Question

In the antebellum South, the culture of enslaved Africans developed differently in the lower South than in the Chesapeake region. Which of the following best explains this?
A.
Slaves in the lower South were from a different part of Africa than slaves in the Chesapeake region were from.
B.
White slaveholders in the lower South were better educated than slaveholders in the Chesapeake region were.
C.
White slaveholders in the lower South were less religious than slaveholders in the Chesapeake region were.
D.
Slaves in the lower South had less contact with the culture of whites than slaves in the Chesapeake region had.

Answer 1

D.

In the lower (Deep) South—especially on rice plantations and the Sea Islands—enslaved people were more numerous, more likely to be African-born, and worked under systems (and in environments) that allowed greater isolation from whites. That reduced daily contact with white culture and let African cultural practices persist and evolve differently than in the Chesapeake, where closer supervision, more white contact, and earlier creolization produced different cultural outcomes.