Pirates research project

Did you know that one of the earliest places in history where Blacks and whites worked together as equals was actually on the pirate ships?

It's true! when most people think of  the word "pirates", they think of cruel, dirty, bloodthirsty criminals with the simple goal of looting and plundering the seas. While this is to a point true, pirates were much more complex than that. Pirates were in actuality more complex and accepting of different races than any other groups of people of that time!

The inner government of the pirates were ran by a set of rules called "The Code of Piracy". These sets of codes were unique to every pirates ship but one thing was universal, the code was designed by the crew that worked on the ship. It was the crew that elected their leaders, how the loot would be split, what the main rules of the ship would be prior to their voyage. Pirates also had the ability to impeach their captain! The rule was created as a means of protection for the crew just in case the captain that was elected would be either a coward or a sadist towards his men. This rule of impeachment is even used by our government today!

The codes demanded equality within the vessel in order to work. The codes needed every crew member involved to be drafted, they demanded that everyone cast votes on captains, loot, where to sail next, how ardguments would be settled, etc. These requirements would be impossible without inclusion.

Why is this important?

most people are unaware about the contributions black people played in the shaping of the Americas. When the discovery of the Americas is mentioned and what role blacks played in it, our automatic response is to to talk about slavery. While slavery is a HUGE part of black history, it is not their entire history. Black people were able to rise to the level of captains on these vessels and lead white pirates into battle. Though most of black pirates are seldom mentioned in the history books (which makes it all that much harder to know their impact in history) we can still find records of famous black pirates such as Diego El Mulato, Black Ceasar, or Juan Andres. These are pirate captains that aided more famous pirates like black beard and Francis Drake to the status they're known for today.