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"Superior American Negro Cloths" advertised in a Charleston, South Carolina newspaper in 1826

Negro cloth or Lowell cloth was a coarse and strong cloth used for slaves' clothing in the West Indies and the Southern Colonies.[1][2][3] The cloth was imported from Europe (primarily Wales) in the 18th and 19th centuries.[4][5]

The name Lowell cloth came from the town Lowell in Massachusetts, United States, where the cloth was produced.[6]

The Act of 1735

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South Carolina's Negro Act of 1735 had various cheap materials dictated for slave clothes that include ''Negro cloth, duffelds, course kiersies, osnaburg, blue linen, checked linen, coarse calicoes and checked kinds of cotton''[7][8][9][10]

Types

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Negro cloth was a woven material made of cotton or blended coarse threads also homespun.[11][12][13][14] These were inexpensive and lower grades of cloth.[4] Certain long cloths of coarser varieties and Salampore were among recognized Indian materials; the Dutch merchants called them ''Guinea or Negro cloth.'' [15][16][17] ''Guinea cloth'' was a generic term for various inferior Indian piece goods traded for the purpose,[18] such as inexpensive dyed plain and patterned calicoes like stripes and checks.[19][20]

Quality

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Negro cloth was durable, but often regarded by its wearers as coarse, rough, and uncomfortable. Those freed from slavery recalled the cloth feeling akin to "needles sticking one all the time."[4][21]

Garments

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The cloth was converted into various garments, such as breeches, jackets, skirts,[6] bodices, shirts and trousers.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Definition of NEGRO CLOTH". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  2. ^ Ownby, Ted; Walton, Becca (2020-07-23). Clothing and Fashion in Southern History. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-2952-8.
  3. ^ Olmsted, Frederick Law (1861). A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States, with Remarks on Their Economy. Mason Brothers. p. 27.
  4. ^ a b c Miller, Randall M.; Smith, John David (1997). Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 459. ISBN 978-0-275-95799-5.
  5. ^ "Lowell Cloth". University of Massachusetts Lowell: Library. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b Katz-Hyman, Martha B.; Rice, Kym S. (2011). World of a Slave: Encyclopedia of the Material Life of Slaves in the United States. ABC-CLIO. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-313-34942-3.
  7. ^ Staples, Kathleen A.; Shaw, Madelyn C. (2013-06-25). Clothing Through American History: The British Colonial Era. ABC-CLIO. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-313-08460-7.
  8. ^ White, Shane; White, Graham (2018-10-18). Stylin': African-American Expressive Culture, from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. Cornell University Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-5017-1808-3.
  9. ^ South Carolina Historical Magazine. South Carolina Historical Society. 1981. p. 233.
  10. ^ "NPS Ethnography: African American Heritage & Ethnography". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-15.
  11. ^ a b F, José Blanco; Hunt-Hurst, Patricia Kay; Lee, Heather Vaughan; Doering, Mary (2015). Clothing and Fashion: American Fashion from Head to Toe [4 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-61069-310-3. Most clothing was made out of coarse, inexpensive cloth such as osnaburg, "jeans," homespun, and a plain-weave white cotton or wool fabric advertised as "Negro cloth." These fabrics were used to construct shirts, skirts, bodices, and trousers
  12. ^ Tongate, Vicki Adams (2016-02-23). Another Year Finds Me in Texas: The Civil War Diary of Lucy Pier Stevens. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-4773-0864-6. Negro cloth, a roughly woven blend known for its service and durability, was a mainstay of the slaves' clothing, and with the approach of winter weather, the women of the household focused more heavily on producing this fabric.
  13. ^ Dialect Notes. American Dialect Society. 1939. p. 730.
  14. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1877). Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States. Little, Brown. p. 422.
  15. ^ Mathew, Kuzhippalli Skaria (1997). Ship-building and Navigation in the Indian Ocean Region, AD 1400-1800. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. p. 160. ISBN 978-81-215-0739-4.
  16. ^ Shastri, Ajay Mitra; Sharma, R. K.; Handa, Devendra (2005). Revealing India's Past: Recent Trends in Art and Archaeology : Prof. Ajay Mitra Shastri Commemoration Volume. Aryan Books International. p. 142. ISBN 978-81-7305-287-3.
  17. ^ Session, Orissa History Congress (1990). Proceedings of the Annual Session. The Congress. p. 87.
  18. ^ Evenson, Sandra Lee (1994). A History of Indian Madras Manufacture and Trade: Shifting Patterns of Exchange. University of Minnesota. p. 65.
  19. ^ Evenson, Sandra Lee (1994). A History of Indian Madras Manufacture and Trade: Shifting Patterns of Exchange. University of Minnesota. pp. 66, 68, 69.
  20. ^ Kriger, Colleen E.; Kriger, Colleen E. (2006). Cloth in West African History. Rowman Altamira. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-7591-0422-8.
  21. ^ Smith, Merril D. (2015-08-28). The World of the American Revolution: A Daily Life Encyclopedia [2 volumes]: A Daily Life Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 283. ISBN 978-1-4408-3028-0.


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