndongo had to reposition itself as an intermediary rather than as a supply zone in the Atlantic slave trade (Thornton, 96-98). In order to achieve this success, she rallied Portugal with Ndogno, in chorus, by acquiring a partner in its fight against its mutual enemies and ended Portugese slave raiding in the Ndongo Kingdom. At Queen Nzigna’s baptism, with the Portugese governor serving as godfather, selaed the the relationship between the two countries. But according to Queen Nzinga’s letters, by 1626, the Portugese would force the Queen out of her government and flee to the state named Matamba, well beyond the reach of any Portugese. Queen Nzinga offersed sabctuary to run-away slaves. To boost the morale of her armed services she adopted a form of military discipline called Kilombo, in which youths renounce family ties and were raised communally in militias. Queen Nzinga, served as governor to Luanda, and created political relationships with allies in the Netherlands. These friendships proved useful as their combined forces were not imsufficient in creating a commericial state that could deal with the Portugese colony on equal footing. According to Garafola nad McKnight, the 1633 trade negoitations, Queen Nzinga offered slaves as a peace offering of future trade between Portugal and Luanda-Matamba. In her letter she states,” accept them as my offering to mollify Your Lordship” (McKnight and Garafola, 51-52). From this point on, Queen Nzinga focused on developing Matamba as a trading power by capitalizing on its position as the gateway to the Central African interior.