History of slavery in North Carolina

Did You Know?

• Some twenty to thirty percent of slaves that came to America were Muslim.
• During the 1700s, most enslaved people held on to their native religions and customs from Africa.
• By the early 1800s, enslaved people were converting to Protestant religions, most notably Baptist and Methodist.

Growth of the slave population in North Carolina

The Lord Proprietors used a headright system to promote the importation of enslaved people, granting land to settlers based on the number of slaves they brought. Direct importation was difficult due to poor harbors and a dangerous coastline, so most slaves were brought in from Virginia or South Carolina. The enslaved Black population grew from 800 in 1712 to 6,000 by 1730, and reached about 41,000 in 1767. Early on, the distinction between white indentured servants and African laborers was unclear, as some Africans arrived under indentures before slavery hardened into a permanent racial caste. Some Africans earned their freedom before this shift. Most free people of color recorded in the 1790–1810 censuses were descended from unions between free white women and enslaved or free Black men in colonial Virginia; because the mothers were free, their children were born free. These mixed-race families moved into the North Carolina frontier. As indentured labor declined due to better conditions in Britain, the colony imported more slaves and tightened controls on slavery. The economy relied on slave labor, first for tobacco. The enslaved population rose from 100,783 in 1790 to 351,059 in 1860. In 1860, nineteen counties—those producing cotton, tobacco, rice, and naval stores in the coastal plains, Piedmont, and Virginia border areas—had more slaves than free whites. The Appalachian mountain counties had a lower percentage of slaves.

Slave owners

Enslaved people worked as domestic servants, skilled artisans, field laborers, and in other roles on small farms and large plantations. Some scholars distinguish a plantation from a farm based on the number of people enslaved. The number of slaves on a plantation ranged from tens to over one thousand. Early 1900s documentation indicates at least 328 plantations in the state. Slaves were personal property that could be sold at the owner's discretion and conveyed in wills. The value of a slave depended on gender and age, with able-bodied male slaves, especially skilled artisans, commanding the highest prices. During the French and Indian War, a slave was valued between £60 and £80. By 1780 the value rose to about £180, and to about $800 in 1840. At the onset of the Civil War, an enslaved male field hand was worth $1,500 to $1,700, an enslaved woman $1,300 to $1,500, and an enslaved artisan up to $2,000.

Legal status of enslaved in North Carolina

In 1669, Article 10 of the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina gave every freeman absolute power over his negro slaves. The Stono Rebellion of 1739 in South Carolina led North Carolina slave owners to restrict slaves' ability to carry guns. A 1741 law forbade manumission except as a reward for meritorious service, and freed slaves had to leave the colony within six months. In 1774, the North Carolina Provincial Congress banned the importation of slaves. The 1776 state constitution allowed freed slaves the right to vote. The Haitian Revolution of 1791 caused North Carolina to restrict the influx of Caribbean slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 guaranteed slaveholders the right to recover escaped slaves. The U.S. Congress prohibited international slave trade in 1808. In 1816, the General Assembly passed an act to dispose of illegally imported slaves, with proceeds going to the state treasury. That same year, the North Carolina Manumission Society was formed. The Panic of 1819 led many slave owners to sell their slaves due to worsening economic conditions. The 1835 state constitution took away freed slaves' right to vote. In 1860, 85 percent of the General Assembly owned slaves, the highest percentage of any statehouse. The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 changed the status of enslaved African Americans from slave to free in North Carolina.

Notable slaves and freed slaves

John Chavis, a free black educator and Presbyterian minister born in Oxford, North Carolina, fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and was the first African American to graduate from college. He studied with John Witherspoon at the College of New Jersey and finished at Liberty Hall Academy in Virginia, where he was licensed to preach. He later established a highly regarded private school in Raleigh attended by both white and black students. Thomas Peters, enslaved in the Province of North Carolina, emancipated himself and joined British forces as a Black Loyalist in the Black Company of Pioneers. He was evacuated with British forces and is considered a founding father of Sierra Leone. Jonathan Overton served under George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown. Ned Griffin, a slave who served in the American Revolution for his owner William Kitchen, was freed by the General Assembly and given the right to vote. Slave James of Perquimans County served as a sailor on a Continental ship, was captured twice by the British, and was freed by the county court after the war. George Moses Horton, known as the black bard of Chapel Hill, was the first North Carolinian to publish a book of literature. Harriet Jacobs escaped from slavery in Edenton and became an abolitionist speaker and reformer. Moses Grandy was an enslaved person in Camden County who became an author and abolitionist. Hannah Bond escaped from slavery in North Carolina about 1857. Lunsford Lane bought freedom for himself and his family and wrote a slave narrative autobiography.