In his book, Black Jacks; African American Seamen in the Age of Sail, Jeffery Bolster argues that black sailors were key to the creation of a black America. He claims that creole culture originated not in Africa or America, but “in the expanding commercial world linking the two” (Bolster, 9), for the men in this realm were central to “African Americans’ collective sense of self, economic survival, and freedom struggle” (Bolster, 2). While the significance of African American sailors to their community cannot be denied, perhaps their role is overstated in Bolster’s thesis. Certainly, other demographics of the African American community contributed to the development of the creole culture. Additionally, the culture displayed by black jacks was not so unique; it was similar to the creole culture in other parts of the New World at its core.
In major trading hubs of New England such as coastal Massachusetts only “25 percent of male slaves” were “experienced at shipboard work” (Bolster, 7). In other parts of America such as South Carolina, “mariners constituted about 9 percent of… skilled slaves in the eighteenth century” (Bolster, 21). These percents show a relatively small percent of African Americans working as sailors, and the number of black jacks would diminish leading into the Civil War as the nation passed various legislation that kept African Americans off boats. The men who were sailors were gone for long periods of time. With so few black men in the sailing profession, and the time away from home the few black sailors experienced, it would be difficult to spread the culture they would have developed at sea. Moreover, these men may have been exposed to more of the world and worked, at times, on par with white men, but these experiences would have been irrelevant for the majority of African Americans who lived in a very racist world and would almost never have the chance to be equals with a white man. It seems unlikely that such a small, and specifically tailored part of the African American community could dominate the development of culture.
One of the examples Bolster uses to support his argument is the tale of the prisoners of the War of 1812 in prison Number Four. When prison Number Four became entirely black, the sailors elected one of their own as king. The process of election was an American custom fused with the African notion of king and the power/responsibilities that entails. Bolster looked at this event and said the black sailors were “[relying] on specifically African American political forms to govern Number Four” (Bolster, 109), accounting their actions to a nationality not felt by other blacks in the New World and a creole culture they pioneered. But there is no evidence presented that suggests this electoral process was derived by African seamen, as “Negro Election Days” or “Pinkster holidays” had taken place in some New England towns since the middle of the seventeen hundreds (Bolster, 108). Looking at their actions, we see that what they did actually lines up with Thornton’s description of creole culture for the whole of the New World as a give and take; infusing parts of African culture with a new climate. This story, like many of the other stories presented in this book, could just as easily been about Africans in any other part of the New World with a few minor changes.
The economic and personal opportunities provided to black sailors distinguishes them among their community, but to say that black sailors forged the creole culture in America is a bold statement. Black sailors undoubtedly influenced the creole culture, but something as expansive as culture requires the input of many. Looking at the creole culture the sailors did display we see that it is not so different from the rest of the New World. At its core it is a culture based on adapting African customs to fit a new environment just like the other creole cultures. African American “Americanism” is not so different from other creole cultures. Bolster overstated the significance of African American sailors to the development of creole culture, for while they would have influenced its development, they were not the only ones to do so or were they necessarily the most influential.
The ideas expressed in your paper are fluid and provide useful insight for examination of Bolster's argument. While I think that Bolster's argument of the significance of African American seamen is not overstated, I can appreciate that in your paper you make a concession to the idea that the “significance of African American sailors to their community cannot be denied” by then transitioning to your argument. While I agree that it is unlikely that African American sailors dominated the development of culture just by being in the sailing profession, allowing them access and the means to spread ideas, news, etc, I do not think that Bolster was arguing such a strong position. I would imagine that he was aware of the impact other Africans, besides African American sailors, had on the development of culture across the Atlantic, but perhaps did not explain their significance adequately enough (that these sailors were only a part that assisted in the formation and influence of creole culture). However, I think you adequately address the issues which Bolster, perhaps, did not fully expand upon.
ReplyDeleteGood essay. I thought you did a great job of conveying the inadequacies of Bolster's argument that black sailors helped spread culture throughout the African diaspora. I also agree with your assesment that with so few slaves and free blacks as sailors, they would have had only a minor role in the spread of culture, although I think it was probably a significant one.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the first part of the essay I felt like you were taking a strong position that the creole culture was owed completely to the influence of the African-American seamen. I passionately disagree with your depiction of Bolster's thesis as overstating the significance of African American sailors influence on the creole culture. While Bolster definitely stressed their importance within the creole culture, he presents the thesis that these sailors acted more as communication vessels between African-American communities along the Atlantic than as dominating force behind creolization.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of your essay I really agreed with and felt it provided more plausible explanations of the creole culture. Your statement "Black sailors undoubtedly influenced the creole culture, but something as expansive as culture requires the input of many." The creole culture was definitely a combination of the many originating African cultures brought into America, as well as European and Caribbean influences. I find it very interesting how few of these stories of the African American sailors, particularly the prisoners in Dartmoor, actually have made it into history survey texts.