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Social Sharing
Caster
By 1750, sugar had become the most valuable commodity traded in Europe. While most sugar consumed came from plantations worked by enslaved people in the West Indies, the first sugar crop in the French colony of Louisiana was planted by Black people enslaved by Jesuit missionaries in 1751. As cultivators grew their operations, they contributed to the expansion of slavery in the region.
Sugar production was so dependent upon enslaved labor that abolitionists organized boycotts of the product or procured ethically sourced sugar. By 1828, British abolitionists could purchase sugar bowls with text that read “East India sugar not made by slaves,” which allowed buyers to display and promote their conscious consumerism. However,the majority of people in the Northern United States and abroad continued to consume—and economically benefit from—sugar produced by enslaved people.
- Artist
- Paul Revere I, neé Apollos Rivoire
- Title
- Caster
- Date
- 1740-1755
- Object Type
- Furnishing
- Medium
- Silver
- Dimensions
- 5 1/4 x 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 in. (13.3 x 4.4 x 4.4 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Matchett and Coffin families
- Accession Number
- 1995.93a-b