The Spanish city in the USA where black people were free 200 years before the end of slavery

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Nearly 200 years before the abolition of slavery, black people escaping plantations in the United States traveled south to a place that promised freedom. The city of Saint Augustine is considered the oldest urban settlement in the United States Alamy/BBC In October 1687, a canoe reached the coast of Saint Augustine, then a settlement in Spanish Florida and today the oldest continuously inhabited city on the continental United States. U.S. There were eight men and two women in the canoe, one of whom was carrying a small child in his arms. The travelers were black fugitives who escaped slavery while living on a British-owned plantation in the northern Carolinas. After disembarking, they headed to the city center in search of freedom. “They went to appear before the governor of St. Augustine,” said Jane Landers, a history professor at Vanderbilt University and director of the Digital Archive of Enslaved Societies, which documents the history of enslaved Africans and their descendants. “They explained to him that they were asking for his protection and that they wanted to become Catholic,” said the specialist. 👉 The group of travelers had heard that that Spanish settlement was a religious sanctuary and offered freedom to any previously enslaved people who wanted to convert to Catholicism. Soon, other enslaved blacks from the then-British colonies north of Georgia and the Carolinas began fleeing south toward St. Augustine. In the Spanish Empire, the concept of slavery was much more flexible than in the British Empire and was not based on race Getty Images/BBC Dangers by sea and land The journey to freedom could take a week or more and was dangerous. The fugitives navigated marshes and coastal waters fraught with danger. Alligators, panthers and poisonous snakes awaited them in the desert. In cities and towns, slave hunters roamed the streets. The sun was relentless, as were the mosquitoes, and it was often difficult to find food and water. Still, for many, the promise of freedom was worth the risk. Sometimes Yamassee Native Americans living in Georgia and the Carolinas helped runaways, essentially creating a precursor to the “Underground Railroad” (the underground network organized in the 19th century to help enslaved people escape Southern plantations). ➡️ These 10 original canoe travelers were the first to request documented religious asylum in Saint Augustine and, unbeknownst to them at the time, laid the foundation for a more just and egalitarian society. For the next 76 years, a small community of formerly enslaved black Americans lived in Saint Augustine as free people, transforming the city into a place unlike any other location in the American South. Faith above skin color Unlike the race-based system of slavery used in the British colonies, Spain viewed the institution of slavery differently. It followed ancient Roman law, according to which anyone, regardless of skin color, could be enslaved if they had been condemned or captured in war. However, according to this Spanish code, enslaved people had certain rights and protections, such as the right to be treated humanely and to be able to regain their freedom, through military service or conversion to Catholicism. Spanish slave owners were also not allowed to separate families or sell children away from their parents. It’s not about skin color or race. Under Roman law, you have rights. You can report bad owners who mistreat you and ask for a change of ownership. In addition to religion, politics also played a role in the different view of slavery in Spain, as the Spanish needed more people to defend their territory against the British, who continued to attack their settlements from the north. The governor of Saint Augustine heard those 10 requests for asylum and allowed them to stay there. As more formerly enslaved black people arrived in the following years, the King of Spain issued a proclamation in 1693. “If anyone flees a Protestant colony and comes to a Catholic colony requesting the ‘true faith,’ as they called it, that person must be welcomed and protected,” said Landers, who studied archival records in Spain for her thesis on the topic “For the British, everything was about race and skin color. Whereas the Spanish said: ‘Are you Catholic or not?’” he explained. Protecting Your New Home In 1693, Saint Augustine was a small frontier town frequently attacked by pirates and British troops. By the time these first freedom seekers fled to the settlement, the local government decided to have a place in the north to monitor their British neighbors and warn residents if they had to seek shelter. In March 1738, governor Manuel Joaquín de Montiano built an outpost north of Saint Augustine called García Real de Santa Teresa de Mose. At the time, around 100 free blacks lived in Saint Augustine and enjoyed the same rights as their European neighbors. They helped the Spanish build the few thatched huts surrounded by earthen walls that would become Fort Mose. The fort housed 38 men and their families, the majority of whom were black. The men served the Fort Mose militia by exploring the surrounding area: some on horseback, some in canoes, and some on foot. Although a Spanish officer was nominally in charge of the fort, a black man named Francisco Menéndez, who had escaped from a South Carolina plantation, was its captain and de facto military leader. Today, the city and Fort Mose are considered the first legally sanctioned free black settlement in what would later become the USA. An interactive museum currently highlights the fort’s history and displays artifacts discovered during excavation of the site. Two years after Fort Mose was built, British troops attacked, took over the site and destroyed it. But just 16 days later, members of the black-led Fort Mose militia and Yamasee warriors joined together in a surprise early morning attack to defeat the British in what is now known as the Battle of Bloody Mose. These black and native soldiers felt obliged to defend their territory, but also their rights, which they knew would be better protected under Spanish rule than under British rule. The end of the dream While Fort Mose lay in ruins, its former black residents returned to St. Augustine, where they married and integrated into society. “It was a very diverse community, culturally and ethnically, in every way,” said Regina Gayle Phillips, executive director of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center, housed in the region’s first black public school. The place’s exhibits span 450 years, from the West African empires, the black presence in colonial Florida and also the present day. In 1752, Fort Mose was rebuilt in a slightly different location and the Spanish government again asked some black residents of Saint Augustine to protect the post. When not policing the British, residents also farmed, hunted, fished, and had the same rights as whites. But 11 years later, in 1763, the Spanish sold Florida to the British in a peace treaty, effectively extinguishing this small island of freedom in what would become the American South. “Everyone had to pack up and leave because they knew the English would come and establish the same harsh type of slavery where they would be considered nothing more than property,” Landers said. And they packed up and left and headed to Cuba, which remained under Spanish rule in the treaty. “Everyone in Saint Augustine is gone, even the Native Americans,” said Kathleen Deagan, an archaeologist and associate professor of Anthropology and History at the University of Florida who spent nearly half a century unearthing Saint Augustine’s past. From the documents we get the sense that what they really didn’t want was to live under Protestant rule, but they certainly didn’t want to live with the British, their former enslavers. As a result, Fort Mose was soon abandoned and forgotten. A renaissance, but not without problems When slavery ended after the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the blacks who were brought to St. Augustine under British rule formed a free community. The neighborhood was initially called Little Africa, but was soon renamed Lincolnville, in honor of the assassinated president, Abraham Lincoln. Free men and women rented land along the marshy banks of the María Sánchez Creek, making it their homes. “There were orange groves, which were divided up and rented to people starting at US$1 a year. Some descendants of the families still live here,” Phillips said. Lincolnville was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and today, the 45-block neighborhood is home to many Victorian homes and businesses that date back to its founding by freed blacks. Saint Augustine and its residents also played a key role in the civil rights movement. In 1964, local activist Robert B. Hayling invited Martin Luther King Jr. to join forces with the city’s residents. On June 9, 1964, King was arrested after refusing to leave a segregated restaurant in one of the city’s hotels, which made national news. Later, his aide, Andrew Young, led a nighttime march from Lincolnville to the city’s Constitution Square (the oldest public space in the US), where they were attacked by an angry mob, which was also widely reported in the media. A bronze sculpture on the east end of the plaza proudly displays the faces of those who peacefully protested during the civil rights movement in St. Augustine, while on the west end, visitors can visit Young’s civil rights march by following the bronze footprints on the sidewalk . A Beacon of Freedom A few days later, the hotel manager was photographed pouring acid into a pool where black and white people were swimming together to protest segregation. The incident sparked protests that lasted days, was broadcast on television and made the front pages of newspapers around the world. Finally, on July 2, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and ushered in the integration of schools and other public facilities. “The events in St. Augustine were fundamental (to the passage of the law),” Phillips said. Today, the historic Fort Mose has been rebuilt at its second location. Visitors can see depictions of the original fort at the Fort Mose Museum and also trace the history of the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in interactive exhibits. Throughout February, during Black History Month, and into June (the month the British attacked the fort), local actors reenact the Battle of Bloody Mose. The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center also features exhibits about the community’s origins and the city’s civil rights era. Hundreds of objects and photographs highlight the stories of local Lincolnville residents and protesters, including a police fingerprint card documenting the arrest of Martin Luther King. We’re just trying to make sure people understand the rich history that started here more than 450 years ago. This article was published on BBC Travel. To read the original version (in English), click here.

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