Thread by @gindaanis

The rice and indigo crops which became the major cash crops of the Carolinas were not native to that place. They were imported from places in Africa.

Europe was hungry for agricultural goods it did not know how to produce. That meant enslaving knowledge as well as labour.

The rice plantations were huge and miserable. The death toll on was second only to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean.

These industries required more labour than they could produce, creating a market for enslaved people.

Also the word factory? Comes from slavery. Factors were financial agents who settled accounts between local interests and overseas investrs

They took raw goods (captives) and processed them quite literally into a marketable product (slaves). Right down to branding their shoulder

A note about "more labour than they could produce"

Less brutal forms of agriculture included greater numbers of female slaves. That, combined with the better health of the less brutal conditions meant babies. Children who could be put to work and did not need to be purchased

"Less brutal" and "better health" do not mean "reasonable" or "healthy"

Plantations were brutal places. Food and living conditions were horrific. Add beatings, punitive reductions in rations, and no medical care and you've got the modern south. I mean. Awful conditions.

Poor whites were mistreated, excluded, jailed, and generally abused by the white slave owning class. There are moments of collaboration between poor whites and enslaved or emancipated blacks, but only moments before the ruling class changes their strategy soundcloud.com/patty-wbk/keri…

Btw. That's Kerri Leigh MERRITT

Not Miller. I thought I corrected that but I guess the internet has a long memory and won't accept my correction 🤦🏽‍♀️