XXI. The Slave Population of 1860
As “The Civil War” (was “T̶h̶e̶ ̶W̶a̶r̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶R̶e̶b̶e̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n̶”) Begins…
As noted by Sarah Shepherd (2018), Johnson’s original Black history textbook “had little sympathy for the South; the Civil War, which he called the War of Rebellion, ‘was destined to shake the very foundation of Southern civilization.’” You may be surprised to learn then, that Major Finger apparently agreed with this assessment and only revised the name of the conflict in this chapter of the 1894 revision. As is the case in subsequent chapters (which include additional revisons), Johnson’s “The War of The Rebellion” becomes “The Civil War” in the Finger-supervised chapter on the enslaved population of 1860. However, Major Finger also leaves Johnson’s text in this chapter stating that “cotton, tobacco, rice, sugarcane, hemp and molasses…made by slave labor, formed the basis of Southern prosperity.”
“[Old] Lincoln County’s expanding economy was firmly attached to the institution of slavery. By 1860 the total population had reached 8,195 people: 2,196, or 26.8 percent, of whom were slaves. Slaves produced tons of pig iron in Lincoln County furnaces, labored on small farms and large plantations, and tended to the domestic needs of their white owners in town. Chattel slavery played an integral role in shaping the social and political milieu of [Old] Lincoln [and Catawba] County and antebellum North Carolina as a whole.” — Rodney Steward, David Schenck and the Contours of Confederate Identity (2012).
About one quarter of the local population in Finger’s Catawba County were enslaved by 1860, and about the same percentage of white families participated in the “peculiar institution” of human bondage, forced labor, and the buying and selling of human beings. According to the 1860 Slave Schedule for Catawba County, the “stain of human bondage” left its mark on the Abernathy, Anthony, Carpenter, Cline, Deal, Dellinger, Jarrett, Lineberger, Little, Long, Love, McCorkle, Finger, Fish, Fry, Gaither, Killian, Keener, Miller, Mull, Seagle, Setzer, Sherrill, Sigmon, Shuford, Smith, Smyre, Ramseur, Reinhardt, Rhine, Robinson, Rudisill, Warlick, Wilfong, Wilson, and Whitener families, among others.
Contents (Revised 1894):
Preface.
I. Introduction. — A shared commitment to debunking the “Curse of Ham” with a few bridges too far to cross.
II. General View of Slavery in the World. — a whole new chapter for the 1894 edition, and it’s a doozey!
III. Beginning of Slavery in the Colonies.
…
XVI. Frederick Douglass. — “̶H̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶q̶u̶o̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶A̶m̶e̶r̶i̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶t̶e̶s̶m̶a̶n̶.̶”̶
…
XX. Examples of Underground Work.
XXI. The Slave Population of 1860.
XXII. The Civil War T̶h̶e̶ ̶W̶a̶r̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶R̶e̶b̶e̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n̶ — what’s in a name?
…
X̶X̶X̶I̶V̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶F̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶P̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶C̶o̶l̶o̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶N̶o̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶C̶a̶r̶o̶l̶i̶n̶a̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶R̶e̶v̶.̶ ̶J̶o̶h̶n̶ ̶S̶[̶i̶n̶c̶l̶a̶i̶r̶]̶ ̶L̶e̶a̶r̶y̶ — Hmmm, a deleted chapter — was it something John said? Or perhaps something his brother did?
XXXV. Conclusion
Tschüss!
— Wilhelm
