South Carolina’s black population surpassed its white majority by 1708
Evidence
“[D]uring precisely those two decades after 1695 when rice production took permanent hold in South Carolina, the African portion of the population drew equal to, and then surpassed, the European portion. Black inhabitants probably did not actually outnumber whites until roughly 1708. But whatever the exact year in which a black majority was established, the development was unprecedented within England’s North American colonies and was fully acknowledged long before the English crown took control of the proprietary settlement in 1720.” — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1981
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- XREF: Links slave importation to crop economy and demography, feeding the causal chain of rice production creating the conditions for rebellion.
Related
- South Carolina gained a black majority around 1708 as rice cultivation took hold (similarity 0.96)
- South Carolina’s black majority emerged directly with rice cultivation (similarity 0.92)
- South Carolina’s slave rebellions in the 1730s came right after massive African importation (similarity 0.87)
- By 1820 most South Carolinians were enslaved Africans (similarity 0.82)
- Colonial masters distinguished Africa-born from acculturated artisan slaves as a practical matter (similarity 0.80)
- Black-majority regions were most vulnerable to slave revolts (similarity 0.80)