While historians once propagated the myth that Africans who were brought to the New World as slaves contributed little of value but their labor, a recent study by Amelia Wallace Vernon helps to dispel this notion by showing that Africans introduced rice and the methods of cultivating it into what is now the United States in the early eighteenth century.
Topic
The introduction of rice cultivation to the United States by Africans and the cultural and historical significance of African American rice farming.
Framework
Old / New, Highlight Noteworthy
Main Point
Recent research overturns the long-standing myth that Africans brought as slaves contributed little besides labor, showing that they introduced rice and rice cultivation techniques to the U.S., and that rice farming continued for complex cultural and symbolic reasons even after slavery ended. ( — first sentence)
P1: Dispelling the Myth – Africans Introduced Rice Cultivation
A new study by Amelia Wallace Vernon directly contradicts the old idea that African slaves only contributed labor, showing instead that they brought both rice and rice farming know-how to early America. She uses historical documents, such as a 1718 order for Africans who could cultivate rice, to support her claims, which overturn earlier attributions of rice introduction to French settlers.
P2: Why Did African Americans Grow Rice?
Vernon’s research looks into why African Americans continued to grow rice, even though the economy was focused on cotton. She finds that during slavery, plantation owners let or made slaves grow rice on unsuitable cotton land for their own consumption, and that rice farming let slaves work independently, away from supervision.
P3: Rice Cultivation After Slavery – A Puzzle
After emancipation, it became even less practical for Black farmers to grow rice—corn was more popular to eat, there was no market, and landlords accepted only cotton for rent. The effort needed to make land suitable for rice seemed to outweigh any reward, unless the act of transforming the land itself had significance.