By Spessard Stone
Historians in Florida in recent years have provided a new insight into the state's past, but missing has been a
comprehensive study of slavery Dr. Larry E. Rivers, professor of history at Florida A&M, has now redressed that omission with
Slavery In Florida Territorial Days To Emancipation.Rivers commences with an overlay of the Spanish, who ruled Florida for nearly three hundred years until acquired by the United States in 1821. He relates that Spanish laws and customs, while discriminatory, were racially more tolerant, and provided a more humane slavery than that in contemporary English colonies or the later Old South. The manpower shortage led Spanish officials to utilize slaves in the militia. Florida became a refuge for escaped slaves from Georgia and South Carolina. Joining their Indian allies, many served under the British in the War of 1812 and the Patriot War, but were dispersed after defeats in 1816-18.
Antebellum Florida was delineated by its division into three diverse regions, West Florida, Middle Florida, and East Florida. Influenced by the Spanish legacy, East and West Florida reflected a less onerous bondage. Middle Florida, consisting of Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, and Madison counties, was the planter region, the "black belt," where the majority of slaves lived and worked under a bondage closer to the patterns of other Southern states.
Rivers meticulously examines the slave society and culture, including work, family, religion, material conditions, physical treatment, social interaction, and slave resistance. While most slaves were employed as agricultural laborers, there were various other occupations, some skilled, all of which are described.
Especially instructive is an examination into slave families, in which Rivers establishes kinship ties from numerous nineteenth century records. He affirms that bondsmen surmounted great odds to maintain family life in coresidential or coresidential consensual unions, which they viewed as marriages. When given the opportunity to legalize their unions after the Civil War, thousands chose to do so.
Bondsmen found spiritual refuge in their religious beliefs, which combined Christian and African practices, which included spirited singing, drum beating, exhortations, and shouting, which often alarmed the more sedate white parishioners. African Americans generally found the Baptist and Methodist churches more amendable to them. Many, however, continued to give greater adherence to their African ways.
All-inclusive, Rivers acquaints us with the bondsmen's free time, which was utilized often with private gardens and recreation in various forms, including music, dance, and storytelling.
Further presented is the unique history of the Black Seminoles, the maroons who became vassals/allies of the Seminoles, with whom they fought in wars against the United States, including the Second Seminole War. Rivers informs us the latter war was initiated by Abraham, the black sensebearer to Micanopy, and was "a negro and not an Indian war," arguably the largest slave uprising in North America, which ended with the exile of most Black Seminoles to the west.
Recounted are the numerous ways bond servants resisted slavery from passive, e.g., poor work performance
and feigning illness, to active resistance, e.g., running away.
Finally, the role of slaves during the Civil War is chronicled and final emancipation.
I highly recommend Slavery In Florida, which provides a much needed history of not only the lives and times
of slaves in Florida, but also recognizes their courage and achievements.
Slavery In Florida contains 386 pages, 47 photos/illustrations, 3 maps, notes, bibliography, and index.
Using VISA or MasterCard, it can be ordered by calling 1-800-226-3822. The purchase price is $29.95, plus
applicable sales tax and $3.75 postage and handling. Order by mail at: University Press of Florida, 15 NW
15th Street, Gainesville, FL 32611-2079.
This review was originally published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of October 19, 2000.
Dr. Rivers is now (2006) president of Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, Georgia.