Short Essay Three

            The works of Bolster and McKnight & Garofalo both discuss the capacity of Africans to utilize the tools at their disposal in order to seek improvements in their lives.  The paths of both the African Latinos, and the African Americans seemed impossibly difficult, yet it was the skills of the few that opened up new possibilities in a world of conflict.  The African Americans differed from the African Latinos mainly due to the opportunity presented to them at certain times.  The African Americans were part of a booming maritime culture, which opened up a new avenue for them to pursue happiness.  The African Latinos however, seemed to be a product of their environment, and gained only limited mobility through situational interactions with colonial authority.  In other words, African Americans had a chance to completely change their fortune, while African Latinos only had the capability to improve theirs.  Ultimately, the cultural success of African Seafarers led to a potential threat of a growing egalitarian atmosphere with their white counterparts, which led to the eventual decline of African involvement in the maritime economy.

            Bolster makes the case that African American sailors and seamen were Americans first, and African "creoles" second.  I entirely agree with Bolster, and the War of 1812 proved this patriotism whole heartedly.  Sailors captured by the British were either impressed into the Navy, or sent off to Dartmoor prison.  Bolster claims that "more black than white American sailors opted for prison rather than service against the United States..." and that "no black man who routinely associated with white Americans wished to be branded a traitor."  (Bolster, 115)  The economic opportunities working in the maritime field provided African Americans with the means to attain certain levels of freedom (if not entirely free), a chance to support a family, and most importantly, a feeling of self-worth.  Although the country constantly threw hurdles at African Americans throughout their involvement in seafaring, they maintained their association as an American citizen, especially during a time of war.  The notion of identifying themselves as an American, grew out of the gradual "Americanization" process undertaken by the African sailors fortunate enough to find mobility through maritime occupations. 

            Bolster argues about this African "Americanism" throughout Black Jacks successfully.  In comparison to the African Latinos in Afro-Latino Voices, African Americans' displayed behavior can be considered extremely different.  Many of the documents in McKnight & Garofalo emphasize African Latinos fight for improving their situation, or securing it.  For example, The confraternity in Rio de Janeiro is prioritized with their African brothers helping each other out through whatever assistance may be needed (funeral arrangements, money for freedom, etc.).  Certain Africans in America were not motivated through cultural similarities and brotherhood, but by the economic freedom that individual hard work as sailors brought them.  Those seamen who were enslaved were even able to experience the freedoms that marine life provided, "including considerable amounts of time without white supervision; substantial freedom of movement; and an independent income from perquisites and petty trading."  (Bolster, 135)  Aside from marginal economic gains, the African sailors in America behaved in a way that propelled racial advancement to levels never before seen. 

            Afro-Latinos were able to negotiate with Spanish authority in regards to specific situations that arose about freedom, like those at El Cobre or the community at Esmeraldas.  However, once the African Americans tasted the freedom sailing offered them, they were able to spread the word about an assumption of rights throughout the country  (Bolster, 149).  This assumption of rights developed through their  maritime experience, which revealed to Africans that they should be on equal terms with whites.  Instead of writing to colonial authority, a black nationalist in America named David Walker published Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World  (Bolster, 197).  This work circulated, and was an extremely radical revolutionary publication, making clear the self accomplishment and equality that Africans knew they deserved.  This writing, and along with other economic factors, led to laws being passed against Africans in America to limit or stop their racial advancements attained through their seafaring adventures.  The most defining difference between the displayed behavior of African Latinos, and African Americans is seen through their scope of acquiring change.  One is local, while the other is global.   

             The passing of the Negro Seamen Acts and changes in how sailors were employed, led to the decline of African American's important role as sailors.  However, it was too late, African "Americanism" grew through the experiences of most of the free black sailors, who then spread concepts of freedom wherever they travelled.    

Bolster, W. J. (1997). Black Jacks. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.