William Ellison Jr. - A Black Slave Owner

Posted: 6/5/2016

Introduction

Perhaps one of the more unusual stories you have ever heard of about slavery in the U.S. The story about this man does not fit in with the predominant narrative that is so widespread among American people by public education.

His story raises many questions about slavery in U.S. history.

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ellison
2. http://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/black-slaveowners/
3. http://americancivilwar.com/authors/black_slaveowners.htm

A Brief Summary Of His Life

1. Born in 1790, died in 1861; A gin maker and a blacksmith living in South Carolina (Source: 1)
2. His slave owner apprenticed him at age 10 to learn artisan trades like gin making (Source: 1)
   (How many other slaves were apprenticed by their slave owners?)
3. After his apprenticeship, he worked as a hired hand in a shop. The slave owner allowed him to keep a portion of his earnings (Source: 1)
4. A free negro and former slave, who purchased his freedom at age 26 (Source: 1)
   (How many slave owners allowed their slaves to buy their own freedom? How often did this happen?)
5. He became a planter and the wealthiest black property owner in the state (Source: 1)
   (Who sold him the land? How many former slaves owned land in the south? Despite being a black landowner's property rights were apparently secured. Was that normal?)
6. By 1850 he had his own cotton plantation (Source: 1)
7. He owned 40 slaves and 1,000 acres at his death (Source: 1)
   (How many black slave owners existed in the south before the American Civil War?)
8. “Although a successful businessman and cotton farmer, Ellison's major source of income derived from being a "slave breeder." … While there was subsequent investment return in raising and keeping young males, females were not productive workers in his factory or his cotton fields. As a result, except for a few females he raised to become "breeders," Ellison sold the female and many of the male children born to his female slaves at an average price of $400.” (Source: 3)
9. “Ellison had a reputation as a harsh master. His slaves were said to be the district's worst fed and clothed. On his property was located a small, windowless building where he would chain his problem slaves.” (Source: 3)
10. “Ellison was so successful, due to his utilization of cheap slave labor, that many white competitors went out of business. Such situations discredit impressions that whites dealt only with other whites.” (Source: 3)
11. “Several times Ellison successfully sued white men for money owed him.” (Source: 3)
12. “The Ellison family joined the predominantly white Episcopalian church. On August 6, 1824 he was allowed to put a family bench on the first floor, among those of the wealthy white families.” (Source: 3)
13. He and his sons supported the Confederates and gave them substantial donations and aid (Source: 1)
14. A grandson fought informally with the Confederates (Source: 1)
    (How many blacks or former slaves fought with the Confederates?)

Black Slave Owners

“Yet at one time or another, free black slaveowners resided in every Southern state which countenanced slavery and even in Northern states. In Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia, free blacks owned more than 10,000 slaves, according to the federal census of 1830. Many of the black masters in the lower South were large planters who owned scores of slaves and planted large quantities of cotton, rice, and sugarcane. In 1860, for example, Auguste Donatto, a free colored planter of St. Landry Parish in Louisiana, owned 70 slaves who worked 500 acres of land and produced 100 bales of cotton. About 600 miles to the east of Louisiana in the county of Sumter, South Carolina, William Ellison, a free colored planter, used the labor of 70 slaves to cultivate 100 bales of cotton in 1861. ... But the majority of the large colored planters lived in Louisiana. … In fact, the city of New York had eight black slaveowners who owned 17 slaves in 1830. In short, the institution of black slave owning was widespread, stretching as far north as New York and as far south as Florida, extending westward into Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri. … Many of them were former slaves who were manumitted because of their kinship ties to whites, while others were emancipated for meritorious military duty, faithful service, or saving a life, as well as other reasons. But the ma­jority of the black masters never knew the dehumanization of slavery because they had been born of free black parents. … However, many black masters did not intend to manumit their slaves and viewed the institution of slavery as a source of labor to be ex­ploited for their own benefit. ” (Source: 2)