Color And Slavery

Like women, people of color’s role and placement within traditional English society was clearly defined. In the early part of the seventeenth century, the slave trade thrived in the Atlantic, as plantations were established in the New World and the white European land-owners quickly realized that they needed a labor force to work the land, seeing as a startling amount of the Native Americans in the area began to die of disease. In the Natives’ place came captives from Africa who were immediately put to work. The slave trade quickly became a lucrative business as more plantations formed and the need for labor grew exponentially. At the beginning of the slave trade, there was no connection between the color of a person’s skin and their inherent …show more content…
In many cases, people of color acted as booty. With the slave trade thriving in the Atlantic, pirates often preyed on the slave ships along the Middle Passage in hopes of capturing the ‘bounty’ and selling it for themselves, much like what John Hawkins had done at the dawn of English privateering. While the pirates had no qualms in selling their ‘loot’ in the North American colonies, they also held allowed for runaway slaves to join their ranks, as well as free blacks. Moreover, these black pirates were given full initiation into the pirate brotherhood, allowing them the ability to rise in ranks on the ship should their crewmates deem them worthy. Yet, despite the offer of full companionship for some people of color, others were subjected to the same treatment that they would otherwise have on shore. Pirates sometimes kept slaves of their own amongst their ranks, and made them do the heavier work on the ship. Despite some of the discontent that may have existed on the ship between slaves and their unconventional owners, many pirates would arm their slaves. The very idea of doing in traditional European society would have been considered a death wish, especially as the constant threat of a slave revolt hung overhead. However, pirates were felt secure enough to arm their slaves and trust them not to attack. This trust may be attributed to the fact …show more content…
People who deviated from sexual norms were able to prove to the pirates that they were not overly effeminate and that their sexual preference did not affect their agency within piracy. In fact, they helped normalized the idea of deviant sexual behavior among pirates. Likewise, women proved that they were able to function outside household and proved to be useful in perpetuating piracy, both on shore and on board, if given the opportunity and the proper motivation. Finally, people of color proved that they were not simply savages that needed a guiding hand in order to be civilized and were not waiting to take advantage of their white companions or owners. Each of the minorities proved to their pirate companions that they were not to be defined by the roles and expectations traditional society ascribed to them. Instead, the proved that they were fully capable of being trusted by the pirates, and in doing so, were worthy of entering into their