George Washington Birthplace: Slavery at Popes Creek, Tobacco and Slavery

Association

Slavery at Popes Creek Plantation

Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia

In 1619, a Dutch frigate docked at Point Comfort, Virginia. In exchange for provisions, the captain traded about twenty Africans. Initially these immigrants were indentured servants. However, within a matter of years, succeeding Africans were enslaved.

African slavery was soon established throughout the British colonies in America. In the decades that followed, more and more Africans arrived in Virginia. By the time of George Washington’s birth, more than fifty percent of Virginia’s population was black.

New World Slavery

Slavery existed worldwide for thousands of years and was practiced throughout many empires, nations, and tribes. Race, creed, sex, color, religion, and the wages of war determined enslavement at any given time in history.

Dutch and Portuguese ships bought enslaved Africans, who had been taken prisoners of war between African tribes, to the New World. The Africans arriving in the English colonies were not the first slaves in this hemisphere. South and Central Americans enslaved one another. The Spanish in the West Indies enslaved Native Americans and Africans for labor.

European indentured servants came to Virginia in unlimited numbers. They, however, were freed from their bondage after working for a number of years to pay off their passage to the New World. Enslaving Africans solved Virginia’s labor shortage. Unlike indentured servants, Africans had little hope of attaining freedom.

Tobacco – A Way of Life

Popes Creek Plantation was one of many along the Chesapeake Bay region’s “Tobacco Coast.” Tobacco brought Virginia, Maryland and Britain great wealth. Tobacco was in high demand, stored easily, and served as currency, a bartering tool, and the primary colonial export.

Tobacco was an extremely labor intensive crop, requiring one able-bodied man to tend every acre cultivated. Tobacco was prone to a variety of pests and diseases, and it rapidly depleted the soil of nutrients.

Tobacco cultivation was a four-season operation. Fields had to be cleared and tilled, and seeds had to be planted late in the winter in cold frames. Once the tiny plants were transplanted to the fields, they required constant care. Slaves weeded, wormed, and suckered the plants. The tobacco was harvested and then hung on sticks in tobacco houses to cure. Afterwards, it was packed into huge hogshead barrels for shipping.

Popes Creek Plantation

A planter’s wealth was measured in part by the number of slaves he owned. In the 1730’s a healthy worker was worth 30-35 pounds. When Augustine Washington, George’s father, died in 1743, his property inventory included sixty-four slaves, who were distributed across his various estates.

This inventory reveals names, sex, age, and estimated value of each slave. Familial relationships were rarely noted. Twenty or so slaves worked the fields and household of the Washington’s Popes Creek tobacco farm during the early years of George Washington’s life. Annually, Augustine Washington’s slaves raised ten to fifteen acres of tobacco.

Crafts and Skills

Most of the Popes Creek slaves were needed in the tobacco fields. Some developed specialized skills or acted as domestic servants. On the plantation, important craftsmen included the cooper, who made the barrels in which the tobacco was packed and shipped, and the blacksmith, who made nails, repaired tools, and shod animals.

Some slaves learned to make and repair shoes, furniture, and dishes. Among house servants were cooks, grooms, laundresses, seamstresses, and housemaids.

On small plantations like Popes Creek, buying goods and services from traveling tradesmen or ships was preferable to assigning workers tasks unrelated to producing the cash crop (tobacco) or keeping food on the table.

Archaeology

Recent archaeological research has identified at least two of Augustine Washington’s field slave quarters as well as some additional promising sites. These structures appear to have been originally occupied by earlier landowners then converted to slave use when the planters’ constructed new, larger dwellings for themselves. Additional research is planned to learn more about the lives of the Washington family slaves.