Red, White, & Black Make Blue

HIRING JOHNSON

Laurens & Johnson

  • Willing to hire Johnson because he had witnessed that Native Americans would succeed where white counterparts could not

  • He personally had experience with Native Americans in cultivating and in “cross cultural undertakings”

    • Was impressed with their abilities in every aspect and told this to Grant as reason for him to work with Johnson

  • Assumed Johnson would be able to handle the social and political challenges of a plantation manager because of his interactions with Cherokee diplomats during the Anglo-Cherokee War

Laurens’ Work

  • Remain involved in trade with Native Americans

  • Began to decrease the amount of deerskins he was trading and increased the amount of goods being imported for Native Americans

    • Most of these were textiles and after 1750 a lot of the blue woolens that native americans favored were dyed with indigo that had been sent to england from Laurens’ plantation in South Carolina

Laurens’ Proximity to Native Americans

  •  His work was surrounded by native american consumers and suppliers, but Laurens had few direct dealings with native americans

  • This changed with the Anglo-Cherokee War

    • In 1758 Laurens was drafted as lieutenant colonel for the war

    • Not only was this Laurens’ first direct contact with the Cherokees, but it was also his first interactions with Grant

    • Grant overpowered the Native Americans by destroying their towns and ruining their agricultural land

    • Laurens reflected on his efforts in the war in an upset tone as he states “this work, though necessary, often made my heart bleed”

  • Post War Ideologies

    • Laurens spoke out against the poor treatment of the Cherokee during the war

    • Defended their peace delegates whom he complimented for their dignity despite experiencing abuse

    • Laurens insisted that the Cherokee ended the violence rather than continuing it despite other accusations

JOHNHON’S KNOWLEDGE

  • Being an “Overseer”

    • A position on the plantation that came with significant responsibility and difficulty

      • Maintenance, output, ensuring productivity, protecting the property

      • Supervising, disciplining, clothing, feeding, and providing medical attention to slaves

      • Taking care of livestock, tools, buildings, the land

      • Deciding when, where, how, and who would plant, care for, and harvest provisions

  • Being Chosen by Laurens

    • Johnson’s Experience

      • It is unclear how or why Johnson developed a skill set and familiarity with dye production but he could have been…

        • One of the remaining Cherokees in South Carolina after the war enslaved by colonists before slaves arrived from Africa

        • Enslaved alone or with his family as a field hand

        • From a family of Settlement Native Americans

        • Hired as a farmer or laborer in his community

        • From a backcountry region where he farmed so he could trade

    • Mount Oswald 

      • Impressed Grant and other East Florida planters who were keeping an eye on things for Laurens

      • Despite leaving prematurely, he set Mount Oswald up for success and everything went smoothly for the next overseer who took over

WHY JOHNSON LEFT

  • No Real Explanation

    • Possible that he left because East Florida was potentially harboring people of Native Americans and African descent

  • Potential Historical Explanation

    • St. Augustine

      • When East Florida belonged to Spain, Spaniards aimed to undermine British by offering South Carolina slaves freedom if they came to St. Augustine

      • In 1738 St. Augustine and Fort Mose became free black towns for enslaved Africans and Native Americans to live freely

      • When Spanish rule ended, some of the formerly enslaved people left for Cuba while a lot of escaped slaves from Georgia and South Carolina remained in St. Augustine and Fort Mose


Letter from Henry Laurens to William Bartram

Discussing crops planted along the St. Johns River by Bartram mailed on September 17, 1776.

https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00094086/00001/citation

Yellow Root

Discovered in North America by William Bartram in 1773. Cultivated and crushed by the Cherokee to create a yellow dye.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.24716724?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dwilliam%2Bbartram%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ac1e1c40c2a16cb6a590721fc55828fef&seq=1


St. Augustine Population Structure 1629-1763

130.6% increase in migration to St. Augustine from 1733-1756, the time when St. Augustine became a place where slaves could live freely

https://www.jstor.org/stable/30151286?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=st.+augustine+1738&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dst.%2Baugustine%2B1738%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A992a37abbf66415a03decf094c22e160&seq=8#metadata_info_tab_contents




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