Peanuts and the Atlantic Slave Trade
Courtesy of the New York Public Library, Circa 1900
Dr. Brian Ward of Clemson University holding a Carolina African Runner Peanut plant
The Portuguese introduced the peanut plant from South American plants to West and Central Africa. Overtime African farmers incorporated the plant into their fields and cookery particularly as one pot meals. Enslaved Africans then introduced peanuts to North Americans during the African slave trade. In colonial America, most considered them enslaved or poor folks food. Dr. David Shields of the University of South Carolina tracked down a Carolina African Runner Peanut, one of the first peanut plants that Africans introduced to the Carolinas. He then introduced the plant to Clemson University in South Carolina which is now cultivating the plant to reintroduce into southern fields.
