美国内战前的黑人海员与黑奴的海上逃亡研究

A Study on the Sea Escape of Black Sailors and Black Slaves Before the American Civil War

美国内战前的黑人海员构建了与陆地黑人社区所不同的黑人文化体系,这表现在船只上模糊的种族界限和失序的种族秩序,进而影响到黑人海员的种族观念。大西洋视野下的航海活动塑造了黑人海员的信息媒介角色,使其担负起向南方港口城市传播废奴思想的任务,在精神层面推动奴隶逃亡。自由人身份以及海员职业的加持为黑人海员接触港口的黑奴提供便利,这为海员将黑奴藏匿在开往自由州的船从而获得自由身创造了条件。“地下铁路”在黑人海员的助力下进一步发展,从而推进了其援助逃奴的工作。19世纪上半叶,黑奴在黑人海员的帮助下逃往自由州已经是屡禁不绝的现象,南方奴隶主阶级推出《黑人海员法》等法案企图限制黑人海员,这进一步激化了南北矛盾,推动了内战的到来。

The sailing activities in the Atlantic Ocean in the 18th and 19th centuries shaped the role of black sailors as information media,making them take on the task of disseminating the idea of abolition of slavery to the southern port cities,and then promoting the escape of black slaves on a spiritual level.The status of a free man and the blessing of the seaman’s profession facilitated the access of black seamen to black slaves in ports,which created the conditions for seamen to hide black slaves on ships bound for free states and thus gain freedom.In the first half of the 19th century,it was a phenomenon that black slaves fled to free states with the help of black seamen.The southern slave owners introduced bills such as the“Black Seamen Act”in an attempt to restrict black seamen,which further intensified the conflict between the North and the South,thus leading to the Civil War.