The Production
of Indigo

Indigo dye was a very popular commodity in seventeenth-century Europe, but it was notoriously difficult to produce and indigo plants grew only in tropical climates. Most European nations, therefore, relied on their colonies to produce indigo, with the British government even paying subsidies to indigo planters. While British colonies in the West Indies took advantage of this financial incentive, those in North America were slow to develop the product. Attempts in the early eighteenth century produced poor yields, and most planters switched to the ease and profitability of rice as an export crop.

Those who attempted to grow indigo faced many obstacles. First, indigo plants were fragile, and their cultivation required a significant capital investment, including money to purchase and clear land, create irrigation systems, and build processing vats and drying sheds. Second, the work was extremely labor intensive. It was rendered even more unpleasant, even dangerous, by the sickening fumes that emanated from fermenting indigo and attracted hordes of flies and other insects (see Document 3.7). As a result, planters would invest in indigo only if they could be assured the use of slave labor. In fact, some slaves from Africa or the West Indies brought with them prior knowledge about how to grow and process indigo.

In the early 1740s, Eliza Lucas Pinckney produced the first successful crop in South Carolina (see Document 3.6). She donated seeds to other planters in the area, and South Carolina indigo became extremely popular in Great Britain. By 1755 the colony’s annual indigo exports exceeded 200,000 pounds, making it the second most exported crop behind rice. In addition, the cycle of indigo planting, harvesting, and production could be integrated with the cycles of rice cultivation, ensuring the optimum use of enslaved labor year-round (see Document 3.9). Georgia planters also grew and exported indigo, although far less than those in South Carolina (see Document 3.10).

The following documents explore the history of indigo production in the American colonies. They highlight the challenges that planters and laborers encountered and the benefits of indigo for local economies (see Documents 3.7 and 3.8). Although no slave left us a direct description of cultivating the crop, consider what these documents tell us about the role of slave labor in producing indigo.