Black Majority Summary

Could the majority become the minority? Peter Wood’s Black Majority is a historical book about the rising African population to colonial South Carolina between 1670 and the Stono Rebellion of 1739. He examines how this majority affected the still maturing Colony and how the rise of slavery boosted the economy. Wood argues that Negroes were the majority of the population in South Carolina and the backbone to the economy despite what other historical works say about slavery. The novel illustrates the South Carolina colony being shaped more by the numerical majority rather than the minority, the Englishmen, who had a greater power in the social structure of the colony. Wood’s emphases three main ideas throughout the book to describe how the population

of African people in the colony surpassed the Englishmen.
One point that Woods writes about is how the Englishmen in the colony would decide on what slaves would be able to make them the most profit.

They preferred African slaves to European or Native American slaves because they "could be held for unlimited terms, and there was no means by which word of harsh or arbitrary treatment could reach their homelands" (Wood, 43). The ability of the Englishmen to hold slaves for an unlimited amount of time and to use any methods of punishment gave them all the power. The indentured servant only worked to fulfill the previous contract as part of the headright system. Colonists "complained of the 'servants that dayley become free"(41). Since the servants had varying terms of service, it made it difficult to keep enough workers. Native Americans were cheap and did not have to be imported, but knew the land better than the Englishmen and could easily escape. There was also a language barrier and they died relatively quick, which made them not worth the investment. This shows some insight into how the African population started to become

present.
As the colonists settled more of South Carolina, they had to figure out a way to develop a successful trade market with other nations thus acquiring the needed necessities to achieve stability. In this search, the "readies market were found in the raising of livestock" (28). Because of the large quantity of land, livestock could graze at will, which caused the animals to reproduce at a very fast rate. However, this still was not enough to sustain the colony they needed a more reliable product. The colonists discovered that rice was a valuable resource that grew in this area, and it quickly became a cash crop. The African people "were more familiar with the planting, hoeing, processing, and cooking of rice than were the European settlers who purchased them" (61). If the African people had not been so knowledgeable about rice, the colony would not have been as prosperous as it was. Because of the Africans expertise, the colonists were able to capitalize on it, expand their farms, and purchase more slaves. By the Englishmen, doing this the population of African people in the colony was steadily increasing raising tension between black and white.
The English settlers had major issues with diseases in South Carolina and the settlers discovered that during the summer and fall months the diseases would get worse.

They "developed a common routine of removing their families to Newport, Rhode Island, during that portion of the year" (73). By doing this, they lowered the risk of people getting sick and dying. They made a discovery that malaria and yellow fever were what was causing so many people to get sick. However, the African slaves were unaffected to these diseases and could endure working in the fields without getting sick. This being another reason African slaves were prevalent in South Carolina, and how they became the

majority.
Wood explains how this growing black majority created tension in South Carolina. Englishmen felt more threatened because the African slaves were learning about the economy and tasks that helped them become involved. In order to maintain power over their slaves, they applied several limitations through slave acts that were so extreme they even said what clothes the slaves had to wear. These acts burdened slaves so much that they began to resist, leading to the Stono Rebellion.