ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. VI

X. Bibliography

Bergman, Peter. Chronological History of the Negro in America (1969). HG-Ref 326

Cooke, Jacob E., ed. Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies (1993), vol. II. HG-Ref 940.03

Davidson, Basil. Africa in History: Themes and Outlines (1991). HG-Ref 960.03

Miller, Randall M., ed. Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery (1988). HG-Ref 305.567

Morrison, Donald G. Black Africa: a Comparative Handbook (1972). ST-Circ 309.167

Murdock, George P. Africa: Its Peoples and Their Cultural History (1959). ST-Circ 572.96

Oliver, Roland, ed. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa (1981), pp.78-86, 145-155. HG-Ref 960.03

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson
Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library


Other SLPL indexes and bibliographies

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. V

VIII. STATISTICALLY MOST LIKELY AFRICAN TRIBES OF ORIGIN OF MODERN-DAY BLACK AMERICANS

Tribe names are in bold face type.

1. Yoruba: (Benin, Nigeria)
2. Hausa: (Niger, Nigeria)
3. Ovimbundu: (Angola)
4. Malinke: (The Gambia, Guineau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone)
5. Wolof: (The Gambia, Senegal)
6. Ashanti: (Ghana)
7. Ewe: (Ghana, Togo)
8. Fante: (Ghana)
9. Mende: (Sierra Leone)
10. Dyola: (The Gambia, Senegal)

Note: As stated previously, likelihood of a current-day black American being descended from a particular African tribe depends on several different factors, which include but are not limited to:

1) sheer numbers of that tribe in slave trading times;
2) the popularity of that tribe's home region with slave traders and American buyers;
3) the area in the United States/British North America to which the black American’s ancestors were originally transported.

IX. STATISTICALLY MOST LIKELY AFRICAN COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN OF MODERN-DAY BLACK AMERICANS

1. Nigeria
2. Angola
3. Ghana
4. The Gambia
5. Senegal
6. Sierra Leone

Note: These countries are, given a number of factors that include but are not limited to:

1) tribes indigenous to the area, numbers of those tribes in slave-trading days and in the present day;
2) the popularity of the slave-trading region in which that country is located with United States slave states and with British possessions in the Western Hemisphere;

the most likely present-day African countries of origin of present-day black Americans. No conclusions about a particular individual’s ancestry can validly be drawn from this list or the other lists in this report, however, by persons who have not yet done their personal genealogical homework (possibly including genetic testing).

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. IV

VI. SOME U.S. SLAVE STATES AND THE MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA FAVORED BY THOSE STATES

State names are in bold face type.

1. Louisiana: Senegambia
2. Maryland: Bight of Biafra, Gold Coast, Windward Coast
3. South Carolina: Senegambia, Windward Coast, Angola (over 40% of U.S. slaves arrived at South Carolina ports: 80% of these were from Senegambia and the Windward Coast)
4. Virginia: Bight of Biafra, Gold Coast, Windward Coast
5. Missouri: see Louisiana & Virginia above (many Missouri slaves were either brought up the river from New Orleans or came here with their Virginia masters)

Note: Slaveholders in certain states were partial to certain slave-trading regions because the climate and topography of that region resembled to some extent that of the American state. Slaves from that region as a result were often familiar with the cultivation of certain crops such as rice and indigo, and resistant to many of the diseases prevalent in southern states such as malaria and yellow fever.

VII. MAJOR AFRICAN TRIBES INVOLVED IN THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA / UNITED STATES SLAVE TRADE AND THE MODERN-DAY AFRICAN COUNTRIES THEY INHABIT

Tribe names are in bold face type.

1. Ashanti: 1.5 million (Ghana)
2. Bakongo: 400,000 (Republic of the Congo)
3. Dyola: 24,000 (The Gambia); 330,000 (Senegal)
4. Ewe: 1,058,000 (Ghana); 362,000 (Togo)
5. Fante: 400,000 (Ghana)
6. Ga: 285,000 (Ghana)
7. Gola: 88,000 (Liberia)
8. Hausa: 12 million (Nigeria)
9. Kru: 87,000 (Liberia)
10. Lobi: 291,000 (Burkina-Faso); 236,000 (Ivory Coast)
11. Luba: 1,960,00 (Zaire)
12. Lunda: 311,000 (Zambia)
13. Malinke: 1.5 million (The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone)
14. Mende: 1 million (Liberia)
15. Ovimbundu: 1.7 million (Angola) Note: this tribe is also known as the Mbundu.
16. Teke: 170,00 (Republic of the Congo)
17. Temne: 731,000 (Sierra Leone)
18. Wolof: 1.5 million (The Gambia, Senegal)
19. Yoruba: 12 million (Benin, Nigeria)

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. III

PART III

IV. MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA AND THE MAJOR TRIBES OF THOSE REGIONS

Major slave-trading regions are in bold face type.

1. Angola: Bakongo, Luba, Lunda, & Ovimbundu
2. Bight of Benin: Ewe, Yoruba
3. Bight of Biafra: Hausa, Yorba
4. Congo: Bakongo, Malinke, Teke
5. Gold Coast: Ashanti, Fante, Ga, Lobi
6. Senegambia: Dyola, Wolof
7. Sierra Leone: Malinke, Temne
8. Windward Coast: Gola, Kru, Mende

V. MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA RANKED IN TERMS OF OVERALL NUMBERS OF SLAVES FURNISHED TO THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA / UNITED STATES MARKET

Major slave-trading regions are in bold face type.

1. Angola
2. Senegambia
3. Bight of Biafra
4. Gold Coast
5. Windward Coast
6. Sierra Leone
7. Bight of Benin
8. Congo
9. Madagascar-Mozambique (some slaves were brought from here to New Netherlands in early 18th century)

Note: These can only be rough estimates based on tribal size numbers and relative popularity of an African slave trading region: no exact numbers are available, nor are they ever likely to be.

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. II

II. IMPORT OF AFRICAN SLAVES INTO BRITISH NORTH AMERICA / UNITED STATES, 1620-1860

Number of slaves imported during the periods specified.

1620-1700- 1,700-20,500 *
1701-1760- 188,600
1761-1770- 62,668
1771-1790- 55,750
1791-1800- 79,041
1801-1810- 114,090
1811-1870- 51,000
1761-1810- 10,200 (figures for Louisiana only, which was a French or Spanish possession for most of this period)

Total- 581,751 slaves legally imported into the United States and British North America.

Note: (Numerous slaves were illegally imported into the United States after the 1808 ban on such activity: for obvious reasons, however, no definitive statistics are available. Also, it must be remembered that the above figures include slaves imported to all British possessions in the Western Hemisphere, not merely slaves brought to the United States.)

III. MAJOR SLAVE-TRADING REGIONS OF AFRICA AND THE MODERN-DAY COUNTRIES THEY REPRESENT

Major slave-trading regions are in bold face type.

1. Angola: Angola, Zaire, Zambia
2. Bight of Benin: Benin, Togo
3. Bight of Biafra: Nigeria
4. Congo: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo
5. Gold Coast: Burkina-Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast
6. Senegambia: The Gambia, Senegal
7. Sierra Leone: Guinea, Guineau-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone
8. Windward Coast: Liberia

Note: "Bight" refers to a bend or curve in a shoreline.

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

Copyright © 2004-2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS, PT. I

ROOTS: DISCOVERING YOUR AFRICAN ORIGINS is intended as an introduction for St. Louisans who are attempting to discover more detailed information about their African roots, and for persons who assist others in such research.

Likelihood of a current-day black American being descended from a particular African tribe depends on a number of factors, which include but are not limited to:

1) sheer numbers of that tribe in slave trading times;
2) the popularity of that tribe's home region with slave traders and American slaveholders; and
3) the area in the United States/British North America to which the black American’s ancestors were originally transported.

Note: No firm conclusions about personal African ancestry can validly be drawn using only the information in this report-- you've still got to do your genealogical homework (and hope for more than just a bit of luck). You also may derive some benefit from genetic testing, which can sometimes help to determine a likely geographic region of ultimate origin.

Need help starting your genealogical research? Call us at 314-539-0385, or e-mail us at cmillar@slpl.org.

I. Chronology of Persons of African Descent in British North America and the United States, 1619-1870

1619- Approximately 20 blacks are sold as bound servants at Jamestown, Virginia.

1624- Slavery is introduced in New Netherlands (which included parts of what are now Connecticut, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey).

1641- Massachusetts becomes first colony to authorize slavery by statute.

1661- Lifetime slavery legally sanctioned in Virginia.

1682- Lifetime slavery legally sanctioned in South Carolina.

1705- Virginia defines slaves by statute as real property subject to the same laws of inheritance as real estate.

1712- Slave revolt in New York.

1749- Georgia repeals prohibition on import of slaves.

1775-1783- American Revolution. In December 1775, General George Washington allows recruitment of free blacks into the Continental Army.

1777- Vermont abolishes slavery.

1790- U.S. population includes 750,000 blacks- 60,000 are free persons.

1793- First Fugitive Slave Law requires law enforcement officials in all states and territories to aid in the return of fugitive slaves to their owners. Penalties are not stiff enough to ensure obedience to its mandates, however.

1800- Slave revolt led by Gabriel Prosser in VA.

1807- Congress passed law prohibiting import of slaves as of January 1, 1808.

1812-1815- War of 1812.

1822- Denmark Vesey's slave rebellion plot discovered in Charleston, S.C.

1829- Slavery abolished in Mexico.

1830- U.S. population includes 2,000,000 blacks-- 319,000 of these are free persons.

1833- Nat Turner leads slave rebellion in VA.

1834- Slavery abolished in British Empire.

1846- Mexican-American War.

1850- Second Fugitive Slave Law is passed which imposes stiff penalties for failure to aid in the return of fugitive slaves to their rightful owners.

1854- Kansas-Nebraska Act allows territories to decide to be free or slave according to popular vote.

1857- Dred Scott decision is handed down by U.S. Supreme Court. Blacks are found to not be citizens, and therefore have no standing in federal court. Supreme Court further rules that slaves are property, and that slaveholders cannot be denied the right to take slaves into the territories.

1859- John Brown leads assault on U.S. Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA (now W. VA). He is captured by troops commanded by Col. Robert E. Lee, and is hanged after trial. John Wilkes Booth is a spectator at the hanging.

1860- U.S. population includes 4,441,830 blacks; 500,000 of these are free persons.

1861-1865- The American Civil War.

1863- The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln frees slaves in those areas of the U.S. currently rebelling against the United States.

1865- The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. It abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude, except for those convicted of crimes.

1868- The 14th Amendment is ratified. It declares all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. to be U.S. citizens who cannot be denied by the states any rights due a citizen of that state.

1870- The 15th Amendment is ratified. It states that the right to vote cannot be denied due to race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Compiled by Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
http://www.slpl.org/

You will find our other bibliographies and indexes here.

Copyright © 2004 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

HORNS OF THE BULL, PART IV

Horns of the Bull: British Tragedy and Triumph at Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift

PART IV

Rorke's Drift (22-23 January 1879):

22 January 1879 - Zulu reserves sent to attack Rorke's Drift.
8 AM- Lt. Chard rides toward Isandlwana to check on orders, but is warned away by mounted sentries and sees a party of Zulus moving across the Plateau in the general direction of Rorke's Drift. Chard arrives at the Drift at noon; he tells Major Spalding there but no action is taken.
2 PM- Maj. Spalding leaves to speed up relief column being sent from Helpmekaar. Lt. Chard, left in command by Spalding, watches the Buffalo River and soon sees Isandlwana survivors crossing the river and hears distant rifle fire.
2:30 PM- Two lieutenants report the defeat at Isandlwana to Chard, then ride on to Helpmekaar after warning the men at Rorke's Drift.
3 PM- Chard assumes command at the mission station as a defensive wall is built with meelie bags, biscuit boxes, and two wagons.
3:30 PM- Men return from the Drift with a water cart and tools on orders from Chard, who returns with them.
4:30 PM- Chard orders six men to guard the hospital, readies reserve ammunition, and orders men to fix bayonets. A lookout is posted on the ridgepole of the mission store.
5 PM- As the Zulu approach, local defense forces and the native contingent depart, reducing Chard's command from 350 to 139 (30 of them sick in the hospital). Work continues on the improvised wall around the station.
5:30 PM- Initial Zulu attack is from the south; is beaten back by steady rifle fire. New attack comes from west of the hospital along the thinly held northern wall. Zulus armed with rifles commence sniping from nearby hill.
6 PM- Zulu attack continues- British defenders are forced to retire into the yard, weakening the defenses of the hospital.
6:20-7:15 PM- Zulus concentrate attack on hospital; some occupants are killed in their beds, other manage to flee through hole cut in hospital wall. Hospital is on fire, but light from the fire helps British defenders track the movements of the Zulus.
7 PM-Midnight- British fend off wave after wave of Zulu attackers.

23 January 1879- 4 AM- Zulus retire from the battleground.
8 AM- Rorke's Drift defenders are relieved by column under Lord Chelmsford.

Casualties at Rorke's Drift: The British suffered 17 men killed (15 KIA and two mortally wounded) and 10 wounded at Rorke's Drift, of the 139 men present when the battle began (19% casualty rate). A majority of the 17 dead men were killed by rifle fire (only patients in or defenders in the hospital were stabbed to death with the Ikwa). 350 or so Zulu dead were found on the field at Rorke's Drift after the battle-- many wounded warriors were borne away from the battlefield by their fellow warriors (Zulu casualty rate was at least 25%).

Eleven British soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions at Rorke's Drift, the most awarded for a single military action in British history. While these men most certainly earned their awards, there also seems to be little doubt that authorities back home in bestowing this bumper crop of awards for heroism under fire were hoping to divert attention from the British disaster at Isandlwana to the British miracle at Rorke's Drift.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clammer, David. The Zulu War. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1973.
Edgerton, Robert B. Like Lions They Fought: the Zulu War and the Last Black Empire in South Africa. NY: Free Press, 1988.
Glover, Michael. Rorke's Drift: a Victorian Epic. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1975.
Greaves, Adrian. Crossing the Buffalo: the Zulu War of 1879. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
2005.
Knight, Ian. Great Zulu Battles 1838-1906. London: Arms & Armour, 1998.
Morris, Donald R. The Washing of the Spears: a History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under
Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1986.
Snook, Mike. Like Wolves on the Fold: the Defence of Rorke's Drift. London: Greenhill, 2006.
Taylor, Stephen. Shaka's Children: a History of the Zulu People. London: HarperCollins, 1995.

Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
tpearson@slpl.org
http://www.slpl.org/

Link to our other indexes and bibliographies:
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Copyright © 2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

HORNS OF THE BULL, PART I

Horns of the Bull: British Tragedy and Triumph at Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift

PART I

Location: Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift are located in South Africa, about 60 miles inland from the Indian Ocean near the border where Natal and Zululand meet.

Strategic Importance of the Location: The border between British-controlled Natal and the Zulu kingdom was formed in the north by the Buffalo River, which flowed southwards into the Tugela River. Just south of Rorke's Drift the river dumped into a gorge and became a raging torrent that could only be forded safely at Tugela Drift, 60 miles south and close by the Indian Ocean. To the north and west of Natal and Zululand was the Transvaal, the area claimed by Dutch settlers known as the Boers.

The Zulu Army: The Zulu army was composed of units known as amabutho or impi-- the equivalent in many ways of a European regiment. These units engaged in both military tasks and non-military labors at the behest of the king. Zulu men at 18 were inducted into an amabutho, and served in the unit until such time as the king authorized them to marry (typically when the man was 35-40 years of age). Amabutho were grouped together in military homesteads known as amakhanda. Food and agricultural labor were supplied to the amabutho by female relatives of the warriors. Even after marriage Zulu men served in the king's army in one of its so-called married regiments.

Several amabutho were combined into a corps, with the ages of men in the combined amabutho differing so that older men could help teach the younger ones how to be good warriors. The Zulu army at the time of the Zulu War of 1879 consisted of 34 regiments organized into 12 corps. Seven of these regiments, however, were composed of men too old to actively campaign in the field, so King Cethswayo probably had about 40,000 men actually able to go off to war.

Discipline in the Zulu army was harsh. A man could be killed (normally beaten to death by other warriors) for failing to follow orders or to meet standards of performance. A Zulu army in the field could if necessary march fifty miles or more in a day. They traveled light, with just their spears and shields. Boys 14-18 years of age oversaw a herd of cattle that followed the army; these boys also carried the blankets and sleeping mats of the warriors.

The Legacy of Shaka Zulu: King Shaka Zulu is credited with teaching the Zulu army its aggressive, some would say brutal tactics. It was already aggressive, however, when Shaka took control of a regiment. His innovation was to order warriors in the regiment to melt down their inefficient throwing spears and reshape them as Ikwa, Shaka's famous stabbing spears (the Ikwa name derives from the sucking sound made when the Ikwa was pulled from a victim's body). Zulu warriors carried several throwing spears, and a club or axe, but their weapon of first resort was always the Ikwa. Shaka also had his men make new, smaller shields that could be hooked under an opponent's shield and used to pull it away from his body, so that the Ikwa could do its deadly work. Single men carried colored shields, while married men carried shields made from white cowhide.

Some of Cethswayo's men at the time of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift were in fact armed with firearms, and others were able to gather arms and ammunition from the dead at Isandlwana. Zulu men received no formal training in firearms use or marksmanship, however, and so were less proficient in their use than were the British regulars they faced. The weapons traded to the Zulu prior to the Zulu War of 1879, moreover, were generally older muzzle-loading weapons, not the newer, more accurate breech-loading weapons carried by British soldiers. Finally, the Zulu had no source of spare parts to repair damaged weapons nor men trained to do so, and no equipment or trained men to make new ammunition or reload used cartridges.

Horns of the Bull: Shaka also perfected the Zulu tactic known as Impondo Zankhomo, the Horns of the Bull, in which flankers in a Zulu attack formation (the horns) would encircle an enemy and leave it without means of escape. The main line of Zulus (the chest) would then engage with their Ikwas and attack shields and (usually) slaughter the enemy to the last man. The horns were typically made up of the youngest regiments present, while the chest consisted of the most experienced regiments present. Shaka Zulu was noted for his brutal treatment of enemies, and of allies and kinsmen who failed to meet his expectations. It led to his death, in fact: several of his lieutenants murdered him in a scene reminiscent of the death of Julius Caesar.

Historical Background: The Zulu people had been united and its warriors trained in the art of warfare by King Shaka, who died in 1828. Power passed to Shaka's brother, King Mpande. Mpande had two sons, Mbulazi and Cetshwayo. King Mpande favored Mbulazi, which seemed odd because Mbulazi was a bookish, intellectual type while Cetshwayo was drawn to the military life and studied the life and campaigns of King Shaka. Forces loyal to Cetshwayo attacked British traders in Zululand. King Mpande sent forces under Mbulazi to rein in Cetshwayo. Cetshwayo defeated Mbulazi in a bloody battle at Ndonakusuka. Cetshwayo then ordered the deaths of Mbulazi and five relatives who had supported him, along with thousands of others who had fought for Mbulazi. Thousands of corpses were thrown into the Tugela River, and washed up for weeks afterward at its mouth on the Indian Ocean.

Cetshwayo took over as ruler of Zululand, and proclaimed himself its king after the death of King Mpande in 1872. At this time tension was increasing between the Zulus and their neighbors to the north, the Boers. The Boers occupied the area known as the Transvaal. Boer settlers had been spilling out from the Transvaal and seizing land owned by the Zulu for their farms. A combination of Transvaal financial difficulties and Boer fear of Zulu retaliation led to the British annexation of the Transvaal. This placed a strain on the formerly amiable relations between the British and King Cetshwayo.

Boer settlers continued to pour into Zululand, and Cetshwayo at first looked to the British for help, but finally realized that the British were going to side with the Boers. Some British officials secretly hoped for war with the Zulus, reasoning that 1) victory would be a fairly simple, relatively bloodless affair and that 2) a quick British victory would both placate the Boers and demonstrated to them the military might of the new owners of the Transvaal.

A commission appointed to settle the disputed land claims in Zululand, however, came to the unexpected decision that Boer land claims generally were based on unsigned or forged documents, and that no formal cession of land had ever been made according to long-standing Zulu custom. The British officials who had hoped for war suppressed the commission findings while seeking a way to start a war that both Cetshwayo and officials in London didn't want.

Two minor incidents gave the warmongers their excuse, however-- two adulterous wives of a minor Zulu chief were beaten to death in sight of British troops at Rorke's Drift, and a second Zulu chieftain made a raid on a Boer settler's cattle. Rumors planted in the press by the British that Cetshwayo had 50,000 warriors poised to invade Natal didn't help. A demand was made that Cetshwayo drastically reduce the size and composition of his army, surrender the offending chieftains to the British, and submit every dispute between Zulus and Boers or British settlers to a British official. On his refusal, the British invasion of Zululand began.

Thomas A. Pearson, Reference Librarian
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library
tpearson@slpl.org
http://www.slpl.org/

Link to our other indexes and bibliographies:
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Copyright © 2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.