Down here in Hilton Head doing research about Mitchelville, the first town of Black freedmen in America and apart of an 'experiment' during the Civil War. The Union Navy beat the Confederates and decided to set up a blockade in South Carolina and to deplete the South's income since a lot of it came from sea island cotton and indigo bricks off the coast. The Union soldiers arrive on the Gullah islands to find...99% Black ppl, some black drivers, some white overseers, and no slave owners. It was hard living and the islands were filled with mosquitos that spread malaria and yellow fever, so slave owners didn't live there. The slaves lived in a semi-independent existence where they worked on a task system. They were given a daily quota of how much cotton or rice they had to bring in, and if they brought it in...they could chill for the rest of the day. As a result of no meddling slave owners and some daily flexibility, Geechee Gullah plantations were not only more productive than plantations in most of the South, but the slaves were stronger, more independent and had much more control over their communities
Union Generals didn't know what to do with the Gullah population, so they freed them! Yay!! End of story, everybody lived their dreams, prospered, pursued happiness and...no? No. President Lincoln rescinded that order, which must have made for a very uncomfortable 'see what had happen was' conversation between the Union general and Gullah ppl. 'Remember what I said before about you being free? So, yay, um..see, what had happen was...'
Lincoln wanted to use the Gullah ppl as leverage with the South. So the people were neither free nor totally enslaved. They were in limbo as war contraband in possession of the North until further negotiations. They started Mitchelville, a prosperous self-governing town they named after Union General Ormsby Mitchel. It was called the Port Royal Experiment because the Union wanted to see if Black ppl could govern themselves. Spoiler alert: we can if you get the fuck outta our way.
Gullahs said 'we want to fight with you! Give us some weapon and we'll go get those dern Confederates for you.' Union Generals replied "You want weapons to fight? Wow, thank you so much for your offer. But we don't trust-, I mean you might ki-.. you're too freaking stron-... just stay right there. And don't be too independent!' (Oh, white liberals allies ain't never changed.) Anyway, Lincoln began selling off the South's land, which is the primary source of wealth so that the Confederates would negotiate and end to the war. He kept the slaves on lockdown.
Finally Lincoln said 'okay, well...um, I guess you're free. Here's a Proclamation. And I'm going to give you want you want.' White slave owners wanted reparations for the loss of property...aka human beings walking around without their permission. The government granted them that. Black freedmen said 'just give us 40 acres and a mule and leave us ALONE!' Lincoln said 'I'll get right on that...as long as I don't get shot or something like that.' Oops. 40 acres and a mule and reparations went away with an assassin's bullet. White slave owners still got their reparations, and black people got sharecropping and 100 more years of terrorism and serfdom.
Union Generals didn't know what to do with the Gullah population, so they freed them! Yay!! End of story, everybody lived their dreams, prospered, pursued happiness and...no? No. President Lincoln rescinded that order, which must have made for a very uncomfortable 'see what had happen was' conversation between the Union general and Gullah ppl. 'Remember what I said before about you being free? So, yay, um..see, what had happen was...'
Lincoln wanted to use the Gullah ppl as leverage with the South. So the people were neither free nor totally enslaved. They were in limbo as war contraband in possession of the North until further negotiations. They started Mitchelville, a prosperous self-governing town they named after Union General Ormsby Mitchel. It was called the Port Royal Experiment because the Union wanted to see if Black ppl could govern themselves. Spoiler alert: we can if you get the fuck outta our way.
Gullahs said 'we want to fight with you! Give us some weapon and we'll go get those dern Confederates for you.' Union Generals replied "You want weapons to fight? Wow, thank you so much for your offer. But we don't trust-, I mean you might ki-.. you're too freaking stron-... just stay right there. And don't be too independent!' (Oh, white liberals allies ain't never changed.) Anyway, Lincoln began selling off the South's land, which is the primary source of wealth so that the Confederates would negotiate and end to the war. He kept the slaves on lockdown.
Finally Lincoln said 'okay, well...um, I guess you're free. Here's a Proclamation. And I'm going to give you want you want.' White slave owners wanted reparations for the loss of property...aka human beings walking around without their permission. The government granted them that. Black freedmen said 'just give us 40 acres and a mule and leave us ALONE!' Lincoln said 'I'll get right on that...as long as I don't get shot or something like that.' Oops. 40 acres and a mule and reparations went away with an assassin's bullet. White slave owners still got their reparations, and black people got sharecropping and 100 more years of terrorism and serfdom.
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