The Socialization and PersonalityStructure of the SlaveOrlando PattersonThis wgmnt of a Jamaican sociologist's work on slaveryin Jamaica approaches the topic from a perspective differeatfrom the previous essay. Here the daily life of the slaveis viewed as structured by his cumulative experience inAfrica, during the Middle Passage, and in the West Indies.Slave behavior is explored also in terms of relationshipwith whites. Stereotypes of slave personality, the subject ofmuch scholarly and polemical discussion today, are analyzedhere in terms of slaveowner coercion and slave re-A sociologist of Jamaican origin, ORLANDO PATTERSONtook his undergraduate degree at the University of the WestIndies and a graduate degree at the London School ofEconomics. He returned home to become a lecturer at theUniversity of the West Indies before moving to Harvard,where he taught in the Black Studies program and is nowProfessor of Sociology. Novelist as well as social scientist,Patterson is the author of The Children of Sisyphus andAn Absence of Ruins, which graphically describe contentporaryJamaican society from shanty town to suburb.There were two types of adjustments to slavery. First,therewas that of the African slave whose introduction to thegystem was sudden and traumatic; and there was that ofthe creole slave whose socialization was gradual and lesspainful. This chapter examines these two types of socializationinto slavery and the subsequent personality traitsthat the system appears to have produced.Both types of adjustments were closely related to eachother. The basis of the creole slave society was originallylaid down by the first group of Africans enslaved in theisland On the other hand, once the creole slave societywas established it formed the main host society for thenewly arrived African slaves. However, if we were to examinethe slave society at any given time we would find abasic division between the community of the African andreo ole slaves. The extent to which one group dominatedthe other varied from one period to the next. Before examfilingthe processes of socialization, therefore, we shall tracebriefly the development of the relationship between thetwo groups.CREOLE AND AFRICAN SLAVESUntil near the end of the seventeenth century about aquarter of the slaves [entering Jamaica] came from otherThe Sociology of Slavery, London, McGibbon & Kee, 1967,pp. 145-54, 170-81. Reprinted by permission of publisher andauthor.
22 Socialization and Personality StructureWest Indian islands, mainly Barbados, while the rest werebrought directly from Africa. We cannot say what proportionof the slaves from the other islands was mole, butsince Barbados succeeded more than any other island inbreeding her own slaves and, since the planters whobrought over their slaves with them were the very oneswho were more likely to breed their own slaves, it is likelythat a substantial minority of them were Barbadian creole.One may speculate that these slaves may have contributedto the speedy development of a creole slave communityin Jamaica.After 1800 the small creole minority in the island wasswamped by the greatly increased inflow of African Negroes.The records relating to the late seventeenth andearly eighteenth centuries make little reference to thecreole minority.1 By the 17609, which is about the timeEdward Long began writing his History of Jamaic~,~ weare informed that the African slaves 'are chiefly awedinto subjection by the superior multitude of CreoleBlacks ...'aIn 1789 it was estimated that the Africansconstituted 25 per cent of the total population4 but themore accurate figures of 1817 showed them to be 37 percent of the total,S an increase which may be partly accountedfor by the large influx of Africans during the lastdecade of the slave trade. As early as the 1760s Long found1 Leslie, speaking of the fear of the Africans for the military"muster and exercise' of the Whites, adds, Tis true, the CreolianNegroes are not of this number; they all speak English and areso far from fearing a Muster, that they are very familiar withit, and can exercise extremely well* (Charles Leslie, A New Historyof Jamaica [London, 17401, p. 311).2Long went to Jamaica in 1757 at the age of 23 and publishedhis History in 1774; see Vol. I of the history of his familyby R. M. Howard, The Longs of Longville, Jamaica, andHampton Lodge, Surrey (2 vols.; London, 1925).Â¥Edwar Long, The History of Jamaica (3 vols.; London:T. Lowndca, 1774), Vol. 2, Bk: 3, p. 444.4 Report of the Select Committee of the Jamaican House of~ssernbl~, 1789.Â¥Grea Britain, Select Committee on Slavery (1721) BritishPorllamentary Papers, Vol. 20 (1831-32), Q7937.Orlando Patterson 23that the ~reoles differed from the Africans "not only inmanners, but in beauty of shape, feature and complexions,*and to a friend of Edwards they 'exceed the African* inintellect, strength and come1iness';f but these view arelikely to be biased. More important was the fact that the~reoles held the Africans Sa the utmost contempt stylingthem "salt-water Negroes" and "Guineybirds" '.aOn Lewis* estate, where the Africans, mainly Ibos,formed a substantial minority, there was strong rivalry anddislike on the part of each group for the other. The Iboaexhibited marked tribal solidarity and were organizedaround elected leaders and after an incident in which theAfricans were mortified by the mistaken zeal of one of theleaders, the creole head cook appealed to Lewis that 'Maasaought to sell all the Eboea, and buy Creoles instead'.'At holidays and festivals both groups tended to haveseparate recreations. Differences may be discerned too, intheir funeral practices, eating habits, dress10 and the like.Yet, one should be careful not to over-emphasize this dimtinction for there were many areas of life in which bothgroups participated. The most important was their worksituation where bodily strength and fitness mattered farmore than place of birth. Again, the most feared and respectedNegro on every estate (though not necessarily themost liked) was the obeahman who in the great majorityof cases was African. Finally, it must be remembered thatthe African born slaves, even when they were in the minority,had considerable influence over the first and second@Long, op. dt., Vol. 2, Bk. 3, p. 410.1 Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of theBritish Colonies in the West India, 5th ed. (5 vole.; London:Whittaker, 1819), Vol. 2, p. 185.8 Long, op. cit.. Vol. 2, Bk. 3, p. 410.m M. 0. Lewis, Journal of a West Indian Proprietor (London:John Murray, 1834). p. 190.10 Lewis tells us that creole and African slaves competed witheach other in their funeral festivities (ibid., p. 335); Long andLewis stated that Africans were very fond of cane field rats whilethe creole* had nothing to do with them, or so they aid, Afri.cans tended to be more scantily dressed,
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