Last month, ABC News aired the segment “The Hands That Built the White House,” which highlighted the life of Calvert Ambush, one of the enslaved men who assisted in the construction of the White House portico. Calvert Ambush’s labor not only contributed to the construction of one of the most notable architectural features in America, but also to the construction of the nation, as did the labor of many other enslaved people. Traveling up the coast to New England and back nearly a century from Calvert Ambush’s time, we can see that enslaved people were often tasked with working highly skilled, time-consuming professions.
Group of enslaved persons being brought to Suriname to be sold.
In 1638, the Desire entered Boston Harbor as the first documented ship to bring enslaved Africans to New England. Thousands of Africans would be forced into the American slave trade over the following decades, making enslavement in colonial New England a part of everyday life. Unlike the southern colonies where labor was racially divided, in the New England colonies, enslaved Africans would be expected to labor along their free white counterparts, live within their enslaver’s home, and attend religious meetings alongside their enslavers. It is evident from newspaper advertisements from the period that New Englanders heavily relied on the labor and skills of enslaved Africans, whether for profit or survival.
The trades that many Africans were expected to learn were not considered notable skills to their European counterparts who did the same work.1 A colonist whose family worked as shipbuilders for generations would not consider the talents that enslaved people demonstrated in perfecting unfamiliar crafts in such short periods of time. In her book, New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, Wendy Warren highlights the case of Roco and Sue, an enslaved couple who were promised freedom in exchange for barrels of turpentine and tar in 1695. The process of extracting both materials was laborious and dangerous. Both materials were also necessary, not to mention valuable, in a society reliant on mercantile activity. It required skills that Roco, originally from Africa, would have learned after arriving in New England.2 Examining 18th century newspaper advertisements, we can see that Roco’s story is one of thousands. Forcibly imported from their homes, they took on new and old trades to provide materials for English consumers. Europeans around the globe would come to rely on enslaved labor, directly and indirectly.
Figure 1: "Advertisements", The Boston Weekly News-Letter, America's Historical Newspapers, Issue No. 1988, 29 April 1742, p. 2
As mentioned previously, colonial New Englanders heavily relied on mercantile activity, importing and exporting food, material goods, and enslaved bodies. The colonial trading network enabled merchants to acquire a wide range of materials from numerous territories but required large quantities of resources. While enslaved men like Roco would gather materials used to seal the boards of the ships, men like the individual in the above advertisement would labor to build the vessel itself. The article tells us that the man whose name was once known was heavily involved in the ship-making process. As a carpenter, he would be responsible for the construction of the ship. Colonial ships could range from 16 feet to over one hundred feet in length. Afterwards, as a caulker, he would use tar to seal and waterproof the ship. Of course, if this job is not done well, the ship is probably not going to get very far. For his enslaver to include the language “understands Boat building,” means that the carpenter and caulker must have some notable skill in the trade. While a large number of New England merchants participated in the slave trade, this article raises the question: how many of the vessels built by enslaved people were later used to transport items harvested and made through enslaved labor elsewhere?
Leather Making
Another common trade that appears in early American newspapers is leatherworking. Also time-consuming, this trade was made of numerous roles that all contributed to the leather-making process. A currier, like Cato (see Figure 4), would be responsible for dying and stretching leather, while a tanner was responsible for the initial phase of leatherworking: preparing the hides to be dyed and stretched. For Warmick (see Figure 4), a tanner and enslaved indigenous man, and Cato to have run-away from the same enslaver, means that they were likely working together, with their work being dependent on each other. Christopher Phillips having enslaved men who are skilled in both trades informs us that he was profiting through the labor of Cato and Warmick.
In addition to listing their trades and physical descriptions, enslavers would include all information they believed necessary for identifying the enslaved runaway. Cato being noted as speaking “good English” provides further evidence that he was not originally from America. While leatherworking is not a skill unique to the English, Cato would have likely been required to prepare leather in a new fashion. Now, he would have had to produce leather for a European audience, something all enslaved people would have had to adapt to, as we will see in the next section.
Smithing
Blacksmithing and metalworking, much like leatherworking, was not a trade exclusive to the English. It appeared in numerous cultures throughout the centuries, but to work in such a trade required proficiency and expertise. Colonial Americans relied on blacksmithing for everyday goods. As blacksmiths forged tools and equipment, pewterers forged plates and utensils, and finer jewelry was produced by goldsmiths like Newport (see Figure 5). Newport, much like Cato, the currier, is also said to speak “good English” and as a goldsmith in Rhode Island, would have been producing goods for English consumers.
Continuing in the demonstration of the importance of enslaved labor to the mercantile trade in colonial New England, Caesar (see Figure 7) is identified as a blacksmith, specifically one who makes anchors. Large objects such as anchors would have required hours of manual labor and incredible strength. Not to mention that for a coastal New England town, an anchor maker would have been crucial to the shipping industry.
Early American newspaper articles, while listing the trade of the person being advertised, fail to mention so much more. These individuals were men and women, taken from their homes, brought to the colonies under brutal conditions and expected to live a life of servitude. They continued trades from home and were expected to learn new trades. Their lives were shaped to cater to free white Europeans and colonists. Hidden even more in these newspapers is the labor of women, who were expected to care for the house and livelihood of another family, at times in addition to their own. Running a colonial home was no easy task, cooking could require hours of attention, cloth needed to be hand-spun and woven, then fashioned into wearable goods. Newspapers fail to explicitly mention just how skilled these individuals were. Undeniably, enslaved labor allowed for the progression of colonial New England society. These newspaper advertisements allowed enslavers to profit from the sale of enslaved people. The specific mentions of the trades enslaved people are working in informs us that their skills were crucial to the survival of colonial New England’s economy.
Sources
1. George Francis Dow, Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, (New York: Dover Publications, Inc.: 1988), pp. 120-165.
2. Wendy Williams, New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, (New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation: 2016), pp. 123-125.