From EMMANUEL UZOR, Onitsha
Uneasy calm reigns in  Onitsha, Anambra State as child theft has assumed a dangerous dimension in the commercial city with the emergence of a syndicate that allegedly steals  children from Calabar, Cross River State and uses  Onitsha as its sales point.
However, luck ran out on two suspected female members of the syndicate yesterday when they were apprehended at separate spots  by policemen attached to the Okpoko Police Division at  Akwa Ibom Park axis  along Onitsha-Owerri Road after an unidentified  woman was arrested for allegedly stealing two babies from Calabar and selling  them in Onitsha.
Another woman suspected to be a member of the child trafficking syndicate was also arrested by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) attached to Okpoko Police Division at the Calabar Motor Park on Onitsha-Owerri Road.
Daily Sun gathered that the suspects, who were undergoing interrogation at the office of Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr. Emeka Ugwu, were arrested following a tip off by some staff of the Akwa Ibom Motor Park and passersby, who suspected their movements.
According to one of the witnesses simply identified as Obinna, one of the suspects was a regular visitor to the park, and  had always come on a weekly basis with different children after which she would return to Calabar, leaving the children behind.
Obinna said nemesis caught up with the women when one of them came into the park in a vehicle belonging to the Transport Company of Anambra State (TRACAS) with a newly born baby with  blood stains.
“The lady comes to the park almost every week; at times at two weeks interval and we discovered that each time she appeared, she had two or three children mostly day old and one-week old children. There was a day she carried a baby with stain of blood showing that the child had  just been delivered. So, today (yesterday) she came  from Calabar and because we have been monitoring her, we noticed that she had two children with her. But when she resurfaced  to board a bus back to Calabar without those kids, that was when we confirmed our suspicion and invited the police,” he said.

A carpenter, Christopher David has been arrested by Delta state Police for allegedly selling his daughter to ritualists.
Christopher was said to have been reported to the police by his wife, Florence after he gave her some part of the N200,000 he was paid for selling his daughter to the ritualists in Lagos..
It was gathered that in October 2013, Christopher’s wife, Florence David had given birth to their baby girl but was taken away from her after her husband deceived her that they could not take care of the child due to their poor living condition.
The husband however handed the baby over to a woman identified as Grace (surname withheld).
DSP Celestina Kalu, Police spokesperson in the state, confirmed that the suspect has been arrested and would be charged to court after investigations have been completed

The 45th annual NAACP Image Awards have handed out its honors, with 12 Years a Slave winning outstanding motion picture and Kevin Hart being named entertainer of the year.

Lupita Nyong'o took home the first honor of the telecast for her supporting actress work in 12 Years a Slave. Kerry Washington won for ABC's Scandal, which also took outstanding drama series. Nyong'o praised Oprah Winfrey, whom she beat out for the award, calling it "a deep deep honor to be holding this trophy."
Winfrey delivered a heartfelt tribute to late South African President Nelson Mandela midway through the ceremony.











"He was everything we have all have heard and more. He was humble and he was unscathed by any kind of bitterness after all that we know he's been through," Winfrey said. Her remarks were followed by a musical tribute by Stevie Wonder.
David Oyelowo, who won a supporting actor award for  Lee Daniels' The Butler, said the field of African-American centered films was incredibly strong this year.
"To have films like The Butler, 12 Years a Slave, Fruitvale Station and Mandela -- all that have black protagonists with no white savior character holding their hand through the movie is a huge stride forward," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
Ahead of the ceremony, Fruitvale Station took the indie film honor. Beyonce took outstanding female artist, while John Legend won outstanding male artist. Idris Elba was honored for his work in BBC America's Luther.
Anthony Anderson is hosting the ceremony, airing live on TV One.
The NAACP Image Awards honors the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film, and honors those who promote social justice through creative endeavors. Winners were voted upon by NAACP members.
PHOTOS: 35 of 2014's Most Anticipated Movies
Find the list if nominees below, with the winners in bold.
Entertainer of the Year
Kevin Hart (WINNER)
Outstanding Motion Picture
"12 Years A Slave" (WINNER)
"Fruitvale Station"
"Lee Daniels' The Butler"
"Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
"The Best Man Holiday"
Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Forest Whitaker - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (WINNER)
Chadwick Boseman - "42"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "12 Years A Slave"
Idris Elba - "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom"
Michael B. Jordan - "Fruitvale Station"
Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Angela Bassett - "Black Nativity" (WINNER)
Halle Berry - "The Call"
Jennifer Hudson - "Winnie Mandela"
Kerry Washington - "Tyler Perry Presents Peeples"
Nicole Beharie - "42"
Outstanding Comedy Series
"Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET) (WINNER)
"House of Lies" (Showtime)
"Modern Family" (ABC)
"The Game" (BET)
"The Soul Man" (TV Land)
Outstanding Talk Series
"Steve Harvey" (Syndicated) (WINNER)
"Oprah's Lifeclass" (OWN)
"Oprah's Next Chapter" (OWN)
"The Arsenio Hall Show" (Syndicated)
"The Queen Latifah Show" (Syndicated)
Outstanding Drama Series
"Scandal" (ABC) (WINNER)
"Boardwalk Empire" (HBO)
"Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
"The Good Wife" (CBS)
"Treme" (HBO)
Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Kerry Washington - "Scandal" (ABC) (WINNER)
Chandra Wilson - "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
Khandi Alexander - "Treme" (HBO)
Nicole Beharie - "Sleepy Hollow" (FOX)
Regina King - "SouthLAnd" (TNT)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
David Oyelowo - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (WINNER)
Cuba Gooding Jr. - "Lee Daniels' The Butler"
Morris Chestnut - "The Best Man Holiday"
Terrence Howard - "Lee Daniels' The Butler"
Terrence Howard - "The Best Man Holiday"
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Lupita Nyong'o - "12 Years A Slave"  (WINNER)
Alfre Woodard - "12 Years A Slave"
Naomie Harris - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
Octavia Spencer - "Fruitvale Station"
Oprah Winfrey - "Lee Daniels' The Butler"
TELEVISION
Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
Kevin Hart - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET) (WINNER)
Andre Braugher - "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (FOX)
Cedric The Entertainer - "The Soul Man" (TV Land)
Don Cheadle - "House of Lies" (Showtime)
Dulé Hill - "Psych" (USA Network)
Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Aisha Tyler - "Archer" (FX Networks)
Mindy Kaling - "The Mindy Project" (FOX)
Niecy Nash - "The Soul Man" (TV Land)
Tasha Smith - "Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse" (OWN)
Wendy Raquel Robinson - "The Game" (BET)
PHOTOS: 2014 Oscar Nominees
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Boris Kodjoe - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)
Jerry "J B Smoove" Brooks - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)
Morris Chestnut - "Nurse Jackie" (Showtime)
Nick Cannon - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" (BET)
Tracy Morgan - "30 Rock" (NBC)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Anna Deavere Smith - "Nurse Jackie" (Showtime)
Brandy Norwood - "The Game" (BET)
Nia Long - "House of Lies" (Showtime)
Rashida Jones - "Parks and Recreation" (NBC)
Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family" (ABC)
Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
James Pickens, Jr. - "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
LL Cool J - "NCIS: Los Angeles" (CBS)
Michael Ealy - "Almost Human" (FOX)
Shemar Moore - "Criminal Minds" (CBS)
Wendell Pierce - "Treme" (HBO)
PHOTOS: 2014's New Broadcast and Cable TV Shows
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Columbus Short - "Scandal" (ABC)
Guillermo Diaz - "Scandal" (ABC)
Jeffrey Wright - "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO)
Joe Morton - "Scandal" (ABC)
Michael Kenneth Williams - "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Archie Panjabi - "The Good Wife" (CBS)
Debbie Allen - "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC)
Diahann Carroll - "White Collar" (USA)
Taraji P. Henson - "Person of Interest" (CBS)
Vanessa L. Williams - "666 Park Avenue" (ABC)
STORY: Complete Guide to TV Premiere Dates 2014

Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
"Being Mary Jane" (BET) (WINNER)
"Betty & Coretta" (Lifetime)
"CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story" (VH1)
"Luther" (BBC America)
"Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight" (HBO)

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Idris Elba - "Luther" (BBC America) (WINNER)
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "Dancing on the Edge" (Starz)
Danny Glover - "Muhammad Ali's Greatest (HBO)
Malik Yoba - "Betty & Coretta" (Lifetime)
Omari Hardwick - "Being Mary Jane" (BET)

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Gabrielle Union - "Being Mary Jane" (BET) (WINNER)
Angela Bassett - "American Horror Story: Coven" (FX Networks)
Angela Bassett - "Betty & Coretta" (Lifetime)
Gabourey Sidibe - "American Horror Story: Coven" (FX Networks)
Keke Palmer - "CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story" (VH1)

Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series
Aaron D. Spears - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Kristoff St. John - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Lawrence Saint Victor - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Redaric Williams - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Tequan Richmond - "General Hospital" (ABC)

Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
Angell Conwell - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Christel Khalil - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)
Karla Mosley - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Kristolyn Lloyd - "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS)
Tatyana Ali - "The Young and the Restless" (CBS)

Outstanding News/ Information - (Series or Special)
"The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr." (PBS) (WINNER)
"Justice for Trayvon" (BET)
"Mandela: Freedom's Father" (BET)
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" (OWN)
"Unsung" (TV One)


Outstanding Reality Series
"Iyanla: Fix My Life" (OWN) (WINNER)
"Shark Tank" (ABC)
"Sunday Best" (BET)
"The Voice" (NBC)
"Welcome to Sweetie Pie's" (OWN)

Outstanding Variety Series or Special
"Black Girls Rock!" (BET) (WINNER)
"12 Years A Slave: A TV One Special with Cathy Hughes" (TV One)
"Key & Peele" (Comedy Central)
"Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" (HBO)
"Oprah's Master Class" (OWN)

Outstanding Children’s Program
"2013 HALO Awards" (Nickelodeon/TeenNick)
"A.N.T. Farm" (Disney Channel)
"Dora the Explorer" (Nickelodeon)
"Postcards: Mandela" (The Africa Channel)
"Wynton Marsalis: A YoungArts MasterClass" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance in a Youth/ Children’s Program - (Series or Special)
China Anne McClain - "A.N.T. Farm" (Disney Channel)
Eric I. Keyes, III - "Live Life and Win!" (Syndicated)
Fatima Ptacek - "Dora the Explorer" (Nickelodeon)
Karan Brar - "Jessie" (Disney Channel)
Zendaya - "Shake It Up" (Disney Channel)
MUSIC
Outstanding New Artist
Ariana Grande (Republic Records)
Candice Glover (19 Recordings/Interscope Records)
K. Michelle (Atlantic Records)
RaVaughn Brown (Columbia Records)
Zendaya (Hollywood Records)

Outstanding Male Artist
John Legend (Columbia Records) (WINNER)
Bruno Mars (Atlantic Records)
Charlie Wilson (RCA Records)
Justin Timberlake (RCA Records)
Robin Thicke (Star Trak/Interscope)

Outstanding Female Artist
Beyoncé (Columbia Records) (WINNER)
India.Arie (Motown Records)
Janelle Monáe (Bad Boy/Atlantic)
Ledisi (Verve Records)
Mary J Blige (Verve Records/Interscope)

Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration
"#Beautiful" - Mariah Carey feat. Miguel (Island Def Jam)
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell (Star Trak/Interscope)
"Fire We Make" - Alicia Keys feat. Maxwell (RCA Records)
"Hurt You" - Toni Braxton feat. Babyface (Motown Records)
"Suit & Tie" - Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z (RCA Records)

Outstanding Jazz Album
"Summer Horns" - Dave Koz, Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair, Richard Elliot (Concord Records)
"The Beat" - Boney James (Concord Records)
"The Messenger" - Kevin Eubanks (Mack Avenue Records)
"The Morning After: A Musical Love Journey" - Najee (Shanachie)
"The Songs of Stevie Wonder" - SFJAZZ Collective (SFJAZZ Records)

Outstanding Gospel Album - (Traditional or Contemporary)
"Best Days Deluxe Edition" - Tamela Mann (Tillymann Music) (WINNER)
"20 Year Celebration Volume 1 - Best For Last" - Donald Lawrence (Quietwater Entertainment/eOne Music)
"Azusa: The Next Generation" - Hezekiah Walker (RCA Inspiration)
"Good God" - Shirley Caesar (eOne Music)
"Music From the Motion Picture Black Nativity" - Various (RCA Inspiration)

Outstanding World Music Album
"Coming from a Lady" - Lady Ele (13 Black Records)
"Live At The Royal Albert Hall" - Emeli Sande (Capitol)
"Natalie Cole en Español" - Natalie Cole (Verve Records)
"Sing To The Moon" - Laura Mvula (Columbia Records)
"The Standards" - Gloria Estefan (Masterworks)

Outstanding Music Video
"Q.U.E.E.N." - Janelle Monáe feat. Erykah Badu (Bad Boy/Atlantic) (WINNER)
"Cocoa Butter" - India.Arie (Motown Records)
"Fire We Make" - Alicia Keys feat. Maxwell (RCA Records)
"Made To Love" - John Legend (Columbia Records)
"Treasure" - Bruno Mars (Atlantic Records)

Outstanding Song
"All Of Me" - John Legend (Columbia Records)
"Blurred Lines " - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell (Star Trak/Interscope)
"Fire We Make" - Alicia Keys feat. Maxwell (RCA Records)
"Q.U.E.E.N." - Janelle Monáe feat. Erykah Badu (Bad Boy/Atlantic)
"Treasure" - Bruno Mars (Atlantic Records)

Outstanding Album
"20/20 Experience - The Complete Experience" - Justin Timberlake (RCA Records)
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke (Star Trak/Interscope)
"Love In The Future" - John Legend (Columbia Records)
"Love, Charlie" - Charlie Wilson (RCA Records)
"The Electric Lady" - Janelle Monáe (Bad Boy/Atlantic)

LITERATURE

Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction
"A Deeper Love Inside: The Porscha Santiaga Story" - Sister Souljah (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
"Anybody's Daughter" - Pamela Samuels Young (Goldman House Publishing)
"Little Green: An Easy Rawlins Mystery" - Walter Mosley (Doubleday)
"Never Say Never: A Novel" - Victoria Christopher Murray (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster)
"Who Asked You?" - Terry McMillan (Viking)

Outstanding Literary Work - Non-Fiction
"Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices Around the World" - Retha Powers (Little, Brown and Company)
"Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery" - Deborah Willis, Barbara Krauthamer (Temple University Press)
"High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society" - Carl Hart (HarperCollins, Harper)
"Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones" - Hill Harper (Gotham Books)
"The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Donald Yacovone (SmileyBooks)

Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author
"Better Than Good Hair - The Curly Girl Guide to Healthy Gorgeous Natural Hair!" - Nikki Walton with Ernessa T. Carter (Harper Collins- Amistad)
"Ghana Must Go" - Taiye Selasi (The Penguin Press)
"Nine Years Under" - Sheri Booker (Gotham Books)
"On The Come Up" - Hannah Weyer (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)
"The Returned" - Jason Mott (Harlequin MIRA)

Outstanding Literary Work - Biography/ Auto-Biography
"The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks" - Jeanne Theoharis (Beacon Press) (WINNER)
"Buck: A Memoir" - MK Asante (Spiegel & Grau)
"Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington" - Terry Teachout (Gotham Books)
"Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker" - Stanley Crouch (HarperCollins, Harper)
"Mom & Me & Mom" - Maya Angelou (Random House)

Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional
"The Vegucation of Robin: How Real Food Saved My Life" - Robin Quivers (Avery) (WINNER)
"Do I Look Like An ATM? A Parent's Guide to Raising Financially Responsible African American Children" - Sabrina Lamb (Chicago Review Press)
"Plan D: How to Lose Weight and Beat Diabetes (Even If You Don't Have It)" – Sherri Shepherd with Billie Fitzpatrick (HarperCollins, It Books)
"Recruiting and Retaining Culturally Different Students in Gifted Education" - Donna Y. Ford, Ph.D. (Prufrock Press Inc.)
"The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs" - Kevin D. Johnson (Johnson Media Inc.)

Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry
"Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers" - Frank X Walker (University of Georgia Press) (WINNER)
"Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid" - Nikki Giovanni (HarperCollins, William Morrow)
"Hum" - Jamaal May (Alice James Books)
"The Cineaste: Poems" - A. Van Jordan (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
"The Collected Poems of Ai" - Ai (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.)

Outstanding Literary Work - Children
"Nelson Mandela" - Kadir Nelson (HarperCollins Children's Books/Katherine Tegen Books) (WINNER)
"I'm A Pretty Little Black Girl!" - Betty K. Bynum (Author), Claire Armstrong-Parod (Illustrator) (Dream Title Publishing)
"Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me" - Daniel Beaty (Author), Bryan Collier (Illustrator) (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
"Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song" - Andrea Davis Pinkney (Author), Brian Pinkney (Illustrator) (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
"You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!" - Jonah Winter (Author), Terry Widener (Illustrator) (RH Childrens Books; Schwartz & Wade)

Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens
"Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black Paratroopers" - Tanya Lee
  Stone (Candlewick Press) (WINNER)
"God's Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens" - Romal Tune (Judson Press)
"Invasion" - Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic Press/Scholastic)
"Raising the Bar" - Gabrielle Douglas (Zondervan)
"Serafina's Promise: A Novel In Verse" - Ann E. Burg (Scholastic Press/Scholastic)

MOTION PICTURE
Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
"Fruitvale Station" (The Weinstein Company/Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project) (WINNER)
"Blue Caprice" (Sundance Selects)
"Dallas Buyers Club" (Focus Features)
"The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete" (Codeblack Films/Lionsgate/iDeal Partners/State Street)
"The Trials of Muhammad Ali" (Kartemquin Films)
Outstanding International Motion Picture
"War Witch" (Item 7) (WINNER)
"Call Me Kuchu" (Lindy Hop Pictures LLC)
"High Tech, Low Life" (Argot Pictures)
"La Playa D.C." (Burning Blue)
"Lion Ark" (ADI Films)

Outstanding Documentary - (Theatrical)
"Free Angela and All Political Prisoners" (Codeblack Films/Lionsgate) (WINNER)
"20 Feet from Stardom" (Tremolo & Gil Friesen Productions)
"Call Me Kuchu" (Lindy Hop Pictures LLC)
"Girl Rising" (The Documentary Group)
"The New Black" (Promised Land Film)
Outstanding Documentary - (Television)
"Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic " (Showtime) (WINNER)
"Beyoncé: Life Is But a Dream" (HBO)
"Dark Girls" (OWN)
"Venus Vs." (ESPN)
"Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley" (HBO)
WRITING
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
Vincent Brown - "A.N.T. Farm" - influANTces (Disney Channel) (WINNER)
Erica Montolfo-Bura - "The Game" - In Treatment (BET)
Karin Gist - "House of Lies" - Sincerity is an Easy Disguise in This Business (Showtime)
Mara Brock Akil - "The Game" - The Blueprint I & II (BET)
Ralph Farquhar, Chris Spencer - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" - Rock, Paper, Stealers (BET)

Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series
Janine Sherman Barrois - "Criminal Minds" - Strange Fruit (CBS) (WINNER)
Aaron Rahsaan Thomas - "SouthLAnd" - Babel (TNT)
Chitra Elizabeth Sampath, Damian Kindler - "Sleepy Hollow" - Sanctuary (FOX)
Karin Gist - "Revenge" - Mercy (ABC)
Sara Hess - "Orange is the New Black" - Blood Donut (Netflix)

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture - (Theatrical or Television)
John Ridley - "12 Years A Slave" (WINNER)
Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón - "Gravity" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Brian Helgeland - "42" (Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures)
Danny Strong - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
Ryan Coogler - "Fruitvale Station" (The Weinstein Company/Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project)
DIRECTING
Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
Millicent Shelton - "The Hustle" - Rule 4080 (FUSE) (WINNER)
Anton Cropper - "House of Lies" - Sincerity Is an Easy Disguise in This Business (Showtime)
Eric Dean Seaton - "Mighty Med" - Saving The People Who Save People (Disney XD)
Paris Barclay - "Glee" - Diva (FOX)
Stan Lathan - "Real Husbands of Hollywood" - Rock, Paper, Stealers (BET)

Outstanding Directing in a Dramatic Series
Regina King - "SouthLAnd" - Off Duty (TNT) (WINNER)
Carl Franklin - "House of Cards" - Chapter 11 (Netflix)
Ernest Dickerson - "Treme" - Dippermouth Blues (HBO)
Millicent Shelton - "The Fosters" - Clean (ABC Family)
Rob Hardy - "Criminal Minds" - Carbon Copy (CBS)

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture - (Theatrical or Television)
Jono Oliver - "Home" (The Home Film Group)
Justin Chadwick - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" (The Weinstein Company/Distant Horizon, Origin Pictures, Pathé, Videovision Entertainment)
Lee Daniels - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (The Weinstein Company/Lee Daniels Entertainment, Laura Ziskin Productions, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions)
Malcolm D. Lee - "The Best Man Holiday" (Universal Pictures)
Steve McQueen - "12 Years A Slave" (River Road/Plan B/New Regency/Fox Searchlight Pictures)

By Joseph E. Holloway
 Many of the mulatto slave owners separated themselves from the masses of black people and attempted to establish a caste system based on color, wealth, and free status. According to Martin Delany, the colored community of Charleston City clung to the assumptions of the superiority of white blood and brown skin complexion.

These mulattoes of the old free Black elite did not attend church with the dark-skinned blacks of Charleston City.  They not only formed congregations which excluded freedmen of dark complexion, but they only married among other mulattoes to “keep the color in the family.”

Large numbers of free Blacks owned black slaves in numbers disproportionate to their representation in society.  According to the federal census of 1830, free blacks owned more than 10,000 slaves in Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia.  The majority of black slave-owners lived in Louisiana and planted sugar cane.

Slave holding among the mulatto class in South Carolina was widespread according to the first census of 1790, which revealed that 36 out of 102, or 35.2 percent of the free Black heads of family held slaves in Charleston City.  By 1800 one out of every three free black recorded owning slave property.  Between 1820 and 1840 the percentage of slaveholding heads of family ranged from 72.1 to 77.7 percent, however, by 1850 the percentage felt to 42.3 percent.

According to the U.S. Census report in 1860 only a small minority of whites owned slaves.  Out of a population of 27 million whites only eight million  lived in the South, and out of this population fewer than 385,000 owned slaves. In short, the total white population own about 1.4, while the southern white population own about 4.8 enslaved Africans.

On the other hand the black population in 1860 was 4.5 million, with about 500,000 living in the South.  Of the blacks residing in the South, 261,988 were not slaves.  Of this number, 10,689 lived in New Orleans.  In New Orleans over 3,000 free blacks owned slaves, about 28 percent of the free Black population in the city.



The following chart shows the free Black slave owners and their slaves in Charleston, 1790-1860.In 1860 there were at least six African Americans in Louisiana who owned 65 or more slaves.  The largest number, 152 slaves, were owned by the widow C. Richards and her son P.C. Richards, who owned a large sugar cane plantation. Another Black slave magnate in Louisiana with over 100 slaves was Antoine Dubuclet, a sugar planter whose estate was valued at $264, 000. In North Carolina 69 free Blacks were slave owners.

The majority of urban black slave owners were women.  In 1820, free black women represented 68 percent of heads of households in the North and 70 percent of slaveholding heads of colored households in the South.  The large percentage of black women slave owners is explained by manumission by their white fathers,  or inheritance from their white fathers or husbands.  Black women were the majority of slaves emancipated by white slave owning men with whom they had sexual relations.  Thirty-three percent of all the recorded colonial manumissions were mulatto children and 75 percent of all adult manumissions were females.


THE FIRST BLACK SLAVE OWNER--AND  THE ORIGINS OF SLAVERY

Euro-Americans arrived in Jamestown Virginia in 1607, and the first large group of Africans arrived in 1619.  However, House of Burgess records show that Africans were already in the colony before 1619.  John Rolfe provides us with an eyewitness account of this first group.  “About the last of August [1619] came a Dutch man of Warre that sold us twenty negars.”  Among them was one called Antonio from Angola. Later, we find that Antonio becomes Anthony Johnson.  Other listed was Angelo, a negro woman,” and John Pedro, a neger aged 30.” The census of 1624-25 showed that there were twenty-three Africans living in Jamestown, Virginia listed as servants and not slaves.

Africans coming to Jamestown between 1630 and 1640 could expect to be freed after serving their indented period of time about seven to ten years for Africans and Indians.  At this time there was no system of perpetual servitude or slave for life, but the system was rapidly evolving.  Between 1640 and 1660 slavery was becoming a customary reality.  In 1640 three servants of Hugh Gwyn, “a Dutchman called Victor, a Scotchman named James Gregory, and John Punch, a negro,” having run away from their master were overtaken in Maryland and brought back to stand trial for the misbehavior.  The verdict of the court would change the system of indentured servitude and set the system in transition to plantation slavery.  The court ruled that the three servants shall received punishment by whipping and have “thirty stripes apiece.”  The court ordered that the Dutchman and the Scotchman should “first serve out their times with their master according to their Indentures and one whole year apiece after the time of their service is expired” and that they shall served the colony for three years. “The third being a negro. . .shall serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life.” This marks the first time that race and color becomes a factor in the status of both black and white indentured servants.  In other words, the system is rapidly evolving to meet the new demand for cheap labor, and race is slowing being used as the justification for the enslavement of peoples of African origins.  Between 1640 and 1660 Africans were going to court and suing for their freedom.

In 1644 Thomas Bushrod, assignee of Colonel William Smith, sold a mulatto boy named Manuel “as a slave for-Ever, but in September, 1644 the said servant was by the Assembly adjudged no Slave and but to as other Christian servants do and was freed in September, 1665."  A similar ruling is found in the case Robinson.

In 1649, there were about three hundred Africans in the colony and an increasing mulatto population.  African and European indentured servants off springs were increasing and considered alarming in regard to the status of the mulatto.  That is a system was evolving based on being either black or white.

Africans who entered Jamestown between 1620 to 1650 could expect to be freed after serving their indented time and given 50 to 250 acres of land, hogs, cows and seeds and the right to import both white and black indentured servants.  For a brief period in American history between 1630 to 1670, a number of Africans had become freedmen and owned indented white servants.  The act of 1670 forbidden free Negroes to own Christian servants but conceded  the right to own servants of their own race.  By 1670, it was becoming customary to hold African servants as “slaves for life,” and by 1681 what was customary became law.

The first laws regarding the status of Africans recognized the free blacks.  The first status was passed in 1662 provided that the status of offspring should follow that status of the mother.  What this law did was to allow white fathers to enslave their own children, and free women of color to perpetuate the free black population.  In other words, it also guaranteed freed black females the right to extend their free status to their children.  Black women who have served their indentured period would not provide foundation for the free black community.  Many of those African who were grandfathered in the new system not only became the free black community, but this is the origins of Black slave owners.

The act of 1668 dealing with the condition of the colored population related solely to the tax obligations of a free black woman, and two years later an act guaranteed to “negroes manumitted or otherwise free” the right to own servants of their own race and expressly denied to them the right to purchase or to own white or “Christian servants.”  This law recognized and sanctioned slavery, but also guaranteed the continuity of the free black class, who were now largely mulatto.

ANTHONY JOHNSON

Black slave owners have not been studied as a part of American history, rather as a datum to American history, and yet slavery as a perpetual institution is legalized based on a case brought before the House of Burgess by an African, who had been indentured in Jamestown, Virginia 1621 and was known as Antonio the Negro according to the earliest records.  He later Anglicized his name to Anthony. Anthony Johnson was believed to be the first Black to set foot on Virginia soil.  He was the first black indentured servant, the first free black, and the first to establish the first black community, first black  landowner, first black slave owner, and the first person based on his court case to establish slavery legally in North America.  One could argue that he was the founder of slavery in Virginia.

Anthony Johnson arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1621.  In 1623, Antoney[sic] and Isabella married. The next year they were the proud parents of William.  William is believed to be the first African American born in British America. During his first years in North America, he escaped death in an Indian attack on Jamestown.    During the following year Africans and people of color were a small minority in the Virginia colony.  The census of 1625 reported only twenty-three Africans living in the colony out of a total of 1,275 white people and indigenous Africans.  By 1649 the total black population was only 300 out of a total of 18,500 whites.

In 1635 Johnson’s master, Nathaniel Littleton finally released him.  As the custom was he received a 250 acre plantation in 1651 under the “head right system” by which the colonial government encouraged population growth by awarding fifty acres of land for every new servant a settler brought to Virginia. He became the master of both black and white servants.

Anthony Johnson's plantation was located on the neck of land between two creeks that flowed into the Pungoteague River in Northampton County. A few years later, his relatives, John and Richard Johnson, also acquired land in this area.  John brought eleven servants to the colony and received 550 acres, and Richard brought two and received 100 acres.

In 1654 Anthony Johnson went to court and sued his white neighbor for keeping his black servant John Casor.  Casor claimed that Johnson “had kept him his serv [an] t seven years longer than hee should or ought.  Johnson who the courts described as an “old Negro,” claimed that he was entitled to “ye Negro [Casor] for his life.” Johnson realized that if he continued and persisted in his suit, Casor could win damages against him.  So, Johnson brought suit against his white neighbor Robert Parker, whom Johnson charged had detained Casor “under pretense [that] the s[ai]d  John Casor is a freeman.” The courts now ruled in his favor and John Casor was returned to him and Parker had to pay the court costs.

This case establishes perpetual servitude in North America, and it is ironic that the case was brought to the court by an African who had arrived from Angola in 1621.  Slavery was established in 1654 when Anthony Johnson, Northampton County, convinced the court that he was entitled to the lifetime service of John Casor; this was the first judicial approval of life servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

Anthony Johnson lived on his plantation surrounded by his white neighbors. He had entered a system not based on slavery, but indentured servitude.  There were many Anthony Johnson's in America, who never spent a day in slavery but were owners of slaves.

MARIE THERESE METOYER

In 1767, a Frenchman named Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer met Marie Therese Coin-Coin from the Kongo and promptly fell in love.  They became immediate occupants in Natchitoches, Louisiana where Marie and Claude lived together as man and wife. They had their first children together in January 1768, a set of twins. Things were rough going for the couple; the church would not have anything to do with the relationship and at this time Marie and her infant son Augustine were still enslaved. Early in 1776 Metoyer purchased his child and shortly after that in a private document he freed Marie and the child.   Years later Marie and Metoyer broke up but, not before fathering six children.  Marie stayed in Natchitoches and worked the Melrose plantation Claude Metoyer left for her; he then moved to New Orleans, left for France and married a proper French woman.

In 1778 free nonwhites were a very small minority in Natchitoches, Louisiana.  By 1785, that had not changed.  Marie, Augustine, and two additional sons born to her after manumission were half of the free nonwhite population. By 1786, she had eight children Augustine, Pierre, Joseph, Dominique, Francois, Toussaint, Louis, Marie Suzanne, four of whom were still enslaved.

From the money and land that Metoyer gave her, she started a plantation.  The first crop was tobacco, and in 1792 she was shipping 9,900 rolls to Cuba for cigars (Mills, 30).  She also produced indigo, manufactured medicine and the major source of her income came from hunting bears and fowl.  All this was done with the help of her older sons, because she had no slaves at this time.  She tried for nine years to free her other children from slavery and in 1815 when Metoyer died all her children were freed.  In 1816 written Church documents show that she had twelve slaves, but local tradition credits her with many more.  Marie Theresa now had three plots of land estimated at 11,000 acres.  She was now in her late sixties and completely turned over the plantation to her children.  She died sometime in the spring of 1816.

Augustine was now married and on his own since 1795.  He was the first of Marie and Claude's children to acquire a plantation, and become a slave owner. Within two years he purchased his first slave, a male between the age of eighteen and twenty to help him clear the fields.  Most of the slaves he bought were for labor, but he did purchase some for family devotion.  In 1798, he bought his second slave, an eight-year-old named Marguerite who was his wife's sister.  In 1800, $300 was paid for his third slave; this was a child of his still enslaved brother.  The next year a slave named Marie was purchased and became Pierre’s wife.  His second labor slave was purchased in 1806, a female to be the wife of the male he already owned.  In June of 1809, Augustine purchased eight “African Negroes” for $3,500 cash: a male, five boys and two girls aged eleven to thirteen, and then three of the males were sold to his brother for $1,350.  In 1810, he purchased two more slaves from a planter in the next county.  Similar purchases and manumissions are recorded for of the Metoyer children.  In 1810, Marie Suzanne purchased a slave costing $600; the peculiar thing was that she was still a slave herself.  By the 1810 census Augustine had seventeen slaves; Louise, fifteen; Pierre, twelve; Dominique, eight; Francois, three; Joseph, two; and Toussaint, one.  A total of fifty-eight slaves were acquired in just twelve years.  The fifty-eight slaves had increased to 287 by the end of 1830.  The Metoyer surname owned an average of 2.3 slaves per person, and the whites in the county only owned an average of .9 slaves per person.  No other family group came close to matching the holdings of the Metoyer name.

The affluent period was between 1830 and 1840 for the Metoyer family.  Pierre, one of the less prosperous brothers died in 1834 leaving a plantation of 677 acres, after giving his seven children land for their marriages.  Augustine divided the land between six children and kept two plantations for himself, which contained 2,134 acres (Mills, 109).  Early in 1850 the Metoyer family had improved their land by 5,667 acres and had a total of 436 slaves.  In the treatment of Metoyer family slaves there are some contradictory statements.

When it came to the treatment of slaves black owners were “in a bind”.  If they were nice to their slaves, they were considered by the whites to be overly tolerant.  On the other hand, if they treated their slaves harshly the blacks would say they were abusive of “their people”. Legend has it that one of the original Metoyer brothers was a hard taskmaster, but not to his own slaves.  He would try-out the slaves and makes them do the worst work on his plantation, things that he didn’t want his own slaves doing.  After the work was done he would return the slave and claim poor working habits.  That same tradition holds for one of the sisters also; there are also many written advertisements about runaway slaves that the Metoyer family put in the local newspaper.  They occasionally hired a slave catcher to retrieve a slave.  There is no real proof that the Metoyer family was any different from other slave owner’s black or white.   Not all of the black slave owners worked and owned plantations.  There were many black masters who were artisans and used slaves as workers. One of the most prominent of these owners was William Ellison.

WILLIAM ELLISON (APRIL)

On June 20, 1820 April Ellison appeared in the Sumter District courthouse in Summerville, South Carolina, to change his slave name.  Since, he was a free man he wanted his name changed to his former master’s William.

After his emancipation William moved to Stateburg, South Carolina (see figure 2) and became an apprentice for Mr. William McCreight.  After four years of hard labor and William Ellison was ready to start his own business as a gin maker.  The first few years he primarily repaired gins, but each year his customers and reputation grew.  Between June 8, 1816 and January 1817, William (then April) purchased and freed his wife Matilda and his daughter Eliza Ann and brought them to Stateburg.  His son Henry was born in or near Stateburg in January 1817, followed two years later by William Jr. and in another two years by Reuben.

By 1820 Ellison had managed to buy his first two slaves, two males, ages twenty-six and forty-five respectively.  With the purchase of the two slaves he demonstrated to the local whites that he was not afraid to own, use and exploit slave labor.  In just four short years he was a master gin maker, had changed his name and was now a slave owner.

William purchased a valuable location for his shop right at the cross road of town.  The going rate at the time was $3.00 to $7.00 an acre, but he knew what prime land was worth and paid $375.00 for the land to his shop.  The gin business flourished, and his reputation among the whites grew.  Now that he was a prominent figure in the community he purchased more land, but this land was for a plantation.

To William Ellison slaves were a source of labor.  This ideology helps to explain why there was a ratio male to female of 4 to 1 in the 1860s.  The male slaves were a direct source of income, the females were future benefits.  Assuming that the women produced children at a ratio of one boy to one girl the best explanation for a shortage of girls is that they were sold as slaves.  The average price for a slave girl was $400 and selling twenty girls would add additional $8,000 cash, which could contribute to land and slave purchases.  This silent tradition around Stateburg was not questioned, but his reputation as a harsh master was talked about.  His slaves were said to be the district's worst fed and clothed. Ellison and his family lived frugally; he was even more tightfisted about providing food, clothes, and housing for his slaves.  His harsh treatment may have come from the fact that his slaves were very bitter, because the men and women had seen their daughters sold away into slavery.  Also, the harsh treatment could have been from Ellison’s need to prove to the whites that he was not soft on slaves, because of his color. Sometimes his slaves ran away, and on at least one occasion he hired a slave catcher.  He never skipped on medical care for his slaves, but he did not care to help their spiritual needs.  Through all the years William Ellison may have been harsh on his slaves, but the money they produced helped keep his family well-to-do up until the Civil war.

In 1829 he purchased two more male slaves between the ages twelve and twenty-four.  Early in the 1830s Ellison started using his sons as gin makers, but there was still more work than the men could handle.  At the end of the decade, Ellison now owned thirty-six slaves thirty were male, and six female who mostly worked the fields and produced children.  The census at this time had Ellison with fourteen slaves.  As his ownership of slaves grew so did his land, buying over 350 acres in that ten-year span.  By his fiftieth birthday, in 1840, William had reached a plateau that few whites let alone blacks had ever reached.  In the early 1840s his sons and daughters married mulattos from Charleston and came to live on the Ellison Plantation.  His sons became slave owners with the help of their father.  The slaves were from the Ellison family and were just passed down to the next generation.  These slaves were not income producing slaves, but rather house servants.  By 1860, Ellison increased his slave population from thirty-six in 1850 to sixty-three, an increase of seventy-five percent.

That year, in the census he reported that his total worth was just over $61,000, which was very low for the property and personal slaves that he owned.  The man who started out life as a slave achieved financial success.  His wealth was 90 percent greater than his white neighbors in Sumter district.  In the entire state, only five percent owned as much real estate as Ellison.  His wealth was fifteen times greater than that of the state’s average for whites, and Ellison owned more than 99 percent of the South’s slaveholders. He never achieved a monopoly in Stateburg, but was the highest producing slave owner in the county.  Without slaves Ellison could never gotten past the income of a tradesman; with the slaves he accomplished the security of no other.

Although, a successful slave owner and cotton farmer, Ellison major source of income came from “slave breeding.”  Throughout the South slave breeding was looked down on with disgust.  He began slave breeding in 1840.  Females were not productive workers in his factor or cotton fields, so he only kept a few women for breeders, and sold most of his females.  He had the reputation of being a harsh master.  His slaves were the worst fed and clothed. He maintained on his property a windowless building where he chained his problem slaves.

His slaves were listed among the runaways because of his harsh treatment. Having started life out as a slave did not make him sensitive to their needs because he saw his slaves as no more than property.

On one occasion Ellison hired the services of a slave catcher.  According to an account by Robert N. Andrews, a white man who had purchased a small hotel in Stateburg in the 1820s hunted down one of his valuable slave in Belleville, Virginia.  He stated: “I was paid  $77.50 returning the slave, and $74.00 for expenses.”

William Ellison died on December 5, 1861.  According to his last will and testament his estate should be divided jointly by his free daughter and two surviving sons; he also bequeathed $500 to a daughter he had sold into slavery.

During the Civil War the Ellison family actively participated and supported the Confederacy throughout the war.  They converted nearly their entire plantation to the production of corn, fodder, bacon, corn shucks and cotton for the Confederate armies.  They paid $5,000 in taxes during the war, and they also invested more than $9,000 in Confederate bonds, treasury notes and certificates in addition to the Confederate currency.  At the end of the war all this was worthless and cost the family a great deal of wealth.

On March 27, 1863 John Wilson Buckner, William Ellison’s oldest grandson, enlisted in the 1st South Carolina Artillery.  Buckner served in the company of Captains P. P. Galliard and A. H. Boykin, local whites who knew that Buckner was Black was but overlooked this factor because of the Ellison family’s prestige and money his race status was changed to “honorary” white. Buckner was wounded in action on July 12, 1863.  At his funeral in Stateburg in August, 1895, he was praised by his former Confederate officers as being a “faithful soldier.”

WHITE SKIN BLACK MASK

The majority of the colored masters were mulattoes and their slaves were overwhelmingly of black skin.  There was strong division between the two classes based on color, class, status and a culture of whiteness.  There was a color and cultural clash between the two groups.  The mulatto community in Charleston separated themselves from the dark skinned people, and they banned dark skinned people from their social clubs and seldom married unmixed blacks.

They created exclusionary societies such as the Brown Fellowship society.  Membership was based on brown skin meaning the sons and daughters of slave masters.  They formed schools and benevolent groups to provide mutual aid and operated a burial ground and society.  Among its members were John W. Gordon, William T. Oliver, Edward P. and Lafayette F. Wall, Richard Dereef and Robert Houston.

Richard Edward Dereef was one of the richest black men in Charleston.  He had a Wharf at the end of Chapel Street, was in the wood business, and owned slaves and rental properties, most of which were located on the east side of Charleston. Richard Dereef would never have been accepted into Charleston’s elite mulatto society, but he claimed to be an Indian- and had money. For the most part the mulatto slave owner aligned themselves with the white ruling class and helped to preserve the system of slavery.

Among black slave holders the free mulattoes owners were over represented,  being the offspring of white planters and merchants.  Many of their white fathers provided for them.  Thomas Hanscome, a white planter of St. James and Goose Creek, provided for the mulatto children of Nancy Randale, a free black woman, with six slaves as well as stocks and bonds valued at $150,000.  In 1823, the mulatto children of Henry Glencamp, the superintendent of the Sante Canal, and Jenny Wilson, a free black woman, inherited eighteen slaves as well as the plantation called Pine Hill in Stephens of Charleston District.

Many white fathers accepted their black children as legitimate heirs.  For example, the children of Michael Fowler, a white planter of Christ church Parish, and his black slave/wife named Sibb lived as man and wife and raised a family on his plantation.  According to Calvin D. Wilson “there was a rich planter in Charleston named Fowler who took a woman of African descent and established her in his home…There was a daughter born, who was called Isabella; the planter insisted that she be called as miss Fowler.  He expected his slaves to treat his mulatto children if though they were white.  His children were so acculturated into the white elite slave holding class that they only associated with whites.  In 1810, the estate of Michael Fowler was divided among his mulatto children: John Fowler, Jacob Fowler, Stanhope Fowler, Nelly Fowler Collins, Becky Fowler and Isabell Fowler Dereef.  The Fowler failed to emancipate any of their slaves and regarded them as investment property.  They held their slaves until the end of the Civil War.

Many enslaved mulattoes like William Ellison started out as a slave.  Another case is Anthony Weston, a de facto free black of Charleston City, was trained as a millwright.  As the slave of Plowder Weston, he was able to hire himself out to several white planters as well as work for his master.  In 1826, his master declared him freed.  His skill as a millwright allowed him to accumulate a great deal of wealth and he began to invest in slaves.  Technically being a slave himself, he purchased a large number of slaves in his wife name between 1834 and 1835, to purchase a total of 20 slaves, investing $8,950.  He trained some of his slaves as  mill wrights and they worked in his business.  He became one of the wealthiest black persons in the city.  By 1860, his estate was valued at $48,075 by city officials

In 1822, Moses Brown, a colored barber, purchased an African American boy named Moses from Mary Warhaim for $300.  He trained the boy in the  art of barbering.  By 1823, the boy was working in his shop on 5 Tradd Street as a barber.  In 1829, Camilla Johnson, a colored pastry cook, purchased a mulatto woman named Charleston Todd from Joseph and Ann Wilkie for $375.  According to a Charleston socialite, Camilla Johnson used her mulatto servant to work at several of the parties she was hired to cater.

RICHARD HOLLOWAY SR.

Richard Holloway Sr., a free person of color bought a slave named Charles Benford in order that the slave might enjoy his freedom.  Yet at the same time he owned other slaves who were not treated so kindly.  In 1834, he purchased a slave woman named Sarah and her two children, Annett and Edward, from Susan B. Robertson for $575.  Within three years after the purchase, he apparently became dissatisfied with the slave family and sold them for $945. Even though Richard Holloway, Sr., allowed a trusted servant to enjoy-his freedom, he was still a slave owner for profit.  He sold and purchased slaves as an investment.

In 1851, Elizabeth Collinis Holloway, a woman of color, placed her servant Celia in the city jail after her slave had run away.  In 1852, Holloway’s servant Peggy was confined in the workhouse for disciplinary reasons.

In the Palmetto (rice areas) there were only seven large rice planters of African descent, and they were primarily related to white kin. One example of this is the Pendarvis family, which was one of the largest slave owning “colored” families to plant rice in the state during the 1730s.  The mulatto children of Joseph Pendarvis, a white planter of Colleton County, and his African mistress Parthena, were given 1,009 acres of land near the Green Savanna as well as a plantation in Charleston Neck.  Joseph Pendarvis gave to his children James, Brand, William, John, Thomas, Mary, and Elizabeth, land, money and slaves.  They became one of the wealthiest and most prominent slaveholding families in South Carolina.  James the first born received most of the property of his deceased father, and owned more than 100 slaves.  By 1786, he owned 113 slaves and 3,250 acres of land.  The 1790 census informs us that he owned 123 slaves.  Many of the mulatto offspring of white planters became large plantation owners in their own right.

For example, Margaret Mitchell Harris and her half brother Robert Michael Collins inherit money, plantation and slaves from their white father.  In 1844, she bought Santee Plantation for 4,050, but made $7,635 from the harvest in 1849.  She ran a profitable enterprise.

SUMMARY

The notion of a homogenous African American group united by a common African ethnicity and culture is a myth. Many scholars failed to recognize the diversity in language, culture, class and color among African Americans, and how those differences provided one group of African Americans with extraordinary opportunities for higher educational and trade skills  when compared to the black population.  Historically, there has always been great tension between the “mulatto” and black classes because of the association of “yellow” skin with high status and class within the black social apex.  Slave masters exploited these tensions for their obvious benefits, keeping their mulatto children elevated over the African field worker, and African Americans have continue to perpetuated this system of privilege and discrimination based on light skin long after whites stop make any distinction between light and dark skinned blacks. The root to this disparity is the American plantation during the 17th and 18th century.

The majority of black slave owners were members of the mulatto class, and in most cases were the sons and daughters of white slave masters.  Many of the mulatto slave owners separated themselves from the masses of black people and attempted to establish a caste system based on color, wealth, and free status. According to Martin Delany, the colored community of Charleston City clung to the assumptions of the superiority of white blood and brown skin complexion.

After slavery it was the children of the mulato class that was more willing to cross the color line and to bridge the gap between light-skinned and dark-skinned blacks.  Also, a large number of the “new” black leaders in the South came from this class/caste group.  The sons and daughters of black slave masters were educated and resourceful.  In the late 1860s, Frances Rollins, the daughter of William Rollins, a black slave owner of Charleston City, worked as a school teacher in Beaufort County.  She was educated at the Institution for Colored Youth in Philadelphia and was one of four sisters who worked to uplift the newly freed in South Carolina.  Later, she married William James Whipper, a state representative of South Carolina.  Thaddeus Sasportas, the son of Joseph A. Sasportas, a mulatto slave owner, went to Orangeburg County to aid the ex-slaves and to work as a teacher, where he taught ex-slaves to read and write.

Bibliography

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Elkins, Stanley M. Slavery A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969. 165.

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