January 10, 2025 • 30 mins
St. Eustatius’ blue beads carry stories of resilience, identity, and survival. Once symbols of African traditions, they became intertwined with the lives of enslaved communities, bridging distant homelands with the island's harsh realities. This episode sheds light on the darker sides of history while celebrating the strength of memory and culture. Join us as we explore the years 1650–1700, preparing for the island’s dynamic rise in the next chapter.
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Episode Transcript
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>> Dr. Sahidi (00:00):
You know, it's interesting because they're such a.
They're such a common find,
but we actually don't really know that much about
them, especially in terms of the
details.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (00:16):
Welcome to Whispers of the Past. I'm your host,
Fi De Vit. We continue our journey along
Syntastacea's historical timeline,
arriving between the years 1650
and 1700s. In this
episode, the Curse and the Magic of the Blue
Bead, we enter a new and intricate
chapter of the island's past. Here
(00:38):
we'll take a closer look at the mysterious
bluebead, an object often whispered
about in legends and folklore. And
we'll examine its profound cultural, economic
and symbolic significance.
But before we begin, an important
disclaimer. The stories we continue
(00:58):
to share include the harsh realities
of enslavement and, uh, at times,
discussions of sexual violence.
These truths are unsettling
and may stir deep emotions.
We do not recount them to cause harm, but to
confront long hidden chapters of
history. By speaking
(01:21):
openly and sincerely, we seek to honor these
individuals, especially women, who
bore these injustices with unimaginable
resilience. During this
era, countless women,
men and children on
synthesias live beneath the
crushing weight of enslavement.
(01:43):
And for women in particular, this burden
was compounded by physical, emotional
and sexual violence. These are
painful realities to acknowledge, yet they
must be spoken about if we wish to see,
hear and remember all sides of history.
As the saying goes, mold grows in
(02:04):
dark places, and by shining a light on this
darkness, we can prevent it from festering
and begin to lift some of the heaviness
and inspire transgenerational collective
healing.
As we acknowledge these truths,
it's important to remember that
syntostacias did not exist in
(02:27):
isolation. The hardships endured
here were part of a larger pattern. They were
woven into the economic, political and
cultural tides that swept across the Caribbean
and the Atlantic world. To understand
why a single blue bead could hold such a deep
meaning, we must first broaden our
perspective and situate the island and its
(02:49):
people within the wider currents that shape their
reality. Historian and
teacher Dr. Elaine will guide us through these
broader historical landscapes, helping us
place synthesias within the larger
tapestry of forces at play during this
pivotal period.
>> Dr. Elaine (03:09):
So this is an extremely important period in
the history of Atlantic slavery because it marked
the beginning of the legal codification of
matrilineal inheritance of slave
status. In 1662,
the colony of Virginia, which was part of the British
Empire, um, enacted a law that said
children would inherit their mother's status
(03:32):
as either free or Enslaved. So the
name of this doctrine was partis sequiter
ventrum. That's Latin. And the translation
is offspring follows belly.
The legal roots of this doctrine are actually really
complicated. And there's a fair amount of, um, debate and
discussion as to how much partis equator
(03:52):
ventrum either broke with or, on the
contrary, was an inheritance of Roman
slave law. Um, and in my bibliography that
I provided, I reference a few historians who kind of
explore the roots of this doctrine. But
regardless, for our purposes, the most important thing
to know is that the 1662
passage of this law set a
(04:14):
precedent among all Atlantic
slaveholding systems, or at least all American
slaveholding systems, that inheritance of
slave status would be passed from
mothers to children. For
enslaved women, knowing that their bodies
gestated slavery shaped their
experience of slavery. Slavery. On a really
(04:36):
core level, it was really
important for Europeans to sort of
cast black women as
inherently animalistic.
So that the justification for
enslaving them and their children was more
overt. European, uh,
writers who traveled to Africa and who
(04:58):
were sort of invested in the racial apparatus
of slavery slavery started writing and talking
about enslaved women and increasingly
animalizing and
dehumanizing ways to sort of
make the ideological separation between
African women who were enslavable and white
(05:18):
women who were not enslaveable. Right. So we start
to see the descriptions of African women become
more racist, more kind of
violent, as slave labor becomes
in higher demand.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (05:34):
Enslaved women faced a unique set of horrors,
including sexual violence, which was
both a tool of power and a method
of control. Many
women bore children who inherited their
enslaved status through the doctrine
the child follows the belly. This
(05:54):
legal principle meant that enslaved women's
bodies became sites of
exploitation, perpetuating
generational enslavement.
This violence wasn't confined to women
alone. Men also faced sexual
abuse, often as a form of
punishment. However,
(06:15):
enslaved women's proximity to plantation
households. Expose them to daily
physical and psychological abuse.
The legacies of these traumas continue
to ripple through generations.
Dr. Elaine shows us how deeply
enslavement reach into every aspect of
(06:36):
life, Shaping identities before birth
and positioning women's bodies as vessels
of oppression. Sexual violence,
though certainly not exclusive to women,
weighed especially heavy on them, leaving scars
that echoes through generations.
To understand how these brutal realities
(06:57):
translated into everyday life, we need to
consider the roles and expectations placed
upon enslaved individuals.
Who was permitted to learn a trade,
to oversee others or move with
relative freedom or even
limited. And who was confined to
grueling labor or domestic servitude with no
(07:20):
refuge from violence and control?
M By examining these distinctions
between men and women's experiences,
we'll gain a clearer view of how deeply
gender influenced every facet of
enslavement. Dr. Elaine
will now continue to shed light on these crucial
(07:40):
differences, guiding us further into the
complex hierarchies that shape people's lives
across the Caribbean.
>> Dr. Elaine (07:50):
Another difference between the experiences of
enslaved women and enslaved men has to do with
sexual violence. I just want to say I think it would be
wrong to assume that enslaved men didn't
experience sexual violence. We don't have a ton
of archival evidence of this, but knowing
what we know about how violence was such an everyday
(08:10):
feature of Caribbean slavery, I
suspect that men were victims of sexual abuse more than
we know about. However, as in Caribbean
slave societies were societies in which women
were especially vulnerable to sexual
violence.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (08:28):
As Dr. Elaine explains, the laws and
perceptions that emerged during this period
did more than define who was enslaved.
They shaped the core of how an individual were
seen, treated, and
valued. Within this world, gender
added another complex layer to the already oppressive
(08:48):
structures of enslavement.
To understand the lived realities of
those here on Cintastasius, we must consider
how these overlapping systems affected
both women and men, often in distinct
and deeply unjust ways.
How did these societal frameworks translate into
daily life for the enslaved individuals?
(09:11):
Which rules could they access and
which spaces were they forced to occupy?
And most importantly, how did women and
men's experience differ beneath the weight of these
harsh hierarchies? By
examining the difference in their labor, status
and vulnerability, we gain a clearer
(09:31):
sense of how power and violence
shaped every aspect of their existence.
Dr. Elaine will continue to elaborate on these
insight as, ah, we explored these crucial
distinctions.
>> Dr. Elaine (09:46):
One major difference between the experiences of
enslaved women and enslaved men has to do with the kind
of work they did. So Caribbean plantations were
very hierarchical. White people were on top. But
even among the enslaved, there was a hierarchy.
And enslaved men had much greater access to than
enslaved women to particular roles that afforded them a
higher status. For example, some men worked
(10:09):
as slave drivers, which meant that they oversaw and
disciplined enslaved laborers as they worked. And
this is not a role that women generally had
access to. Enslaved men also had access to
certain skilled trades, such as blacksmithing. And
in the French Caribbean, enslaved men also had access to the
position of chef. And this again, offered them more
(10:29):
authority and status. One exception I can
think of is that in the French Caribbean, enslaved women
sometimes held nursing roles in plantation
hospitals. This was a fairly privileged
position. Um, while the majority of
enslaved women worked in the fields
alongside men, and in fact, in Certain parts of the
Caribbean, at certain junctures, women actually
(10:51):
outnumbered men among those who worked,
uh, in the fields. A small number of women worked
as domestics within plantation households.
And there's this sort of long standing myth that
enslaved domestics had easy lives or were
in cahoots with slaveholders. And,
you know, household work was indeed easier on the
(11:11):
body than harvesting sugar cane, because harvesting
sugarcane was notoriously, just
incredibly physically taxing.
Um, but one of the downsides to
working in plantation households was that it placed
enslaved women in close proximity to
slaveholders. And, uh, this exposed them
to extreme daily violence, physical violence,
(11:33):
sexual violence, and psychological torture.
There's a book called out of the House of the
Transformation of the Plantation Household that
describes this in the context of the United States.
And I think the same thesis kind of holds true for the
Caribbean.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (11:51):
Dr. Alain's words paint a troubling
picture. Even in the roles considered more
privileged than field work, enslaved
women were not separated from brutality.
Proximity to the enslaver's household meant
proximity to profound emotional and physical
harm. What seemed less
(12:11):
taxing on the body often proved more
harrowing for the spirit.
This stark truth leaves no illusion.
There was no safe haven from the oppressive
grip of enslavement, and any appearance
of comfort came at an unforgiving
cost. These insights remind
(12:32):
us that the reach of enslavement and the cruelty it
fueled stretch far beyond a single
place. To understand how they took root
here on Sint Eustacea specifically, we must now return
to the island's own narrative, one shaped by
distant trade routes and imperial ambitions,
yet formed by the fairy people who built its
(12:52):
warehouses, worked its fields, and
sealed its shores. We
now turn to Mrs. Tutikao, a longtime resident
and founding member of the island's archaeological
research center. She will help guide us from
the broad regional picture into the tangible
changes unfolding here on
Sintostatius.
>> Dr. Sahidi (13:15):
After the war with France in 1650, the
Asia belonged to the Dutch, was
raided several times by other people. But the
Dutch began to establish. They first started
raising crops. They actually raised
tobacco, and they started raising
sugar. Um, and when we
were exporting those, they started building
(13:36):
warehouses on the waterfront. By
1700, there were already 20 warehouses on
the waterfront. Those warehouses were
exporting products. It was the beginning of the
actual trade of, uh, project to and
from Stacia.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (13:53):
As Mrs. Tsutakow explains, by the
dawn of the 18th century, Sinter Statius
was evolving into more than a distant colonial
outpost. It was becoming a thriving center of
commerce. Warehouses lined the
waterfront, enabling a steady flow of goods
in and out. Yet trade isn't
defined by infrastructure alone. It, it's shaped
(14:15):
by the objects exchanged, the values they carry,
and the human stories woven through them.
To understand how a seemingly humble
glass bead could embed itself so deeply
into this island's story, we now turn
to archaeologist Dr. Sahidi.
Having previously lived and worked here on
(14:36):
Sintostatius, Dr. Sahidi has
extensively researched the island's
bluebeads. Specializing in post
colonial community heritage, she
brings valuable insight into their origins,
significance, and the method used to create
them, Starting with the exploration of what these
beads looked like and how they were produced.
>> Dr. Sahidi (15:02):
So then they started producing these beads
in different parts of the Netherlands. There were a couple of
factories in Amsterdam, and there were
also several, um, factories in Bavaria.
But then when the beads came to Stacia, they were kind of
entangled in this economy of enslaved people on the
island. So the beads were made in a few different
(15:23):
ways. There's two main types.
One is called a furnace wound bead,
where you would take a, uh, rod
and then take a piece of essentially
glass thread and, uh, wind
it around the rod to make the shape of the
bead. So when you find those big
(15:43):
round beads that kind of have those very fine
lines and crevices in them, those are wound
beads. The five sided blue beads that
we find on Stacia are hold
beads. And so you would have a long rod
of glass and then divide it
into pieces and shape it. And so
sometimes when you find those five sided beads, you'll find a double
(16:05):
bead. And that means that that bead wasn't
broken at the line where it was supposed to be
broken. It just, um, stayed a double
bead. So those are the main
types in terms of the five sided
beads that we see on Stacia. We call it the stacia
bead. They are
found in an unusually high concentration on
(16:27):
stacia, but they're not only found on
stacia. Um,
unfortunately, with a lot of these
histories that are tied to
enslavement, we
don't really have a lot of information apart from
what we find in the archaeological record
and from oral histories. Blue beads aren't
(16:48):
really written about that much in the archives, and that's why oral
histories are so important. As
for why so many are on stacia, we don't really
know. It seems pretty clear
that bluebead hole was
a shipwreck site
because we find ballast stones at blue bead hole and a high
(17:09):
concentration of stacia beads.
Um, it's Possible that
for a period that they were being produced, that was
a time when there was a lot of trading happening in Stacia
and many rounds of those beads were brought to Stacia, and
that's what we find now.
But there's so much to learn about them.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (17:31):
The underwater site Dr. Uh, Tsahidi refers to as
Bluebeet hole remains an intriguing dive
site here on Cintastasius where remnants
of these beads can still be found today.
The underwater site offers us
a unique glimpse into the journey of these beads
as they traveled across oceans and through time.
(17:52):
As we continue tracing their path, we now turn
to Mr. Richardson, the island heritage
inspector. He will guide us further into
understanding how these blue beads were first
crafted in European factories, then
carried along global trade routes and
ultimately becoming an integral part to
everyday life for the enslaved community here on um Sint
(18:15):
Eustachius, and how they continued
to hold meaning well beyond their material
worth.
>> Mr. Richardson (18:24):
We know, of course, the whole story of them being
produced in the Netherlands. I've seen some of the factories
even still exist, one factory that many
people maybe do not notice. But you know, the
Mundplijn in Amsterdam, in the cellar of
that building on the Munplein in Amsterdam was actually one
of the factories where these beads were produced. So
it's quite interesting that that is completely intact and has
(18:46):
a different pur. And of course the bees
origin were made as decorations in the yard,
they were hung in trees, etc. Um,
but they then trickled their way down of course
into our island where they became really a
commodity in trading, especially for enslaved
people. If you go as early back
as for example, the Egyptians, um, present day
(19:08):
Iran, Persia, there was always bead trading in beads.
We know the history of even quite modern Manhattan, um,
being traded for a few beads by the Dutch. There was
trading in beads before money became
something.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (19:23):
The story of Manhattan's so called purchase
with a handful of beads is one of those legends that
completely oversimplifies a far more
complex historical reality. In
1626, when Peter Maynoot,
acting for the Dutch West Indian company,
arranged an exchange with the native
indigenous Lenape people, the offer
(19:45):
reportedly included items such as
blue beads worth about 60 guilders
at the time. Yet
modern scholars suggest that the Lenape people
likely understood this arrangement quite
differently than the Europeans did, as
their concept of land use did not align with
(20:05):
European notions of permanent ownership.
This account, reducing a nuanced
negotiation to a simple story of
Europeans outsmarting supposedly
quote, unquote naive native indigenous
people, highlights once again how
Easily. Cultural complexities can be lost in
(20:26):
translation over time.
It mirrors the misunderstandings and
the imposed narratives that often
overshadows the intricate economies of the
past. Much like the blue beads here on
Cintastasius, the Manhattan legend
challenges our modern assumption.
It reminds us that value is never
(20:49):
fixed. It's molded by perspective,
purpose, and circumstances.
With this in mind, we return to Mr. Richardson's
insight into synthesis, where these
rare cobalt blue beads, once part of a
fast rate of networks, became woven into the
fabric of the island's enslaved community,
(21:10):
transforming from imported trinkets into
tokens of commerce and identity.
>> Mr. Richardson (21:18):
What is interesting though, is that these blue beads, it
trickles down into St. Eustatius.
And the earliest record of blue
beads that I saw on St.
Eustatius, where it's noted in a government
document then, of a ship bringing in blue
beads, is one of the ship logs of 17, um,
10. You see there's a ship coming in
(21:41):
from Amsterdam that had a stop also in
Harlem. And on its way, it also stops
in a port in present day Belgium. And you see it's making these small
little stops along the European coast before it
descends straight into the Atlantic and it sails
all the way to Saint Eustatia. So one of the first, one of the
largest things on the the ship log
that's extracted from the ship and brought onto the
(22:04):
island. Blue or blue glass beads in
tonnage. So that means amount of weight, et cetera, that these beads
were, and they're being brought into the island and it
says for trade. What's interesting is, of course,
fast forwarding from 1710 onwards, you see that
the Blue Petes are becoming more and more prominent
on St. Eustatius, but not actually between the
(22:24):
Dutch and external traders like the French, but more
within the enslaved community. And then you
see that the blue beads from around
1710, that it's actually
intertwined into the community so far
that many people think it's more of an oral
tradition, but it was actually kind of, you
know, dictated to in the sense of the free people
(22:46):
of color, but also the enslaved people of color
amongst themselves started to also trade. So of
course, above you had the general economy of trade
going on, and then below that you had amongst the
enslaved people also the trade that's going on. And I
think that's also quite interesting because it's not really
often expound upon enough, um,
what exactly society of the enslaved people,
(23:09):
what it was like for them. So you see that the blue beads
started to become kind of traded among. And then you
see from earlier records that for three
fishes, you get two blue beads in one of the
letters from the governor. But you also see that, indeed, you
needed enough beads to put around your waist in
order to be married. But then I
tend to think that maybe in that
(23:31):
description, that it's kind of lost in translation, because
in African cultures, it was normal to have beads around
your waist as well. So there's a lot of these things that
you see popping up in different research. But I think,
um, seeing that beads were
also part of African culture before
people were enslaved, I think it was also only
(23:52):
natural that the enslaved people kind of use
that as a kind of way to batter and
trade amongst each other. And again, goes back to what I said in the
beginning of taking things out of Africa, but
taking especially memory with you out of
Africa.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (24:10):
With Mr. Richardson's explanation, it
becomes clear that the blue beads were far
more than a simple form of currency.
Instead, they were deeply woven into the
social fabric of the enslaved community,
reflecting cultural traditions that
predated enslavement in Africa.
(24:30):
These small artifacts embodied
identity, memory, and
resilience, connecting distance,
homeland, with everyday life here on the island.
To better understand how these vibrant
traditions emerged and evolved, we
turn again to the archaeologist Dr. Sahidi, as
(24:51):
she offers valuable insights into the
historical significance and cultural depths of
the blue beads.
>> Dr. Sahidi (25:00):
Before Europeans colonized West Africa, there
was already an intricate and advanced barter
system that was used by different communities and
kingdoms. So when Europeans arrived, they realized there
was already a complex economic system in place
where many different types of objects were being traded.
And among those objects were beads.
(25:20):
And they exploited that knowledge of the value of beads
for different ethnic groups in west Africa and brought that
to the Caribbean with the people that they enslaved. Different
types of beads symbolize different things.
Cowry shells, for example, um, they civilized
wealth, power, fertility, protection.
And often cowrie shells were passed down over many
(25:40):
generations across different kingdoms
and ethnic groups. Certain colors
were also significant. So in particular,
cobalt blue, like the ones that we find in
stacia. Those types of that color of bead were
associated with elite status and the heavens or the
celestial bodies. So this bartering economy
was based on traditional economic systems in West Africa.
(26:02):
But when it was brought to the Caribbean, it prevented
enslaved people from participating in the wider economy of
the island. So instead of paying people
directly for their labor and skills, they were given the
beads. This prevented them from using their skills to build
capital. For example, in other islands where enslaved people were
paid, they could use the money that they received
(26:22):
from their expertise, whether that was blacksmithing,
Tailoring, ship, salvage, whatever. They used that
money to purchase things. Sometimes they even used it
to purchase their own freedom. So those abilities
were restricted on Stacia because of
colonial structures like the blue beet economy. And this is
just one example of how colonists exploited West
African systems for their own benefit. And then
(26:45):
that was transplanted into the Caribbean.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (26:50):
As Dr. Sahidi explains, the blue
beads reflect a complex history, one
that began in the intricate barter system
of West Africa. These beads
carry deep cultural meaning, symbolizing
status, protection, and even
celestial connections.
Yet once brought to the Caribbean by
(27:12):
colonizers, these beads became tools of
exploitation, replacing wages and
restricting economic opportunities for enslaved
individuals. But the
story of these beads doesn't stop here.
Their journey extends far beyond
syntastaceous, revealing connections that
(27:32):
span continents and generations.
To trace this broader movement, we once
again turn to Mr. Richardson as he
explores how blue beads first came to
Stacia, traveled across the Caribbean and
beyond.
>> Mr. Richardson (27:50):
What's also very interesting is that they weren't found anywhere
else. They're not found on any other Dutch
colony. They're found maybe in very little
quantities. And if they're found in a
Dutch colony, it's because they were enslaved people
from Saint Eustatius that ended up there or
prior or after emancipation. To give you an
example, um, there's a plantation in
(28:12):
Suriname where bluebeets from St. Eustatius was found. But
when you look at the year when the plantation
came into existence, and you go into the slave records of
Suriname, um, you see that for at one point,
maybe 40 enslaved people were transported from St.
Eustatius to Suriname. Um, if you look at former Dutch
colonies like Tobago, you
don't find any blue beads there, but you also don't find the
(28:35):
exchange of enslaved people between that island and the Dutch
islands. So it's quite interesting. You only find them where
the enslaved people were living and where the Dutch were trading.
So if you go to Brazil, again, there's a small quantity that would have
been found there in archaeological sites of
former plantations in Olinda. But what, again, what you see is
when you look in the records, you will see there's always
(28:55):
some kind of direct link, link to the island of Saint
Eustatia. So the bees were really traveling with
people off island as well, especially the enslaved.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (29:07):
As we conclude this episode and this chapter
in time, the years between
1650 and 1700s have
revealed how a simple object like the blue
bead holds stories far greater than its
form, woven into the lives of the
inspiration enslaved communities here on Cintastasius. These
tiny artifacts remind us of
(29:28):
resilience, identity and
survival, bridging a distant
homeland with the life here on the island.
In tracing their journey, we've once again
shed light on a darker side of history,
confronting truths that are painful and
necessary. Within these stories, we also
(29:48):
find strength and the enduring power of
memory and culture to adapt,
persist and empower those who carry them
forward. As we close this
episode, we prepare, uh, to move into our next
chapter, where the years between 1700
and 1750 bring an even more
chaotic period. Here on Syntostatius,
(30:10):
as the island grows even busier,
its role in the Caribbean trade
intensifies.
As we step away from this moment, let the
whispers of the past continue to
resonate, illuminating both the
shadows of its history and the
resilience of those who lived it.
You know, it's interesting because they're such a.
They're such a common find,
but we actually don't really know that much about
them, especially in terms of the
details.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (00:16):
Welcome to Whispers of the Past. I'm your host,
Fi De Vit. We continue our journey along
Syntastacea's historical timeline,
arriving between the years 1650
and 1700s. In this
episode, the Curse and the Magic of the Blue
Bead, we enter a new and intricate
chapter of the island's past. Here
(00:38):
we'll take a closer look at the mysterious
bluebead, an object often whispered
about in legends and folklore. And
we'll examine its profound cultural, economic
and symbolic significance.
But before we begin, an important
disclaimer. The stories we continue
(00:58):
to share include the harsh realities
of enslavement and, uh, at times,
discussions of sexual violence.
These truths are unsettling
and may stir deep emotions.
We do not recount them to cause harm, but to
confront long hidden chapters of
history. By speaking
(01:21):
openly and sincerely, we seek to honor these
individuals, especially women, who
bore these injustices with unimaginable
resilience. During this
era, countless women,
men and children on
synthesias live beneath the
crushing weight of enslavement.
(01:43):
And for women in particular, this burden
was compounded by physical, emotional
and sexual violence. These are
painful realities to acknowledge, yet they
must be spoken about if we wish to see,
hear and remember all sides of history.
As the saying goes, mold grows in
(02:04):
dark places, and by shining a light on this
darkness, we can prevent it from festering
and begin to lift some of the heaviness
and inspire transgenerational collective
healing.
As we acknowledge these truths,
it's important to remember that
syntostacias did not exist in
(02:27):
isolation. The hardships endured
here were part of a larger pattern. They were
woven into the economic, political and
cultural tides that swept across the Caribbean
and the Atlantic world. To understand
why a single blue bead could hold such a deep
meaning, we must first broaden our
perspective and situate the island and its
(02:49):
people within the wider currents that shape their
reality. Historian and
teacher Dr. Elaine will guide us through these
broader historical landscapes, helping us
place synthesias within the larger
tapestry of forces at play during this
pivotal period.
>> Dr. Elaine (03:09):
So this is an extremely important period in
the history of Atlantic slavery because it marked
the beginning of the legal codification of
matrilineal inheritance of slave
status. In 1662,
the colony of Virginia, which was part of the British
Empire, um, enacted a law that said
children would inherit their mother's status
(03:32):
as either free or Enslaved. So the
name of this doctrine was partis sequiter
ventrum. That's Latin. And the translation
is offspring follows belly.
The legal roots of this doctrine are actually really
complicated. And there's a fair amount of, um, debate and
discussion as to how much partis equator
(03:52):
ventrum either broke with or, on the
contrary, was an inheritance of Roman
slave law. Um, and in my bibliography that
I provided, I reference a few historians who kind of
explore the roots of this doctrine. But
regardless, for our purposes, the most important thing
to know is that the 1662
passage of this law set a
(04:14):
precedent among all Atlantic
slaveholding systems, or at least all American
slaveholding systems, that inheritance of
slave status would be passed from
mothers to children. For
enslaved women, knowing that their bodies
gestated slavery shaped their
experience of slavery. Slavery. On a really
(04:36):
core level, it was really
important for Europeans to sort of
cast black women as
inherently animalistic.
So that the justification for
enslaving them and their children was more
overt. European, uh,
writers who traveled to Africa and who
(04:58):
were sort of invested in the racial apparatus
of slavery slavery started writing and talking
about enslaved women and increasingly
animalizing and
dehumanizing ways to sort of
make the ideological separation between
African women who were enslavable and white
(05:18):
women who were not enslaveable. Right. So we start
to see the descriptions of African women become
more racist, more kind of
violent, as slave labor becomes
in higher demand.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (05:34):
Enslaved women faced a unique set of horrors,
including sexual violence, which was
both a tool of power and a method
of control. Many
women bore children who inherited their
enslaved status through the doctrine
the child follows the belly. This
(05:54):
legal principle meant that enslaved women's
bodies became sites of
exploitation, perpetuating
generational enslavement.
This violence wasn't confined to women
alone. Men also faced sexual
abuse, often as a form of
punishment. However,
(06:15):
enslaved women's proximity to plantation
households. Expose them to daily
physical and psychological abuse.
The legacies of these traumas continue
to ripple through generations.
Dr. Elaine shows us how deeply
enslavement reach into every aspect of
(06:36):
life, Shaping identities before birth
and positioning women's bodies as vessels
of oppression. Sexual violence,
though certainly not exclusive to women,
weighed especially heavy on them, leaving scars
that echoes through generations.
To understand how these brutal realities
(06:57):
translated into everyday life, we need to
consider the roles and expectations placed
upon enslaved individuals.
Who was permitted to learn a trade,
to oversee others or move with
relative freedom or even
limited. And who was confined to
grueling labor or domestic servitude with no
(07:20):
refuge from violence and control?
M By examining these distinctions
between men and women's experiences,
we'll gain a clearer view of how deeply
gender influenced every facet of
enslavement. Dr. Elaine
will now continue to shed light on these crucial
(07:40):
differences, guiding us further into the
complex hierarchies that shape people's lives
across the Caribbean.
>> Dr. Elaine (07:50):
Another difference between the experiences of
enslaved women and enslaved men has to do with
sexual violence. I just want to say I think it would be
wrong to assume that enslaved men didn't
experience sexual violence. We don't have a ton
of archival evidence of this, but knowing
what we know about how violence was such an everyday
(08:10):
feature of Caribbean slavery, I
suspect that men were victims of sexual abuse more than
we know about. However, as in Caribbean
slave societies were societies in which women
were especially vulnerable to sexual
violence.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (08:28):
As Dr. Elaine explains, the laws and
perceptions that emerged during this period
did more than define who was enslaved.
They shaped the core of how an individual were
seen, treated, and
valued. Within this world, gender
added another complex layer to the already oppressive
(08:48):
structures of enslavement.
To understand the lived realities of
those here on Cintastasius, we must consider
how these overlapping systems affected
both women and men, often in distinct
and deeply unjust ways.
How did these societal frameworks translate into
daily life for the enslaved individuals?
(09:11):
Which rules could they access and
which spaces were they forced to occupy?
And most importantly, how did women and
men's experience differ beneath the weight of these
harsh hierarchies? By
examining the difference in their labor, status
and vulnerability, we gain a clearer
(09:31):
sense of how power and violence
shaped every aspect of their existence.
Dr. Elaine will continue to elaborate on these
insight as, ah, we explored these crucial
distinctions.
>> Dr. Elaine (09:46):
One major difference between the experiences of
enslaved women and enslaved men has to do with the kind
of work they did. So Caribbean plantations were
very hierarchical. White people were on top. But
even among the enslaved, there was a hierarchy.
And enslaved men had much greater access to than
enslaved women to particular roles that afforded them a
higher status. For example, some men worked
(10:09):
as slave drivers, which meant that they oversaw and
disciplined enslaved laborers as they worked. And
this is not a role that women generally had
access to. Enslaved men also had access to
certain skilled trades, such as blacksmithing. And
in the French Caribbean, enslaved men also had access to the
position of chef. And this again, offered them more
(10:29):
authority and status. One exception I can
think of is that in the French Caribbean, enslaved women
sometimes held nursing roles in plantation
hospitals. This was a fairly privileged
position. Um, while the majority of
enslaved women worked in the fields
alongside men, and in fact, in Certain parts of the
Caribbean, at certain junctures, women actually
(10:51):
outnumbered men among those who worked,
uh, in the fields. A small number of women worked
as domestics within plantation households.
And there's this sort of long standing myth that
enslaved domestics had easy lives or were
in cahoots with slaveholders. And,
you know, household work was indeed easier on the
(11:11):
body than harvesting sugar cane, because harvesting
sugarcane was notoriously, just
incredibly physically taxing.
Um, but one of the downsides to
working in plantation households was that it placed
enslaved women in close proximity to
slaveholders. And, uh, this exposed them
to extreme daily violence, physical violence,
(11:33):
sexual violence, and psychological torture.
There's a book called out of the House of the
Transformation of the Plantation Household that
describes this in the context of the United States.
And I think the same thesis kind of holds true for the
Caribbean.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (11:51):
Dr. Alain's words paint a troubling
picture. Even in the roles considered more
privileged than field work, enslaved
women were not separated from brutality.
Proximity to the enslaver's household meant
proximity to profound emotional and physical
harm. What seemed less
(12:11):
taxing on the body often proved more
harrowing for the spirit.
This stark truth leaves no illusion.
There was no safe haven from the oppressive
grip of enslavement, and any appearance
of comfort came at an unforgiving
cost. These insights remind
(12:32):
us that the reach of enslavement and the cruelty it
fueled stretch far beyond a single
place. To understand how they took root
here on Sint Eustacea specifically, we must now return
to the island's own narrative, one shaped by
distant trade routes and imperial ambitions,
yet formed by the fairy people who built its
(12:52):
warehouses, worked its fields, and
sealed its shores. We
now turn to Mrs. Tutikao, a longtime resident
and founding member of the island's archaeological
research center. She will help guide us from
the broad regional picture into the tangible
changes unfolding here on
Sintostatius.
>> Dr. Sahidi (13:15):
After the war with France in 1650, the
Asia belonged to the Dutch, was
raided several times by other people. But the
Dutch began to establish. They first started
raising crops. They actually raised
tobacco, and they started raising
sugar. Um, and when we
were exporting those, they started building
(13:36):
warehouses on the waterfront. By
1700, there were already 20 warehouses on
the waterfront. Those warehouses were
exporting products. It was the beginning of the
actual trade of, uh, project to and
from Stacia.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (13:53):
As Mrs. Tsutakow explains, by the
dawn of the 18th century, Sinter Statius
was evolving into more than a distant colonial
outpost. It was becoming a thriving center of
commerce. Warehouses lined the
waterfront, enabling a steady flow of goods
in and out. Yet trade isn't
defined by infrastructure alone. It, it's shaped
(14:15):
by the objects exchanged, the values they carry,
and the human stories woven through them.
To understand how a seemingly humble
glass bead could embed itself so deeply
into this island's story, we now turn
to archaeologist Dr. Sahidi.
Having previously lived and worked here on
(14:36):
Sintostatius, Dr. Sahidi has
extensively researched the island's
bluebeads. Specializing in post
colonial community heritage, she
brings valuable insight into their origins,
significance, and the method used to create
them, Starting with the exploration of what these
beads looked like and how they were produced.
>> Dr. Sahidi (15:02):
So then they started producing these beads
in different parts of the Netherlands. There were a couple of
factories in Amsterdam, and there were
also several, um, factories in Bavaria.
But then when the beads came to Stacia, they were kind of
entangled in this economy of enslaved people on the
island. So the beads were made in a few different
(15:23):
ways. There's two main types.
One is called a furnace wound bead,
where you would take a, uh, rod
and then take a piece of essentially
glass thread and, uh, wind
it around the rod to make the shape of the
bead. So when you find those big
(15:43):
round beads that kind of have those very fine
lines and crevices in them, those are wound
beads. The five sided blue beads that
we find on Stacia are hold
beads. And so you would have a long rod
of glass and then divide it
into pieces and shape it. And so
sometimes when you find those five sided beads, you'll find a double
(16:05):
bead. And that means that that bead wasn't
broken at the line where it was supposed to be
broken. It just, um, stayed a double
bead. So those are the main
types in terms of the five sided
beads that we see on Stacia. We call it the stacia
bead. They are
found in an unusually high concentration on
(16:27):
stacia, but they're not only found on
stacia. Um,
unfortunately, with a lot of these
histories that are tied to
enslavement, we
don't really have a lot of information apart from
what we find in the archaeological record
and from oral histories. Blue beads aren't
(16:48):
really written about that much in the archives, and that's why oral
histories are so important. As
for why so many are on stacia, we don't really
know. It seems pretty clear
that bluebead hole was
a shipwreck site
because we find ballast stones at blue bead hole and a high
(17:09):
concentration of stacia beads.
Um, it's Possible that
for a period that they were being produced, that was
a time when there was a lot of trading happening in Stacia
and many rounds of those beads were brought to Stacia, and
that's what we find now.
But there's so much to learn about them.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (17:31):
The underwater site Dr. Uh, Tsahidi refers to as
Bluebeet hole remains an intriguing dive
site here on Cintastasius where remnants
of these beads can still be found today.
The underwater site offers us
a unique glimpse into the journey of these beads
as they traveled across oceans and through time.
(17:52):
As we continue tracing their path, we now turn
to Mr. Richardson, the island heritage
inspector. He will guide us further into
understanding how these blue beads were first
crafted in European factories, then
carried along global trade routes and
ultimately becoming an integral part to
everyday life for the enslaved community here on um Sint
(18:15):
Eustachius, and how they continued
to hold meaning well beyond their material
worth.
>> Mr. Richardson (18:24):
We know, of course, the whole story of them being
produced in the Netherlands. I've seen some of the factories
even still exist, one factory that many
people maybe do not notice. But you know, the
Mundplijn in Amsterdam, in the cellar of
that building on the Munplein in Amsterdam was actually one
of the factories where these beads were produced. So
it's quite interesting that that is completely intact and has
(18:46):
a different pur. And of course the bees
origin were made as decorations in the yard,
they were hung in trees, etc. Um,
but they then trickled their way down of course
into our island where they became really a
commodity in trading, especially for enslaved
people. If you go as early back
as for example, the Egyptians, um, present day
(19:08):
Iran, Persia, there was always bead trading in beads.
We know the history of even quite modern Manhattan, um,
being traded for a few beads by the Dutch. There was
trading in beads before money became
something.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (19:23):
The story of Manhattan's so called purchase
with a handful of beads is one of those legends that
completely oversimplifies a far more
complex historical reality. In
1626, when Peter Maynoot,
acting for the Dutch West Indian company,
arranged an exchange with the native
indigenous Lenape people, the offer
(19:45):
reportedly included items such as
blue beads worth about 60 guilders
at the time. Yet
modern scholars suggest that the Lenape people
likely understood this arrangement quite
differently than the Europeans did, as
their concept of land use did not align with
(20:05):
European notions of permanent ownership.
This account, reducing a nuanced
negotiation to a simple story of
Europeans outsmarting supposedly
quote, unquote naive native indigenous
people, highlights once again how
Easily. Cultural complexities can be lost in
(20:26):
translation over time.
It mirrors the misunderstandings and
the imposed narratives that often
overshadows the intricate economies of the
past. Much like the blue beads here on
Cintastasius, the Manhattan legend
challenges our modern assumption.
It reminds us that value is never
(20:49):
fixed. It's molded by perspective,
purpose, and circumstances.
With this in mind, we return to Mr. Richardson's
insight into synthesis, where these
rare cobalt blue beads, once part of a
fast rate of networks, became woven into the
fabric of the island's enslaved community,
(21:10):
transforming from imported trinkets into
tokens of commerce and identity.
>> Mr. Richardson (21:18):
What is interesting though, is that these blue beads, it
trickles down into St. Eustatius.
And the earliest record of blue
beads that I saw on St.
Eustatius, where it's noted in a government
document then, of a ship bringing in blue
beads, is one of the ship logs of 17, um,
10. You see there's a ship coming in
(21:41):
from Amsterdam that had a stop also in
Harlem. And on its way, it also stops
in a port in present day Belgium. And you see it's making these small
little stops along the European coast before it
descends straight into the Atlantic and it sails
all the way to Saint Eustatia. So one of the first, one of the
largest things on the the ship log
that's extracted from the ship and brought onto the
(22:04):
island. Blue or blue glass beads in
tonnage. So that means amount of weight, et cetera, that these beads
were, and they're being brought into the island and it
says for trade. What's interesting is, of course,
fast forwarding from 1710 onwards, you see that
the Blue Petes are becoming more and more prominent
on St. Eustatius, but not actually between the
(22:24):
Dutch and external traders like the French, but more
within the enslaved community. And then you
see that the blue beads from around
1710, that it's actually
intertwined into the community so far
that many people think it's more of an oral
tradition, but it was actually kind of, you
know, dictated to in the sense of the free people
(22:46):
of color, but also the enslaved people of color
amongst themselves started to also trade. So of
course, above you had the general economy of trade
going on, and then below that you had amongst the
enslaved people also the trade that's going on. And I
think that's also quite interesting because it's not really
often expound upon enough, um,
what exactly society of the enslaved people,
(23:09):
what it was like for them. So you see that the blue beads
started to become kind of traded among. And then you
see from earlier records that for three
fishes, you get two blue beads in one of the
letters from the governor. But you also see that, indeed, you
needed enough beads to put around your waist in
order to be married. But then I
tend to think that maybe in that
(23:31):
description, that it's kind of lost in translation, because
in African cultures, it was normal to have beads around
your waist as well. So there's a lot of these things that
you see popping up in different research. But I think,
um, seeing that beads were
also part of African culture before
people were enslaved, I think it was also only
(23:52):
natural that the enslaved people kind of use
that as a kind of way to batter and
trade amongst each other. And again, goes back to what I said in the
beginning of taking things out of Africa, but
taking especially memory with you out of
Africa.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (24:10):
With Mr. Richardson's explanation, it
becomes clear that the blue beads were far
more than a simple form of currency.
Instead, they were deeply woven into the
social fabric of the enslaved community,
reflecting cultural traditions that
predated enslavement in Africa.
(24:30):
These small artifacts embodied
identity, memory, and
resilience, connecting distance,
homeland, with everyday life here on the island.
To better understand how these vibrant
traditions emerged and evolved, we
turn again to the archaeologist Dr. Sahidi, as
(24:51):
she offers valuable insights into the
historical significance and cultural depths of
the blue beads.
>> Dr. Sahidi (25:00):
Before Europeans colonized West Africa, there
was already an intricate and advanced barter
system that was used by different communities and
kingdoms. So when Europeans arrived, they realized there
was already a complex economic system in place
where many different types of objects were being traded.
And among those objects were beads.
(25:20):
And they exploited that knowledge of the value of beads
for different ethnic groups in west Africa and brought that
to the Caribbean with the people that they enslaved. Different
types of beads symbolize different things.
Cowry shells, for example, um, they civilized
wealth, power, fertility, protection.
And often cowrie shells were passed down over many
(25:40):
generations across different kingdoms
and ethnic groups. Certain colors
were also significant. So in particular,
cobalt blue, like the ones that we find in
stacia. Those types of that color of bead were
associated with elite status and the heavens or the
celestial bodies. So this bartering economy
was based on traditional economic systems in West Africa.
(26:02):
But when it was brought to the Caribbean, it prevented
enslaved people from participating in the wider economy of
the island. So instead of paying people
directly for their labor and skills, they were given the
beads. This prevented them from using their skills to build
capital. For example, in other islands where enslaved people were
paid, they could use the money that they received
(26:22):
from their expertise, whether that was blacksmithing,
Tailoring, ship, salvage, whatever. They used that
money to purchase things. Sometimes they even used it
to purchase their own freedom. So those abilities
were restricted on Stacia because of
colonial structures like the blue beet economy. And this is
just one example of how colonists exploited West
African systems for their own benefit. And then
(26:45):
that was transplanted into the Caribbean.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (26:50):
As Dr. Sahidi explains, the blue
beads reflect a complex history, one
that began in the intricate barter system
of West Africa. These beads
carry deep cultural meaning, symbolizing
status, protection, and even
celestial connections.
Yet once brought to the Caribbean by
(27:12):
colonizers, these beads became tools of
exploitation, replacing wages and
restricting economic opportunities for enslaved
individuals. But the
story of these beads doesn't stop here.
Their journey extends far beyond
syntastaceous, revealing connections that
(27:32):
span continents and generations.
To trace this broader movement, we once
again turn to Mr. Richardson as he
explores how blue beads first came to
Stacia, traveled across the Caribbean and
beyond.
>> Mr. Richardson (27:50):
What's also very interesting is that they weren't found anywhere
else. They're not found on any other Dutch
colony. They're found maybe in very little
quantities. And if they're found in a
Dutch colony, it's because they were enslaved people
from Saint Eustatius that ended up there or
prior or after emancipation. To give you an
example, um, there's a plantation in
(28:12):
Suriname where bluebeets from St. Eustatius was found. But
when you look at the year when the plantation
came into existence, and you go into the slave records of
Suriname, um, you see that for at one point,
maybe 40 enslaved people were transported from St.
Eustatius to Suriname. Um, if you look at former Dutch
colonies like Tobago, you
don't find any blue beads there, but you also don't find the
(28:35):
exchange of enslaved people between that island and the Dutch
islands. So it's quite interesting. You only find them where
the enslaved people were living and where the Dutch were trading.
So if you go to Brazil, again, there's a small quantity that would have
been found there in archaeological sites of
former plantations in Olinda. But what, again, what you see is
when you look in the records, you will see there's always
(28:55):
some kind of direct link, link to the island of Saint
Eustatia. So the bees were really traveling with
people off island as well, especially the enslaved.
>> Unidentified (Podcast Host) (29:07):
As we conclude this episode and this chapter
in time, the years between
1650 and 1700s have
revealed how a simple object like the blue
bead holds stories far greater than its
form, woven into the lives of the
inspiration enslaved communities here on Cintastasius. These
tiny artifacts remind us of
(29:28):
resilience, identity and
survival, bridging a distant
homeland with the life here on the island.
In tracing their journey, we've once again
shed light on a darker side of history,
confronting truths that are painful and
necessary. Within these stories, we also
(29:48):
find strength and the enduring power of
memory and culture to adapt,
persist and empower those who carry them
forward. As we close this
episode, we prepare, uh, to move into our next
chapter, where the years between 1700
and 1750 bring an even more
chaotic period. Here on Syntostatius,
(30:10):
as the island grows even busier,
its role in the Caribbean trade
intensifies.
As we step away from this moment, let the
whispers of the past continue to
resonate, illuminating both the
shadows of its history and the
resilience of those who lived it.
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