1690s

Historians have documented that enslaved Africans from the 'Rice Coast' of West Africa (present-day Sierra Leone, Guinea) brought sophisticated knowledge of rice cultivation, tidal irrigation, and processing to South Carolina in the late 17th century. This expertise was central to establishing rice as the colony's dominant export crop and making South Carolina one of the wealthiest colonies in British North America. The knowledge transfer represents a profound African intellectual contribution to American economic history, though the people who possessed it remained enslaved.

Tituba, an enslaved woman of Caribbean (possibly Arawak or African) origin owned by Reverend Samuel Parris, was one of the first three people accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Her dramatic confession — describing a tall man in black, flying on sticks, and red cats — helped ignite the hysteria that led to 19 executions. Historians have examined how her race and enslaved status shaped her vulnerability, her confession strategy, and her ultimate survival; she was eventually sold rather than executed. Her story illuminates the intersection of race, gender, and colonial power.