nglish. “Around 1858, over 400 slaves from Africa were brought to Georgia none of them knowing how to speak the English Language.” (Smitherman, 1994, p10) Being that these two groups merged together they adapted each other’s language whether it was correct or incorrect. On the East Coast of America, “the Blacks spoke a different degree of Ebonics”. (Lewis, 1996, MSN) In 1744 The New York Evening Post read, "Ran away...a new Negro Fellow named Prince, he can't scarce speak a Word of English" (Fisher, 1996, MSN) In 1760 an ad in the North Carolina Gazette read: "Ran away from the Subscriber, African Born, speaks bad English."(Stoller,1996, MSN) In 1734, the Philadelphia American Weekly Mercury read: “Run away; he’s Pennsylvania Born and speaks good English," These articles show where each person came from and what there English was like. It is obvious that masters kept tabs on how well their slave could talk. It was one of the ways that the masters could identify their slaves when they had many of them. They also used the slaves that new good English to translate or explain what the other slaves were saying. In the Mid 1800's slaves tried to use their language to help them escape from slavery. They would sing spirituals, which their masters could not understand. Harriet Tubman and many others communicated in Ebonics, which their masters couldn't understand and escaped through the Underground Railroad.North Carolina Discoveries cited: 'O Canaan, sweet Canaan,I am bound for the land of CanaanWe meant to reach the north- and the north was CanaanThere were lions. In the way,I don't expect to stayMuch longer hereRun to Jesus Shun the dangerI don't expect to stayMuch longer here.'(Unknown)This is one of the spiritual songs during slavery. It is not written in Ebonics but when the slaves song the song their masters still had no idea what the were talking about. Masters figured that their slaves didn't kn...
