Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

Wright introduces his essay by stating “We see the past as far more distant than it is in reality” (77).

In 1662, Mary and Anthony Johnson petitioned the court for tax relief. They were free after their long enslavements and had prospered. They died by the time the baptism laws—which took away the guaranteed freedom previously resulting from a Christian baptism—were passed.

Wright believes the 1705 Act Concerning Servants and Slaves was a meticulous effort to remove Black freedom and any potential future hopes for it. Slavery was not a passive event; it happened at the regulatory, legislative level. America’s involvement required forethought and determination. There were too many Black people resisting bondage. Without legal support, plantation owners couldn’t control the defiance.

The 1705 Act has corollaries today, says Wright: “White supremacy became the norm in America because white men who felt threatened wrote laws to foster it, then codified the violence necessary to maintain it. They can maintain it with the same intention today, if we allow it” (81).

In 1712, two dozen enslaved people gathered in a New York orchard to plan revenge. By 1700 there were more than 6,000 Black people in New York. White people responded to these growing numbers by enacting harsher, more restrictive laws, such as legally preventing more than three Blacks from gathering.

The rebels burned a building and waited for white people to respond. In the resulting skirmish, enslaved people killed nine men and wounded several others before escaping into the woods. Six rebels killed themselves rather than be captured. Over 70 were arrested. Several were viciously tortured and then executed.

The rebellion resulted in even harsher laws and more brutal punishments. However, in 1741 there was another New York rebellion. White allies joined the rebels this time. Boyd describes the pattern: “Time and time again white racism produced Black resistance. It is one of the longest-running plotlines in African American history” (84).

The Meal Market was the official slave marketplace in New York, but the larger slave market was everywhere.

Turner describes the weeklong process of preparing slaves for the market, hiding their illnesses and malnourishment. As an added humiliation, slave owners forced their slaves to feign excitement during the examinations and auction processes. Most tried to comply out of fear and self-defense, but just as many could not hide their tears, and the pain of losing their families.

On July 16, 1720, a ship called the Ruby brought 127 enslaved people to Louisiana. Among the enslaved people was a young married couple. They ran away shortly after arriving: “The young Senegambians had chosen marronage over enslavement” (89). Marronage was the term for escaping and hiding “in obscure places” (89) such as forests, mountains, or caves.

Many white people believed that Black people couldn’t survive on their own, an idea the maroons disproved by their skills in living off the land while avoiding detection. Some lived in ingenious, small dens dug into the earth and concealed by camouflage. When slave owners caught maroons, they often made an example of them through gruesome punishments or executions. But enough of the maroons stayed hidden to inspire others to try.

Many of the maroons just wanted to be left alone. They weren’t as interested in uprising or fighting systematic slavery as they were in being hidden and unbothered. Diouf sees the maroon spirit in much of the Black community today.

Walker gives a brief history of Black music—an amalgamation of the traditional music of many tribes, eventually evolving into spirituals—after asking, “What is the sacred sound of freedom?” (93). He also quotes Du Bois, who wrote, “Do the sorrow songs sing true?” (95).

Samba Bambara waited for his execution on December 10, 1731. The French Company of the Indies used him as an interpreter. He worked with locals to lead a 1722 revolt against the French that led to his capture. As punishment, he became a Louisiana slave. He found favor among other Bambarans in Louisiana by helping them translate during their court appearances, often resulting in lowered sentences.

They shared a solidarity against the French, but “[a]t this early moment in the long arc of African American history, concepts of a single Black race and of pan-African unity did not exist” (96). However, their religious and traditional rituals began to bind them in America. Africans created legends that cast Whites as demons who stole them and took them to hell. The creation of new traditions also helped them maintain memories of their homelands.

Rucker describes various African traditions that carry on today, such as eating Black eyed peas on New Year’s.

Mock writes, “Black Republicans often urge Black Democrats to ‘flee the plantation’” (101). They see the jargon of the social justice movement—which comprises a largely Democratic base— as language that leads to infantilization and victimization. Black Democrats see themselves as liberators fighting for continued advances in emancipation.

The plantation is a symbol for racial capitalism. Mock doesn’t believe that either political party acts as an authentic sanctuary for Black values. Both political parties enrich themselves on Black issues and Black labor.

Fort Mose was an early hope for a Black haven in St. Augustine. It was the first free Black settlement in British North America. They had to obey curfews and regulations. It wasn’t slavery, although they were subject to British rule.

Fort Mose was a predecessor of the project Soul City. Soul City would be the closest America ever came to a legitimate Black sanctuary. American lawyer Floyd McKissick, with Richard Nixon’s support, tried to establish Soul City in the 1970s. McKissick planned the Black city in the North Carolina countryside. When Nixon resigned, the government abandoned the idea. According to Mock, Nixon had not been invested in the project beyond its abilities to garner votes and co-opt some of the influence of the Black Power movement leaders.

Mock argues that, regardless of how Black Republicans frame the issue of fleeing the plantation of the Democratic Party, “It’s not clear what or where they want Black people to flee to” (104).

Parker’s poem lists many of the events and people that had to exist before the revolution of African American rights could happen. His subjects include Rodney King, Barack Obama, the creation of jazz, Ellis Island, Emmett Till, and Wall Street “before Wall Street was a public slave market” (105). They had to wait for centuries, because “Most of war is waiting” (105).