|
“Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society” https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0356
Maryland Province Archives, “Distribution of shoes at St. Inigoes, March 1818,” Georgetown Slavery Archive, accessed March 15, 2021, https://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/228. We can learn how oppressive the conditions of enslavement were by simply observing whether or not enslaved persons were provided footwear and why. Those actions and decisions had a huge impact on the suppression of human equality. We can use historical records of what clothing people owned and purchased back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to understand the attitudes of enslavers and their harsh treatment of the humans they enslaved.Ca 19th Century Sewing Machine
“Sewing Machine,” Vermilionville Educational Enrichment Program, Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park collections.
Mechanical sewing machines were first produced in 1830. The invented machine created the sewing technique called “lock-stitch” that uses a hooked needle and one thread. Mechanical sewing machines allowed for garment production consistency and efficiency. Enslaved women were often ordered to make clothing for all of the enslaved persons, finishing garments from the cotton and wool raised right on the land. Common crops raised and processed for textiles included flax for linen, sheep for wool, and cotton for cotton yarn.
Credit Line: American Dialect Society Collection (AFC 1984/011), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
This interview was conducted by Guy Lowman in 1935. He interviews formerly enslaved woman, Aunt Phoebe Boyd. She explains her knowledge with cotton farming. Aunt Phoebe Boyd tells us the process includes planting the seeds on little hills as well as when it's time to pick the cotton. Listen to her words. "Work all day long in the fields pick my uncle's cotton at night. And I was [cough] certainly! Right here on that (???) hill. And then used to have the looms, done spun a many, a many, a many, a mannny—m-a-n-n-n-y pounds of cotton and wool. They had [to carry us (?)] there you know."
Credit Line: American Dialect Society Collection (AFC 1984/011), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
This interview was conducted by Guy Lowman in 1935. He interviews formerly enslaved woman, Susanna Rebecca Wright Thompson. She explains her knowledge with cotton farming. Susanna Rebecca Wright Thompson tells us the ways in which she'd pick the seeds out of the bols and then spin the cotton. Listen to her words. "Sometimes you spin it here. And sometimes, see, yes sir, sometimes you spin it here. And sometimes you wouldn't. Yes, we spin it here. Spin it here. [Spin that (?)] cotton we had spinning wheels. Spin that cotton here. Pick it. Pick the seed out, you see. Pick the seed out that cotton. Yeah, we pick the seed out you see. And, and, andpick it, you know, and, and have spinning wheels spin it. That cotton, yeah,"
Primary Source
Hughes, Louis. Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom (page 107). Book. Milwaukee: South Side printing company, 1897. From: HathiTrust Digital Library. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510015354887&view=1up&seq=111 (accessed October 6, 2020). Ball, Charles. Fifty Years In Chains, Or, The Life of an American Slave (pages 201, 264). Book. New York: H. Dayton, 1860. From: HathiTrust Digital Library. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yul.12264872_000_00&view=1up&seq=266 (accessed October 6, 2020). Child’s “slave cloth” sleeveless jacket and pants, unknown maker, Louisiana, 1850s. Cotton, hand spun and woven. From the Collections of Shadows on the Teche, a Site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, New Iberia, Louisiana, acc. NT59.67.644 (5B). Plantation-made Osnaburg by unnamed slaves of Mr. Mitchell King, South Carolina. C. 1860. Cotton, hand spun and woven. Collection of the Museum of the Confederacy, acc. 0985.10.85. Hill, Archibald A, Guy Sumner Lowman, John F Ware, and Phoebe Boyd. Interview with Aunt Phoebe Boyd, Dunnsville, Virginia,part 8 of 8. Dunnsville, Virginia, 1935. Audio and PDF. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1984011_afs25752b/. Unidentified Female Interviewer, Archibald A Hill, Guy Sumner Lowman, and Susanna Rebecca Wright Thompson. Interview with Susanna Rebecca Wright Thompson, Oldhams, Virginia,part 3 of 6. Oldhams, Virginia, 1935. Audio and Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1984011_afs25735a/. Secondary Source Knowles, Katie. “Fashioning Slavery: Slaves and Clothing in the US South, 1830-1865.” PHD diss., Rice University, 2014. PDF, https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/77185/KNOWLES-DOCUMENT-2014.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed October 6, 2020). Clogs
“Clog - Mouton DSC_0496,” Vermilionville Educational Enrichment Program, Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park collections.
Clogs start out as a single piece of wood and get shaped into footwear. Clogs were a popular shoe style dating back as far as 1230 CE. In South Louisiana, simpler styles of shoes were made with a wooden sole, like clogs, but with a soft material on top like leather or cloth scraps. Oftentimes, Enslaved persons weren’t provided shoes because of their high value. So they needed to make their own footwear with minimal tools and with materials they had access to. A common style of hand crafted shoes was known as “Brogans”. Brogans usually had a wooden sole with a leather upper. These were of the roughest hide, ill-fitting, and of poor quality. Many Enslaved persons such as William Henry Towns and Mary Johnson, wrote about how uncomfortable and hard their shoes were.
Primary Source
Woman, full-length portrait, standing in field, facing front, holding tobacco leaf, in Washington, D.C. area?. , None. [Between 1909 and 1932] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/97510121/. Unknown maker. Shoes. C.1850-1860. Leather, wood, metal. Chicago History Museum, Gunther Collection, 1920.1754.a-b. Unknown enslaved maker(s). Shoe soles. 1861-1865. Linden wood. Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, 985.0.13. Kilburn Brothers. African Americans working, Charleston, S.C.: Street venders. Charleston South Carolina, ca. 1879. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004668188/. Secondary Source Knowles, Katie. “Fashioning Slavery: Slaves and Clothing in the US South, 1830-1865.” PHD diss., Rice University, 2014. PDF, https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/77185/KNOWLES-DOCUMENT-2014.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed October 6, 2020). Shoemaker Leather
Shoemakers are people that know how to make many different types and styles of footwear. There are many different materials they can use. In the 1800s, shoes were considered a valuable item. A way for shoemakers to be resourceful was to use material that was considered “extra” or “scrap” such as old fabric from clothes. In addition to repurposing materials, it was easier to get animal material for shoes. Leather is made from the hides of animals. Leather would be used with wood and metal to create shoes that were more functional even though they were still very uncomfortable. If Enslaved persons were given shoes, they were usually leather shoes with wooden soles.
Primary Source
Hughes, Louis. Thirty Years a Slave: From Bondage to Freedom (page 107). Book. Milwaukee: South Side printing company, 1897. From: HathiTrust Digital Library. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510015354887&view=1up&seq=111 (accessed October 6, 2020). Lucindy Lawrence Jurdon, Age 79. Alabama United States, 1936. Between 1936 and 1938. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/mesnp010242/. Unknown maker. Shoe. c. 1860. Cotton, leather, wood, metal. South Carolina State Museum, SC86.79.1. Unknown maker. Shoe. c. 1850-1860. Leather, wood, metal. Chicago History Museum, Gunther Collection, 1920.1753. Secondary Source Knowles, Katie. “Fashioning Slavery: Slaves and Clothing in the US South, 1830-1865.” PHD diss., Rice University, 2014. PDF, https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/77185/KNOWLES-DOCUMENT-2014.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (accessed October 6, 2020). |
