Negro cloth or Lowell cloth was a coarse and strong cloth used for slaves' clothing in the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
and the
Southern Colonies. The cloth was imported from Europe (primarily
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
) in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The name ''Lowell cloth'' came from the town
Lowell in Massachusetts, United States, where the cloth was produced.
The Act of 1735
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''
Types
Negro cloth was a woven material made of
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
or
blended coarse threads also homespun.
These were inexpensive and lower grades of cloth.
Certain
long cloths of coarser varieties and
Salampore
Salampore (salempore) was a kind of cotton cloth produced in India. It had been in use since the 17th century and was exported to Europe and Africa.''There were three staple varieties of cotton cloth manufactured in Coromandel - longcloth , salempo ...
were among recognized Indian materials; the Dutch merchants called them
''Guinea or Negro cloth.
'' ''Guinea cloth'' was a generic term for various inferior Indian
piece goods
Piece goods were the textile materials sold in cut pieces as per the buyer's specification. The piece goods were either cut from a fabric roll or produced with a certain length, also called yard goods. Various textiles such as cotton, wool, silk, ...
traded for the purpose, such as inexpensive dyed plain and patterned calicoes like
stripes
Stripe, striped, or stripes may refer to:
Decorations
*Stripe (pattern), a line or band that differs in colour or tone from an adjacent surface
*Racing stripe, a vehicle decoration
*Service stripe, a decoration of the U.S. military
Entertainment
...
and
checks.
Quality
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."
Garments
The cloth was converted into various garments, such as breeches, jackets, skirts,
bodices, shirts and trousers.
See also
*
History of slavery in Virginia
Slavery in Virginia began with the capture and enslavement of Native Americans during the early days of the English Colony of Virginia and through the late eighteenth century. They primarily worked in tobacco fields. Africans were first brough ...
*
Osnaburg
Osnaburg is a general term for coarse, plain-weave fabric. It also refers specifically to a historic fabric originally woven in flax but also in tow or jute, and from flax or tow warp with a mixed or jute weft.
Historic osnaburg
Osnaburg fabr ...
*
Perpetuana Perpetuana was a woollen fabric made and used in early modern England and elsewhere for clothing and furnishings including bed hangings. It was lighter than broadcloth and resembled serge. The name seems to advertise its long-lasting qualities. A ...
*
Tapsel (cloth)
Tapsel (Tapsels, Tapseel, Topseile, Taffechella, Tafficila) was a coarse cotton and silk cloth. It was a woven
Woven fabric is any textile formed by weaving. Woven fabrics are often created on a loom, and made of many threads woven on a warp and ...
References
Textiles
Slavery in the United States
Slavery in the Caribbean
Slavery in North America
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