Soaked in Blue: Indigo, Enslavement, and Value in Eighteenth-Century South Carolina

Abstract

Indigo was the most exported product from South Carolina in the mid-eighteenth century, but little scholarship has been devoted to the enslaved laborers that manufactured indigo dye through gruesome conditions. This thesis highlights their experience and argues that they created value out of indigo through identity creation, spiritual significance, and connections with their West African homeland. By wearing indigo-dyed blue clothing, enslaved people could intentionally associate their identity with the color through repeated wear and trade to create specific blue looks. By painting their living quarters with leftover indigo residue, known today as “haint blue,” enslaved communities received spiritual value from the protective quality culturally associated with indigo blue. By engaging with West African-inspired craftwork traditions that centered indigo, they furthered their heritage and created new significance for indigo within a new enslaved context. This research contributes new understandings of both the indigo industry and how enslaved individuals in South Carolina expressed humanity and choice.