Today marks the end of Black History Month, 2022, and we bring in a story of how a humble fabric from Madras, India once had a wondrous connection with the Trans Atlantic Slave trade. Thread. (1/13) 
This is an account of an ancient lightweight cotton fabric with a typical grid-patterned texture and Scottish influenced tartan design named after the place of origin - Madras, the erstwhile name of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. (2/13)
Madras fabric was considered a common garment material made of vegetable dyes and natural oils for the working class of Southern India until the Dutch arrived in India in the early 1600s. (3/13)
In the mid-17th century, when the East India Company was desperately searching for quality textiles, they established a trading post in Madraspatnam (Madras) and gradually revamped the thriving weaving belt into a highly productive industry. (4/13)
Rice gruel was primarily used as the adhesive and boiling spring water was used to set the dyes, having each region's water to form a slightly different hue. Indigo was used to develop the blue colour and turmeric for vibrant yellow. (5/13)
Interestingly several names were given to the fabric - Madras checks, bleeding Madras, or real Madras handkerchief. Bleeding Madras was named as the colours would bleed when it was washed, and it would take on a new guise each time without looking faded. (6/13)
The European merchants started making a fortune trading the beautiful and authentic Madras fabric that soon became a highly sought-after and culturally important product across various ethnic groups of Africa and the Middle East. (7/13)
With the growing value of the textile, it turned out to be costlier than a human. The fabric soon became a valued commodity in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade of the 19th century among the slave traders as an invaluable slave currency. (8/13)
The use of Madras in England was limited to protect the domestic textile industry, but it became an asset for auctioneers who would sell them to slave traders who would, in turn, use the fabrics as a trade currency in West Africa to purchase enslaved Africans. (9/13)
Madras also became intertwined with the lives of many enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and Americas. Historically, Black women were forced to cover their hair as a sign of inferiority and the Madras fabric became the fabric of choice and symbol of pride and resistance. (10/13)
In Dominica, St. Lucia and other French colonies, slave women were only allowed to wear their choice of fabric on festive days and they would often buy their most favourite colourful Madras cloth to celebrate the little breeze of freedom. (11/13)
The descendent of emancipated slaves continued the tradition and today Madras (Jupe or Madwas in the local Creole language) has been recognized as the National dress of the faraway land of Dominica and St. Lucia. What a remarkable journey of a humble cotton fabric! (12/13)
Source: The Fashion and Race Database, face2faceafrica.com, rorarynewsonline.org and Heddels. (13/13)
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