Transcripts For CSPAN3 Race Gender And Government 20240713

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government, the arrival of the first enslaved africans, the experiences of women, and the enslavement of native americans. northern virginia community college and the office of historic alexandria cohosted this event. welcome. in case you are wondering about cameras, c-span is covering this tonight for us. it will be broadcast may be a week from now. year, we hold a lecture series in memory of a colleague who passed away a few years ago. joseph winthrop, a dedicated and compassionate professor and social activist. and thees over there, woman who was married to him for many years is sitting here -- marilyn, glad to have you with us. panell complete this tomorrow at the alexandria campus, because we are all professors at the alexandria northern virginia community college. alexandra is a treat for history. and it is a treat to have these professors in a setting like the lyceum. we can rub shoulders with the ghost of the past. yearht's topic is the 1619, a turning point not only for jamestown but for the history of america. events inrrelated 6019 leave an imprint on us today. the first event of 1619 that helped to shape the present was that the first european style legislature convened at jamestown in 1619. body,this year, that started in 1619, continues to be the virginia assembly, 400 years past its starting date. there was a cartoon a few years ago in a comic strip where two cavemen are leaning leisurely against a rock, and one of the other, says to the "can you stand the thought of future generations having it this good?" and the other cavemen says, " no." and the first one says, "good -- let's start. a government" [laughter] in 1619.e occurred the virginia assembly met for the first time august 2 in 1619. in attendance were more than 20 members of the house of burgesses and six members of the virginia council. the burgesses were elected to represent the four plantations virginia had and divided into, and the counselors were appointed, serving at the mercy of the king and the governor. the delegates tackled some of the greatest issues confronting jamestown in 1619, as we know congress does today. they passed a law against what was termed "an excess in apparel." because people apparently were dressing too lavishly in jamestown. they outlawed idlers, drunkenness, "gaming at dice or cards," and another law prevented the sell of dogs of the english race. many did not know that dogs had their own race. but you cannot sell those to the indians in 1619 and afterwards. having once and for all eliminated gambling, idleness, and duncan this in the commonwealth of virginia, so we could enjoy not having those things here today, they next turned to enacting something that had long-term consequences for their time and four hours. they enacted laws enforcing the legality of indentured servitude. toewhere between one half three fourths of all the immigrants who came to the colonies south of new england came in one form or another of servitude, indentured servitude. contracts,y made signed in england, binding in america. it made laws that prohibited someone from buying or stealing somebody else's indentured servants. and it made it a crime for indentured servants to run away before their term was over. the way this process worked was, if you were poor -- and most of the people who came to virginia after 6019 certainly work -- about the only way you could find your way to america was to sell yourself into a state of temporary slavery, indentured servitude. you signed the contract in england. the holder of the contract, maybe a ship captain or emergent, transported you across the atlantic,. the costs for your transportation, then once in america, you are placed on the auction block and your contract was sold. your contract specified you would work doing whatever labor the owner of your contract required for a period of four years to seven years. that set the stage for much that was to happen in virginia afterwards even for your own day. the legislature made a big mistake that congress and the court and the president do not make today in that they held their session in august. those of us who live in the washington area know this is not a good time to do anything. congress leaves in mid july and does not come back until after labor day. the court leaves earlier than that and comes back in october. the president -- he goes wherever he wants to, whenever he wants to, but usually not in washington. only lasted a few days until they realized it was too hot -- they convened and went home. the second event that was a turning point that occurred in 1619 was the arrival in virginia of the first people from africa. though these africans were at first indentured servants and were expected to serve their masters for only a short period of time, like their white colleagues, this evolved into perpetual and hereditary slavery over time. the third event was the arrival at jamestown of a cargo of women, sent by the virginia company to the wives for the settlers here. for were sold into marriage 120 pounds of tobacco each. signalre arrival was a -- that the english settlement in the new world would not be like a moon landing, where astronauts go there, land, pick up some rocks, and go home. the fact that women were sent here to the wives was an indication that jamestown, and virginia, were here to stay. we have three presentations this evening that center around this 1619.ar of 6019 -- on my far-right is dr. nick gaffney, the associate dean for social sciences at the alexandria campus. and to his left is dr. lynette garrett, a professor of history on our campus. my name is jim mcclellan, the dean of the bull arts and have been a historian of the college now for it -- this is my 45th year. so would like to bring nick up now. he is going to talk about the african-american experience after 1619. nick? dr. gaffney: good evening and thank you so much for coming tonight. we are happy to be here to share stories with you tonight about 1619. my brief talk will be titled slavery, and becoming of the african-american experience." ship and, portuguese forcibly loaded 350 men and women aboard their vessel off the coast of africa. these 350 souls were bound for westernent on the europe naval global economy. destined to endure a new manifestation of an ancient institution by -- that the french aided itself by making enslavement a -- would be reduced to economic inputs in a growing agricultural economy. their humanity and the recognition of their ability to feel pain and sorrow and anguish will be erased as their owners would use violent labor to maximize their productive capacity. souls captured and trapped found themselves in this predicament as a consequent of warfare within west africa's coastal city states. the portuguese had been involved in the west african slave trade since a decade before columbus made his 1490 two atlantic crossing. initially, the portuguese had transported small numbers of west africans on islands they claimed off the northwest coast of africa. in the wake of columbus' discovery and the realization that the americas were viable for large-scale agricultural reduction, the body of enslavement room. the portuguese worked -- with the goal of buying to power newwar world plantations. entered thes aboard of war.ate as captors while on route to a port and mexico, the boat was intercepted and plundered by two dutch pirate ships and was relieved of its enslaved cargo. on august 25th, 1619, the same ofth as the virginia house burgesses met for the first time, the white lion docked and men and womendd for the resources needed to make the trip across the atlantic ocean. while there were already residents in james dimon of african dissent, the exchange of these prisoners of war on the 20 for the of august marks the origin point of african-american history. it marks the birth of a social experience even by the quest for freedom, self-determination, and the search for justice. their experiences in early virginia laid the person -- curateavers that would the quest for freedom. many ways, the social justice theme of african-american history is rooted in the unique circumstances of the first african residents of jamestown. their story, between 1619 and 1700 and virginia was shaped by the rozen of access to freedom and self-determination. while they left the angolan coastline as portuguese cattle into a they entered state where white men and woman passageheir labor for across the atlantic. lifelong cattle slavery was not within the constitution of the colony law at this point. while the exact legal conditions remain cloudy in the historical records, most historians believe that these portuguese slaves transitioned into servitude when they arrived in the colony and existed in an arrangement similar to their white counterparts in the colony. the experience of indentured servitude was just as horrible as chattel slavery. one could argue that there was no meaningful distinction for people who lived through the experience. indentured servants could be bought and sold at will, had no legal rights, their contract holders were given the legal right to beat servants. female servants often found themselves victims of sexual assaults. the lifespan of an indentured servant was five to seven years of -- the important point is there appears to be and a among of racial parity all bonded servants in virginia. there are examples of some africans coming out of servitude , successfully acquiring their own plantations and servants at the end of their contracts. some were allowed to use the court system and a vote. as was the case of anthony and mary johnson. anthony johnson was among the first angolans to come to the colony, was able to gain freedom, married mary johnson, and acquired their own 250 acre tobacco plants by the 16 40's. they held their own servants, african and european. their sons were able to acquire plantations of their own. and they successfully used the legal system in filing lawsuits against their neighbors over land encroachment issues. so the expanse of the johnsons shows there was a notion of parity in jamestown that transcended a racialized difference. but the experience will soon begin to change as the colony begins to grow in its history. historians begin to talk about -- the idea that slavery was not a naturally occurring institution but began to manifest itself and grow as the colony developed into the year 1700. between 1620 and 1680, we will see slavery gradually emerged as a legally defined institution with distinctions between european and african slavers and -- laborers and workers. in 16 42, the senses began to record african citizens as objects. so you might find a european indentured servant identified by name, but you may find an african indentured servant under the property category. the laws continued to make distinctions between european and african workers. in the 16 40's, the legislature passed a law that prevented africans from owning firearms and from being able to access the opportunity to vote, which was afforded to landowners. in 1662, the virginia legislature passed a law that stated all children born in this country should be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother. with this law, we see the condition of servitude becoming an inheritable trait, which is a unique marker of chattel slavery . the condition of servitude, the contract, becomes passed from mother to child. 64, virginia passed a law stating that european women bearing african men had to serve their husband's masters for the duration of their husband's lives. uniquely in virginia, there was significant interregional -- interracial mingling. they worked together side-by-side. thatgin to break tradition, assigning the condition of servitude of a european woman marrying an then drive itth european woman's children into servitude as well. virginia with then pass a law converting to christianity would not -- savef the ways to themselves from slavery was to be baptized as a christian. so we see, within the context of the laws being passed by the house of burgesses, a growing distinction that began to racialized virginias labor force and create different standards for european and african workers. but the one thing that really drives the shift in slavery getting its emergence from the colony was bacon's rebellion that occurs in 1676. it helped to accelerate virginias shift to a slaveholding colony as opposed to a colony that had multiple types of labor systems operating. in 1676, virginia, as a colony, was facing tension and strife. the population had grown substantially. life expectancies were increasing. people will -- were living longer, which put a strain on resources. they were running out of access to land. a relatively recent migrant, nathaniel bacon, wanting to come and establish his own tobacco plantation, was only able to find land in the very western periphery of the colony, a land that was challenged by native american communities, which were actively trying to fight their land being taken away. william baker, the --ernor, and requested governor berkley rejected the offer. he wanted to maintain relatively harmonious relationships with native americans, which was good and prosperous for virginia's economy. not prosperous for all, but within his inner circle. governor berkley was often accused of having a corrupt government in which he afforded his inner circle the best land and opportunities. those coming out of the server to contract on the western periphery were left in this situation of economic strife. nathaniel bacon, upset with the governor, chose to raise his own army of indentured servants, poor white settlers, some africans, and began to lead a march on jamestown, ultimately burning the calling to the governord forcing baker to flee to massachusetts. exile,vernor berkley in nathaniel bacon extolled himself as the governor and would usher in reforms i would open access and opportunity to the disaffected white servants in the colony. ofortunately, in october 1676, nathaniel bacon passed away. when he passed away, the rebellion quickly began to dissolve. the thousand troops from england showed up to a certain order. as an event, it was not successful in transforming the colony of virginia in a significant way -- with one caveat. by virginiasarned leaders in the aftermath was one tied to concern over the idea of a possible civil war among virginia's white population. one that the ruling elites actively wanted to avoid. as a way to stave off the possibility and threat of a civil war war among the white population among the disaffected war of virginia, they decided to phase out indentured servitude. they began to ease class tension by reshaping the experience of the poor white population within the colony. --doing so, while still the being able to satiate the growing demand for labor on these tobacco plantations, they began to make the shift and pivot to using african slave labor exclusively. by the time we get to 1676, we see the abatis -- impetus and the immersion of racial slavery within virginia, which will expand to the entire colonial framework in the united states. there were two core things that began to shape their decision to prevent to using racial slavery. west was to use the enlightenment circling through the new-year-old -- new world. there was a growing discourse for the natural rights of men, the fact that all men were entitled to their life and the labor and their freedom. this began to shape the idea that the white population in virginia was entitled to the same things. for the african population, outside the scope of the idea of the natural rights of men, they were eligible for enslavement. those ideas were largely bound by christianity. men were entitled to natural rights if they were members of the christian faith. the conceptutside of christianity, you are eligible for enslavement. the other major factor that virginiashape and form as a way to establish a labor force was the changing cost structure, the economic dimension to this decision. by the end of the 1600s, the infrastructure of the transatlantic slave trade had grown substantially. while the century begins to emerge with just the portuguese being the major players, over the course of the century, they are joined by the portuguese, the dutch, the french, the english. the more players involved in the slave trade, the increased competition -- it all began to drive down the cost of enslaved african bodies. the infrastructure on the west african coastline began to grow substantially, from the first slave trading house established by the portuguese to hundreds of slave trading castles by the time you get to the year 1700. by the time we get to 1700, the cost structure had largely changed. it became less expensive to invest in enslaved african labor as opposed to indentured servitude. the other factor driving this is that the life expectancy of enslaved africans were increasing. in the 16 20's, a worker could expect to be alive four to seven years, about the length of a contract. by the six teen 80's, the life expectancy increased, and you could inspect to be alive about 20 years as a laborer. that dynamic, having an enslaved person for life was enough of an impetus to change the cross -- cost structure. in many ways, the shift to racial slavery and its use in virginia from the 16 80's and beyond began to usher in this major period in african-american history in which you find an enslaved population constantly and aling for freedom history that is largely shaped by the quest for social justice. there is an effort to remember the experience of the first africans and how opportunities for self-determination were eroded as the major organizing source. thank you. [applause] dr. garrett: hello and good evening. i have the honor tonight of talking about the women who came to jamestown. so i wanted to start off by first talking about the virginia company. because the virginia company, they will be the ones responsible for bringing these women to the jamestown colony. the reason that they did this -- the reason that they came up with this idea to bring women into the colony was they wanted to make the settlement more self-sufficient. what had been happening, the men who came to jamestown were coming because they simply wanted to make a profit. they would stay for a very short amount of time, maybe three or four years, and then they would return to england. and the company wanted to make the virginia colony a success, and they realized that, in order for that to happen, that men, in some way, had to be tied to the virginia colony. they believed one way thesetheyn could be tied to the virginia colony was if they had wives and children. so the individual who was really responsible for coming up with this plan, to bring women to the colony, was the virginia company man by the name of sir edwin sandy's. i have a direct quote from him i would like to read to you. it is very short. huntress might be scent of women, maids young and uncorrupted, to make wives of the inhabitants. and by that means, to make the men they are more settled and less movable. who, by the defect, thereof, stay there but to get something and then return for england, which will breed a disillusion and an overthrow of the plantation." of sir was in the mind edwin sandy's. bring these women to the virginia colony so that these men would not even consider abandoning settlements. and we know that is exactly what the virginia company decided to do. i would also mention the virginia assembly, which we have already mentioned before, in 1619 were also on board with bringing women over to the virginia colony. and a direct quote from the virginia assembly from 1619 said , in a new plantation, it is not known whether man or woman the more necessary. that there are going to be a total of 140 seven women that are going to be sent to the virginia colony. came betweenwomen the years 1620 and 1622. we do not know a lot about the first 90 women that came, however, but we know quite a bit about the 57 women who were -- and 1622. 1621 and we know that information from the virginia colony itself. -- i am sorry, the virginia company itself. the company gave a specific tractions about how these women were to be lodged. they were to be housed, lodged, and provided for with diet until they be married. they also stipulated that these women should be housed with families. so in no way should they be living in the home of a single male or a single individual. the reputation should be above reproach. the virginia company made that very clear. they also believed that women should marry respectable men. so the virginia company did not want these women, who came over to the virginia colony, to marry laboring men or to marry servants. they believed that these women should only marry free man or other individuals who had the means to support them. before, if mentioned you wanted to marry one of these women, you had to be able to supply 150 pounds of the best leaves of tobacco. that was the cost for purchasing one of these brides. and that cost was really quite high. really, the only individuals who a bride able to afford for 150 pounds of tobacco would be an already established planter or a very elite settler. that is one of the reasons why these women -- you have probably heard them referred to as tobacco brides before. this is the reason, because he had to pay 150 pounds of tobacco in order to gain one of these wives. the pool of men that these women had to choose from was relatively small as well. of course, you probably already -- the death that define the virginia colony because of the lack of supplies and because of malnutrition. that will decrease the male population as well. there were also a lot of males who came over as indentured servants. and these indentured servants would not have been acceptable to the virginia company, because they would not have been able to pay that 150 pound of tobacco fee. just to give you an idea of the high costs of obtaining one of these brides, 100 50 pounds of tobacco could also gain, for you, two houses and six acres of land. so it would really be up to you, if you wanted those two houses and six acres of land or if you thought a wife would be more beneficial to you. that was a choice a lot of individuals during this time had to make. the virginia company also stipulated that these women, who were brought over, should not, in any way, be employed as a servants, except in extreme cases. they believed that if women were employed as servants, it would get back to the individuals back in england, and it would discourage respectful women from coming over. they believed the only woman who would come over would be those who were destitute, more destitute, less respectable. so they wanted to make sure that these women were not used as servants, and they made a the men, and they said that, if the men married one of these maids, as they were called, they were promised one of the first servants that would be sent over by the virginia company. and these servants would then be placed in their household. so in spite of the best efforts of the virginia company, we know that there is still going to be o that willex rati define the virginia colony. i-16 24, there are 1250 europeans in the virginia colony . out of those 1259 europeans -- 230 of those already women. and we know from records from 1625 that english men outnumbered englishwoman by a ratio of six to one. so in spite of their best efforts, there is still going to be this uneven ratio of men and women in the colony. now i wanted to talk about who were these women, these jamestown brides, as i've been referred to, who came over to the colony. 7 bridesthat, in 1621, 5 came to jamestown. they came aboard in three different ships. the first was the marmaduke. that landed in virginia in october and november of 1621. the second ship was the warwick. the warwick was bound for virginia in september and did not arrive until december of 1621. then the tiger arrived in january of 1622. we know that the ages for these or 16 years from 15 of age, all the way to age 28. 60% of them were in the 18 to 21 year range. we also have three widows as well. the interesting thing about these women who came to the virginia colony -- a lot of them did not have the traditional male defenders. males who would take care of them, watch over them during their lifetime. in a lot of cases, they were widowed. you also have a lot of these jamestown brides who do not have a fathers were deceased, and in a lot of cases as well, both parents were deceased. so a lot of these women simply did not have a lot of options. they wanted to settle down, they wanted to have a husband, they wanted the opportunity to run their own households. in the best chance for that would have been coming to colonial virginia. and england, during this time, we know that several men simply did not have the financial means to settle down or start a family. we also know that women had to provide letters of reference or recommendations. they would not let just anyone on board these ships. you had to prove you were worthy of becoming one of these jamestown brides. the 36 letters of recommendation that we still have today, these letters contained three main categories. 18 spoke of character. nine explicitly referred to the woman's skills. they might mention the fact that she could make butter, for example. she could make cheese. she could manage livestock. some even had a few light carpentry skills that they discussed in these recommendations. and we know nine of these letters spoke of the character and standing of the woman's family. all of these jamestown brides had to have these letters of recommendation in order to be selected. and we know that, within typically three months, of their arrival in jamestown, that most of these women were able to find husbands. 100 50 pound tobacco price did not stop a lot of these men from obtaining a wife. the interesting thing, for a lot of these women who had newly arrived to the virginia colony, is that they had very little time to adapt before a massive indian attack that happened in 1622. this occurred only three months after the arrival of the warwick , and it happened on march 22 of 1622. it was an attack on the enlist colonists by the indians, by the native americans. this was really a way to demonstrate indian power. but perhaps, more importantly, it was also an attempt to drive in the english away. we know that the end result of this attack was that 347 colonists ended up being killed. that represented at least a quarter or one third of the colony itself. were at leastere three jamestown brides who ended .p dying in this attack in 1622 mary docs, alice jones, and parnell tanton. one of the women, one of these jamestown brides, a woman by the name of and jackson, she was presumed dead in the attack, but interestingly enough, she survived. she was taken captive by the indians and was held in captivity for six years. we know that she survived her captivity because she appeared once again in the colony records in 1629. in 1629, it was mentioned that and jackson needed to be sent back to england immediately, and that her brother was responsible for paying the cost of her transportation back to england. and they mentioned she had recently been in the company of the indians. so i wanted to talk a little bit about the lives of these women in colonial virginia. we know that there was a high death rate in the colony. it was typical for a woman to become a well off widow at a very early age. and women typically had great personal and financial power. the virginia colonial court records -- there are instances where married women came before judges on their own, and this would have been relatively unheard of, because this was really during a period of coverture. coverture simply said a married woman was civilly dead. and come upon marriage, a woman's legal identity was covered by her husband. we know that married women in england could not hold property in their own name. they also lacked the right to dispose of property without their husband's consent. even if they had inherited that property themselves. in england, women were only required to receive one third of's their husband estate. that was something that was special to england. but in virginia, that was vastly different. women usually inherited more than one third of their husband's estates. they were typically appointed as executors of their husband's estates as well. what you see in the virginia colony is that leaders often ignored or relaxed the legal restrictions that governed women. so women in the virginia colony had more freedom. and they were able, if they were a widow or a woman who had never married, they could claim to be a woman alone, and they enjoyed an independent, legal identity that would have been denied to married women. these independent women were able to make their own contracts. they also could conduct a as well. 1638, in the chesapeake, a case involving a woman by the name of margaret rent -- brent. shenot only acquired land, managed her own plantation, and she even acted as a lawyer in court proceedings as well. one last case i wanted to share with you involved a woman who, in 1623, had a suit filed against her for breach of promise. her name was sisley jordan. she had been in the colony probably a little over 12 years, in 1623. what had happened is her husband died, and she became engaged relatively quickly to a new man, within three to four days of her husband's death. relatively quickly. she asked the man she was engaged to not to mention the engagement, because she knew how it might look. he did not keep it to himself and told people about this engagement within days of it happening. and sisley jordan was upset, and she broke off the engagement. and her jilted fiancee then sued her for breach of promise. the really interesting thing about this is this case would have occurred within england, sisley jordan most likely would have been found guilty of this crime of breach of promise. but because it occurred in the virginia colony, they couldn't really decide what to do with her. as a result of that, nothing happened to sisley jordan. the colonial government in virginia refused to find her guilty of breach of promise. and she went on about her life and married someone else. and i will stop there. thank you. [applause] dr. mcclellan: three races met at jamestown in 1619. that -- my topic is the one that was here to greet the other two. when the english came to virginia, they may not have been racists, but they were certainly chauvinists. king henry vii funded john cabot's expedition to the new world and authorized him to discover whatever files, countries, regions, and provinces of the heathens and infidels which, before this time, had been unknown to any christians, but permission to subdue, occupy, and possess all such towns, cities, castles, and isles then found. queen elizabeth authorized sir discover,leigh to " search, find out, and view such remote and key than barbarous lands, and territories not actually possessed of any christian prince, nor inhabited by christian people, but the occupy, andd, have, enjoy whatever the found." this is called the doctrine of discovery. and, by this mandate, england claimed all of north america, based upon the fact that john cabot had sailed from england to newfoundland and back. strangeange law, concept, was affirmed in 1923 by the u.s. supreme court in the case of johnson v. mcintosh, this right of discovery. in writing the unanimous opinion of the supreme court, chief justice john marshall ruled that native americans were indeed the rightful inhabitants of their lands, but their lands actually belonged to england, because, as he wrote, discovery gave the exclusive title to those who made it and an exclusive right to extinguish the indian title of occupancy. extravagant, the pretension of converting the discovery of occupied lands into conquests may appear. if the principal has been asserted in the first instance and, afterwards, sustained, if a country has been acquired and held under it, it becomes the law of the land. the unitedled that states had sovereignty over native nations because the u.s. was the rightful successor to english right of discovery. from the days of early jamestown to the present, the invaders from the old world have assumed that they have a right to rule the indigenous people of the new. in 1607, when the english sailed up the powhatan river, now called the james, the algonquin confederation that controlled the tidewater allowed in these immigrants to settle in their midst. there were around 150 towns of this confederation, led by the powhatan. may the 20,000 people. of food english ran out and ascended into their starving time, in 1608 and 1609, it was powhatan and the tribes he led boot, in john smith's words, brought such plenty of their fruits and provisions that no man wanted. nevertheless, smith and the english settlers preceded to take food by force from the native people. powhatan gave a speech in 1608 in which he said to the english, when england sends its people, they are not sending their best. they are sending people who have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems with them. they are bringing drugs, crime, rapists, and some, i assume, are huge people. we will build a huge and beautiful wall. [laughter] actually, that is what he could have said. [laughter] said was whylly should you take, by force, that from us which you could have by love? why should you destroy us who provided you with food? ucs unarmed and willing to supply your wants. if you will come in a friendly manner and not with swords and come to an enemy. the aid given by the powhatan confederation to the english of jamestown was essential to their survival and ultimate success. the natives supplied food, supplies, and instruction on how to live in a strange coming to the europeans, land. but no matter how much was given by native people, the english wanted more. with the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop, they displaced the natives and -- in their lands and turned them into places to cultivate our founding drug. they demanded tribute and apected native people to play subservient role. the practice of indentured servitude, established by the virginia house of burgesses in 1619, not only led to the perpetual and hereditary enslavement of people from africa, it also led to the enslavement of people who were native to america. though the house of burgesses did not officially recognize the existence of slavery, and the commonwealth, until 1661, long before that time, the enslavement of native people was a reality. in the beginning, the english rationalized enslaving native peoples and african people because they were not christians. --laving chrisman's christians was thought to be immoral. this rationale worked for a while, but they made the mistake of converting these people to christianity. then the argument got weaker. gradually, the defining line between who was free and who was a slave wasn't shifted from was shiftede -- from religion to race. there was three basic ways enslavement of native americans came about. first, the less courts ordered natives into servitude for nonpayment of debts to whites. while this may have officially been a temporary servitude, they tended to become servitude for life. second, native parents, either voluntarily or involuntarily, apprenticed their children to white families. it was easy to convert short-term servitude and apprenticeships into long-term slavery. warfare was a means of enslaving native people. massachusetts was the first state to legalize any sort of slavery. body ofachusetts liberty in 1641 stated there shall never be any bond of slavery among us unless it be justl captives taken in wars. and what work to be more just than taking land from native americans? after all, the white men wanted it, and they refused to give it up. that was a tenuous peace between the english and the algonquin tribes while powhatan lived. thehe passed away, and, by 19 -- 1619, his younger brother led a war which lynette mentioned occurred in 1622. governor william barclay of virginia, in 1668, authorized war against the northern indians with the expenses of the expedition to be paid by the proceeds from the sale of war captives. war oftenwed the 1622 as an attempt to acquire people to sell into slavery on the plantations. the assembly that met after that's rebellion decreed all indians taken in war be held and accounted slaves during life. and the restored legislature that came the following year reenacted that law. noted they -- july enslavement of native people existed and all of the english colonies, but it was most evident as an important prompt to -- prop to the economy of south carolina. the tradersites, actively encouraged the tribes to go to war against each other and enslaved the captives, who were then sold primarily to the ever hungry caribbean labor market. thise early 18th century, indian slave trade had become the colony's primary economic activity, with some 30,000 to 50,000 indians enslaved. the nan's attica they lived along what we and they called the rappahannock river. lived -- living in villages surrounded by their farmland. startedite neighbors -- theirown the farmlands. nanzatico appealed for assistance in 1692. but years passed with no response. then some members of the tribe decided to take the laws into their own hands they killed the members of a neighboring white family. 10 members of the nanzatico tribe were accused of murder. the local militia incarcerated not only the accused but the entire tribe. nanzatico confined, local settlers looted and destroyed their village. a trial was held in williamsburg, which, by that time, had become the capital of the colony, and the authorities decided to make an example of the nanzatico. representatives from all the other virginia tribes were made to watch the trial in an example of what they could expect if they resisted. despite pleas of not guilty, five of the accused were convicted and hanged. meanwhile, all of the other members of the nanzatico were held under arrest, even though they were accused of no crime. the court of richmond county, where the nanzatico had lived, suggested "removing all of the nazatico would provoke the peace, quiet, and security of virginia and meet the particular needs of the inhabitants of these parts." 1705, the house of burgesses determined "the nanzatico are people of a vengeful temper, never forgetting what they apprehend to the injuries." thew passed in 1663 by house of burgesses here in virginia stated "if an , theshman is murdered indians of the nearest town will be held accountable for this crime with those lives and liberties. using this law, it was decided that all the nanzaticos over the age of 12 would be sold into slavery on the island of antigua. be "boununder 12 would d out among the english, to serve as slaves until the age of 24." these children became the slaves of the members of the virginia council. four were awarded to the governor. the rest were divided by lot among the other members of the virginia council. allowedatico were never to return to their homeland on the northern neck of virginia. themselvesbelieved to be wrongly enslaved could take their case to court. by the late 1600s, with the recognition of perpetual and hereditary slavery, whether someone was free or slave depended upon the status of the mother -- if the mother had been free, so was a child, as nick mentioned. native americans began suing for their freedom based upon the fact that they descended from a native woman. thomas gibson, also known as mingo jackson, and the many members of his family, were set free by the courts because they could document that their great ,ate grandmother, jane gibson had been a native american. been 'two children had apprenticed to a white man who kept them long after they reached adulthood and then kept their children enslaved as well. this enslavement lasted five generations, from an apprenticeship. the court ruled that jane gibson's status as a free woman meant that all of her descendents were also free. 1772, a slave named robin and 11 other plaintiffs sued their owners for "trespass, assault, battery, and false imprisonment. their attorney was george mason. one of our local heroes. 1705 based his case upon a slavery law that specifically mentioned the lead gala day of enslaving people of african descent but did not specifically mention enslaving native americans. missiond the essentially -- this omission appealed previous laws enslaving indians. mason also argued, in 1770 two, the indians of every done nomination were free and independent of us. they were not subject to our empire, not represented in our legislature. derived norived -- protection from our laws. independence,ht, disavowal of protection are not sufficient to keep them from the coercion of our laws, on what principle can we justify our opposition to some late acts of power exercised over us by the british legislature? pretended to impose a paltry tax and money. our free -- oh neighbors the yoke of perpetual slavery. richard bland, another of our founding fathers, defended indian slavery at the trial. he rested his case on the argument that captives taken in just wars could be enslaved. surprisingly, in this case, courtv. hardaway, the agreed with george mason. and robin and his 11 co-plaintiffs were set free. the practice of enslaving native americans was declared inonstitutional in virginia 1806. the case was hudgins v. wright. door -- george with, the la professor ford thomas jefferson, a judge, ruled in a lower court that the first amendment to the u.s. constitution made slavery illegal. he said it was illegal on the grounds that freedom is the birthright of every human being, which was strongly inculcated by the first article of our bill of rights. had his decision been upheld by the virginia court of appeals, all slavery in virginia might because hein 1806, took the broad view in that opinion. but the attorney for the indians, when he took the case to the next level, argued that ofis is not a common case mirror blacks suing for their freedom but of persons who are perfectly white. court agreed that the indians were not mere blacks, stating that white persons are and ever have been free in this country. thus, the virginia court ,in 1806, declared native americans to be perfectly white. other states followed virginia's lead, and native americans were freed from slavery, at least east of the mississippi, well before the 13th amendment to the constitution in 1865. indians remained enslaved after the civil war, though, in new mexico. even the indian commissioner there held native american children in bondage. the 14th amendment to the constitution defined american citizenship as someone born here. it would be hard to argue that native americans did not fit that definition. and yet, that argument was made. 56 years after the 14th amendment, congress passed and the president signed the indian act, granting citizenship to native americans for the first time. that may have been a step forward, but that same year, virginia's general assembly enacted the racial integrity act the darkest of marks in the history of virginia legislation. this law prohibited interracial marriage. it defined a white person as someone "who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than caucasian." of racial integrity act 1924, and the several statutes that followed it, resulted in the infamous one drop rule -- that anybody has one drop of blood that is not caucasian is colored. nde enslaved a african-american slaves had worked side-by-side in the fields of virginia's plantations, with the inevitable blending of families and cultures. dr. walter plucker, and inspiration, really, to nazi germany, who actually sent people here to study his ideas about eugenics. he was the director of virginia's bureau of statistics from 1912 until 1946. he argued native americans of virginia-mongrelized by their experience on the plantation and were no longer perfectly white because they had mixed their blood with that of people from africa. plecker retroactively erased the word "native american" or "indian" that might appear on a birth certificate, replacing it with the word "colored." marriage between native americans and whites was outlawed from the time of the racial integrity act of 1924 until the supreme court struck indown in the loving case 1967. even though the virginia tribes were here to greet the english when they arrived at jamestown and to greet the africans who arrived here in 161 9, it was not until january 29 of last year, 2018, when the federal government finally recognized that the native american tribes of virginia actually existed. even today we have the room booked until midnight, right, gretchen? bear happy to take any questions comments -- we are happy to take any questions or comments. if you would step to the microphone, the millions of people around the world watching this will know what your question was. [laughter] [applause] comments?or don't be shy. we are paid up for the duration. thank you for a most informative panel. i'm interested in a topic that came up twice, that is, the relationship between christianity and justification for enslavement, both for africans and of native americans, but i did not quite get all the nuance. more how notlain being christian was justification for enslavement? if you could take us into another century, tell us then about how christianity was used to help keep people in their place. ways, there is an interesting discourse that emerges in the enlightenment, 1600s to 1700s, that begins to introduce the idea of natural rights of men, in many ways growing out of the scientific revolution, that begins to discuss ways in which people are equal and their ability to introduce scientific insight. social philosophers pick up on understandd begin to ways people might be equal. you have philosophers, french and english, thomas hobbes, john locke, writing stay treatises of thatnment, published 1689, begins to crystallize ideas. perhaps john locke more than anyone else talks about the idea that men have natural rights, the right to life, freedom and labor. he is writing about an industrial english state shifting to a wage labor system, laborers being able to sell their labor in a market. based on theiras equal subjectivity to a common denominator. that common denominator was god. in that religious context, my relationship was god was equal to yours, which means you and i are equal in our relationship to god, that is always framed by a relative concept. christianity, as we know, looking at the survey of world religions at that time, is a relative concept. if you are outside the christian world, the scope of that god, you are not necessarily equal. that notion of equality was bound by the christian world. people in the islamic world where outside that scope, recognized as infidels. the islamic world was powerful. you don't see christian states having the capacity or power to enslave islamic states. for those people in sub-saharan africa, outside the scope of christianity, they become eligible for enslavement because they are not christian. they are not entitled to the natural rights of man, the value of their individuality, freedom, labor. they become eligible for enslavement. in many ways, that is one thing shaping that law passed by the virginia legislature in the 16 60's to block the emergence of christianity for african colonies. you block the ability to lay claim for an argument to freedom. you see that happening. largely over the course of the 1600s to 1700s and as the footprint of slavery grows and what will become the u.s., the antebellum. you largely see perspectives on christianity in enslave populations change. you will find slaveholders using christianity as a mechanism of oppression, gravitating toward biblical stories that highlight the idea of a person being subject to one's authority. this twisted the perspective on christianity. some southern slaveholders providing, presiding religious sermons for enslaved people on plantations, serving the figurative role of god, giving sermons that highlight the importance of being subject to their authority. define christianity being used as a mechanism to perpetuate slavery toward the antebellum period. >> ok. other questions? coming from over here. >> thank you. i would like to hear more about the research into native american, indigenous people and resourcesences/ you can share. i'm interested in knowing more about this period of indigenous enslavement. are talking to people that putting forth the idea that some people who believe that they are of african descent are actually indigenous to america and i'm wondering if you have found that in your research and what type of sources or resources you have that point to this conversation about native enslavement? bit ofe is quite a information but often when it comes to native americans, we prefer not to think about it much or delve into it because they are such a small minority group in american society. we have an equal opportunity oppressors for a lot of people. that has been neglected. most of the native americans in this area are people who over ,he years have probably ancestors both from european backgrounds and african backgrounds. talk about settlement in the 1600s, people living together in close proximity, working on the same plantations, intermarriage occurs. they were often marginalized people in both cultures, if they were of two races. in the early 1600s, at least in the beginning, there was no law against interracial marriage, no rules against it until maybe the 16 90's or so, those first laws were passed. intermarriage between the races occurred and were not thought to be wrong, particularly as lynette mentioned, there were only a few women in this many men and european men often took native american women as wives. that also occurred for african men coming here as slaves, taking native american women for wives. there are quite a few families in this region descended from both africa and native america. if you look across the river, the piscataway people are interracial. onie are, matap interracial, that blocked the recognition for many years because of the african influence in their culture. lumbisre people like the in north carolina or those in the hills of eastern tennessee who are try racial. -- triracial. if you look up the word, you the find evidence about racial nature of those people. that is historic. other questions or comments? one coming here. >> good evening. thank you so much for your presentations. i have a question about a story i saw in the news recently about the freedom house in alexandria being up for sale. i don't know how many people, i am sure some of you in the audience know about the freedom house on duke street which was once the headquarters of the franklin and arms sales trade. enslaved persons, the domestic trade in enslaved persons, and you talked about the rights of man rhetoric. one of the things that contributed to was the ending of the international trade in enslaved persons before the domestic. owned the site has been by the northern virginia urban league. there are -- they are having a hard time maintaining it and looking for new ownership of that property. resident of alexandria, i feel like that is such an important historical place for our city and country to understand the history of the domestic trade in enslaved persons and i was hoping you may be able to talk about that if you can, just your thoughts on that site? >> probably many of us in this room are familiar with 1315 duke street, which was one of several slave pens in the city of alexandria. our city was a tory us then for being involved in the slave trade in one of the biggest lay markets in america was right here. it is a history we should not forget or allow anyone else to forget. the freedom house is held by the urban league, the franklin building. that once covered an entire city block. there was a wall around it and cages for enslaved people. the reason they thrived was because tobacco is a crop that doesn't just grow in the soil. it mines the nutrients out of the soil. by the 1800s, the soil of virginia was no longer fertile. tobacco was dying out as a cash crop. with that, the need for slaves was diminishing. because in virginia, their capital was invested in slavery, began to sell off slaves. franklin bought them and sent them by boat or by walking across country to the slave market in the lower mississippi. purchasedng should be by the city of alexandria, the state of virginia, it needs to be preserved. you cannot let that fall into private hands or become a block of condominiums. it has to be preserved. [applause] gretchen, the director of historical's into, is trying to make that happen -- historic alexandria, is trying to make that happen. the building needs a lot of work. if you have not looked at it lately, you can tour it in the basement, you will find some of the original bars where people were engaged and it is a historic reminder, an important reminder of what happened in this city before the 1860's. let's hope we can save it. comments orons or statements for the record/ [laughter] >> hello, thank you for your presentations. i'm wondering if any of you have an opinion about the popular television series showing on pbs, jamestown. making thefiction general populace more aware of the different peoples that lived together at that time versus some of the historical inaccuracies. are there other representations that you would recommend/ ? >> historical fiction, i would put the emphasis on the second word. i have watched a couple episodes and didn't want to watch anymore. it was a drama that could be set in any setting. they set it in jamestown. i am sure there are historical accuracies. i probably did not watch long enough to see them. anyone else want to chime in? [laughter] >> regrettably, i have not have a chance to watch the series at. >> i have not either. >> you can see how enthused we are. [laughter] >> other questions or comments? well, thank you for coming tonight. we appreciate it and i appreciate the hospitality of historic alexandria, jim holloway, and gretchen and the whors and also, c-span, came out tonight to cover us at this event. all greatly appreciated. thank you. [applause] >> you are free to go. [laughter] >> tonight, on lectures in history at 8 p.m. eastern, 1981 trial of jean harris. >> she was smart. she did well in high school. she went to smith college, graduated, everything a wealthy young woman of that era was supposed to do. she says there is a struggle over the gun. there seems to be evidence she is bruised. she testifies he hits her in ways he had never hit her before. there is no evidence either way that he had hit her prior to this or if he was struggling to pull a gun away. >> 10:00, richard nixon's member third, 1969 silent majority speech. great, silent majority and my fellow americans, i ask for your support. i pledged in my campaign for the presidency to end the war in a way that we could win peace. i have initiated a plan of action which will enable me to keep that pledge. johnnday, 6 p.m. eastern, lindbergh on his time as a hostage in iran. >> what says in your culture that permits you to host, to detain a guest against his will? >> at 8:00 on the presidency, ronald reagan's white house political affairs director, frank donatelli and craig shirley on reagan's campaigns for the white house. >> reagan just cleans up new hampshire, 2-1. there was such momentum. it is a good thing we won by such a big margin because we spent most of our money. >> explore our nation's past on american history tv, every weekend on c-span3. ♪ >> ♪ let the sunshine in, the sunshine and ♪ [chanting] ♪ >> ♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ >> what is happening right here, right now. i saw it happen. >> according to many people, including president nixon, this demonstration does not reflect the views of the 200 million american people. on the contrary, some observers say these demonstrators speak only for a minority while the silent majority supports american policy in vietnam. the silent majority includes many people who have not demonstrated but who president nixon believes share his certainty for the need of an honorable resolution of the war in vietnam. ♪ >> how can president nixon tell these people support him? how does he know they make up a majority? how can anyone tell what so many different people are thinking? one way to find out is to conduct a nationwide poll. i did the next best thing. i talked with someone who directed a pole, a researcher renowned for the reliability of his methods. for the last 33 years, the american institute of public opinion has been a respected reporter of american attitudes. the institute, known as the gallup poll, has pioneered techniques of public attitude sampling and has refined research used all over this country and buy for opinion research organizations in all parts of the world. george gallup is president of the organization. today, we would like to question him about one of his most recent polls. mr. gallup, november 3, the president spoke to the people of the u.s. about his policy in vietnam. he mentioned a silent majority of americans who he felt supported his position. what did your organization do following that speech? >> immediately following the speech, we have a squad of well-trained telephone interviewers contact 500 people across the country. the results came in the same night. we corrected them the next day and wired to them to newspapers at 1:00 on tuesday. >> will you give us the results? >> we found, a large majority of american people supported the president's policy set forth in his speech. we found a large majority of the public favor the presidents program for troop withdrawal. we found the people were divided on the question of whether policies would bring a peaceful settlement to the war. >> you can watch archival films on public affairs in their entirety on our weekly series, real america. saturday at 10 p.m. and sunday at 4 p.m. eastern here on american history tv. pat nixon entered the white house as first lady, 50 years ago in january, 1969. next on the presidency, we hear about her work and contribution to the administration. the white house historical association and richard nixon foundation cohosted this event. good evening, everyone. to all our friends and those watching by c-span and on facebook live, my name is stuart mclaurin, president of the white house historical association and it is my privilege to welcome you to the historic decatur house as well as to the white house historical association.

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