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TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN MARYLAND (Final Report) 1999/12/31 MdHR 991422 MdHR 991422, Image No: 217 Print image (79K) |
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TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN MARYLAND (Final Report) 1999/12/31 MdHR 991422 MdHR 991422, Image No: 217 Print image (79K) |
| Enslaved Persons in Maryland In 1755, African Americans comprised 28 percent of Maryland's population while mulattoes made up 2 percent. The proportion of African Americans to whites varied from region to region. In prime tobacco producing areas like Anne Arundel and the lower Western Shore counties, 40 to 50 percent of the population was African American. In northern and western wheat producing counties such as Frederick and Cecil, African Americans made up just 13 or 14 percent of the population. It was common for free African Americans to work as field hands or servants in the homes of wealthy whites. Other free African Americans worked as craftsmen, and a few became independent farmers, owning land and raising crops in the same manner as white farmers did. As the enslaved boys in Maryland grew up, some took care of the plantation or barn buildings and the livestock, others worked in fields tending the food and tobacco crops. A few of the youngsters were brought to the great house of the master to learn to be butlers, valets, waiters, and to learn skills of the artisans. Some of the enslaved girls were trained to do household work. They were taught to be neat and polite and to be experts in cooking, cleaning and in polishing silver and glassware. They might come to serve at the table or act as maids to the ladies of the household. They might help to keep the clothing and linens cleaned and pressed; or they might make clothing for members of the family of the master, or for the servants and farm workers. Many African American women were sent to work in the fields. Some worked in the kitchens where food for workers was prepared. Women were also adept in the processing of the tobacco. In towns African Americans learned other skills and were more apt to be put to work in a home or a shop. There was a sort of class system among the slaves themselves. House servants felt a bit above the artisan, but the artisan felt, in turn, a cut above the herdsmen and coachman and the field worker ranked lowest of all. Their clothing reflected this rank with the house servant clad in quite nice clothing and the poor field worker wearing very rough, plain clothing. Much depended on the man who owned the enslaved and his family. He might be very kind, or he might be very cruel. The African American experience in Baltimore was unusual. Unlike southern cities, where enslavery flourished and enslaved were the skilled artisans, enslavery did not prosper in the city. Some enslaved persons did work in the city, however, Baltimore did not have many enslaved. Baltimore acted as a magnet for free African Americans throughout the state. By 1850, more than one third of the free African American population in Maryland resided in the city. Some former enslaved African Americans found sanctuary among Baltimore's free African American population of 29,000, the largest free African American community in the United States. SS-67 |