A Jew Teaches Slave Religion
Once slavery was introduced into the colony it became essential to condition the Afri-
cans to the requirements of being slaves. The case of Joseph Ottolenghe, a Jewish resident of
Georgia, provides explicit evidence of the use of Christianity to pacify and subdue the Black
African. Upon hearing "that a number of Negroes to the amount of 300 and upwards were
fix'd in that colony," Joseph Ottolenghe applied to the Georgia trustees and to two English
religious organizations who hired him in February of 1750, to train the slaves. They saw the
opportunity, as Jacob Marcus wrote, to "thriftily use one stone - one missionary - to kill three
birds .... Ottolenghe was not only to work at the [silk factory], but he was also to train Ne-
groes in the industry and at the same time to covert them to Christianity."520
He assumed the position in July of 1751, and five months later wrote to one of his
sponsors, The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge of London, whose devotion was
"the furtherance of the Christian religion among Indians and Negroes":
I would instruct their Negros three days in the week… [and] that I might make it easie to the mas-
ters of these unhappy creatures, I have appointed the time of their coming to me to be at night when
their daily labour is done.
And in order to get their love, I use them with all the kindness and endearing words that [1] am ca-
pable of, which makes them willing to come to me and ready to follow my advice. And as rewards
are springs that sets less selfish minds than these unhappy creatures possess, on motion, I have
therefore promised to reward [134] the industrious and the diligent, and I hope thro' Xt's grace that
'twill have its due effect… 521
He went on to say how he would travel to the plantations to “spur them on" and to give
them "a little more sense of religion than they have at present." In November of 1753, he la-
mented that,
... It is true that [the] number [of slaves I teach] is not so great as I could wish, by reason of their
penurious masters who think that they should be great looser should they permit their slaves to learn
what they must do to be saved, not considering that he would be a greater gainer if his servant
should become a true follower of the blessed Jesus, for in such a case he would have, instead of an
immoral dishonest domestic, a faithful servant.522
One year later he added, …Again slavery is certainly a great depressor of the mind which retards thus their learning a new
religion, proposed to them in a new unknown language, besides the old superstition of a false [Afri-
can] religion to be combated with. And nothing harder to be remov'd (you know) than prejudices of
education, riveted by time and entrench'd in deep ignorance, which must be overcom'd by slow ad-
vances, with all the patience and engaging means that can be studied to make them fall in love with
the best of all religions, and so to captivate their minds as to give all their very little leisure to the
study of it.
In 1755, the colonial legislature had decreed that Blacks were not to be taught to write,
so Ottolenghe probably only taught the reading and reciting of Bible passages. In another let-
ter of October of 1759, he details the hardships he has encountered exhorting Black people to
"forsake paganism and embrace X'ty." Later that year he ceased employment over a salary
dispute.
Ottolenghe had other interests in Georgia. As a land owner he started with 50 acres
and gradually built up a series of farms and plantations totalling over 2,000 acres. By 1754, he
reportedly owned two slaves and later twelve. In 1757, as a justice of the Peace, he tried a
Black man for theft and ordered his execution.523
[135]
While Georgia's Jews took care, as German Jew Eben Ezer saw it, "to keep down ne-
gro slaves and the Roman Catholics,”524 there was “no discrimination against Jews in matters
of trade," and "no obstacle to Jews holding office in the colony."525 Blacks had no such free-
doms in Georgia's early years due in part to the efforts of the Jewish community. Despite this
distressing report of the condition of Georgia's slave population, much of it from his own pen,
Jewish historian Leon Hühner concludes: "In the record of the Jews of the Colony of Georgia
there is no stain."52 - Relationship between blacks and jews, NOI
Once slavery was introduced into the colony it became essential to condition the Afri-
cans to the requirements of being slaves. The case of Joseph Ottolenghe, a Jewish resident of
Georgia, provides explicit evidence of the use of Christianity to pacify and subdue the Black
African. Upon hearing "that a number of Negroes to the amount of 300 and upwards were
fix'd in that colony," Joseph Ottolenghe applied to the Georgia trustees and to two English
religious organizations who hired him in February of 1750, to train the slaves. They saw the
opportunity, as Jacob Marcus wrote, to "thriftily use one stone - one missionary - to kill three
birds .... Ottolenghe was not only to work at the [silk factory], but he was also to train Ne-
groes in the industry and at the same time to covert them to Christianity."520
He assumed the position in July of 1751, and five months later wrote to one of his
sponsors, The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge of London, whose devotion was
"the furtherance of the Christian religion among Indians and Negroes":
I would instruct their Negros three days in the week… [and] that I might make it easie to the mas-
ters of these unhappy creatures, I have appointed the time of their coming to me to be at night when
their daily labour is done.
And in order to get their love, I use them with all the kindness and endearing words that [1] am ca-
pable of, which makes them willing to come to me and ready to follow my advice. And as rewards
are springs that sets less selfish minds than these unhappy creatures possess, on motion, I have
therefore promised to reward [134] the industrious and the diligent, and I hope thro' Xt's grace that
'twill have its due effect… 521
He went on to say how he would travel to the plantations to “spur them on" and to give
them "a little more sense of religion than they have at present." In November of 1753, he la-
mented that,
... It is true that [the] number [of slaves I teach] is not so great as I could wish, by reason of their
penurious masters who think that they should be great looser should they permit their slaves to learn
what they must do to be saved, not considering that he would be a greater gainer if his servant
should become a true follower of the blessed Jesus, for in such a case he would have, instead of an
immoral dishonest domestic, a faithful servant.522
One year later he added, …Again slavery is certainly a great depressor of the mind which retards thus their learning a new
religion, proposed to them in a new unknown language, besides the old superstition of a false [Afri-
can] religion to be combated with. And nothing harder to be remov'd (you know) than prejudices of
education, riveted by time and entrench'd in deep ignorance, which must be overcom'd by slow ad-
vances, with all the patience and engaging means that can be studied to make them fall in love with
the best of all religions, and so to captivate their minds as to give all their very little leisure to the
study of it.
In 1755, the colonial legislature had decreed that Blacks were not to be taught to write,
so Ottolenghe probably only taught the reading and reciting of Bible passages. In another let-
ter of October of 1759, he details the hardships he has encountered exhorting Black people to
"forsake paganism and embrace X'ty." Later that year he ceased employment over a salary
dispute.
Ottolenghe had other interests in Georgia. As a land owner he started with 50 acres
and gradually built up a series of farms and plantations totalling over 2,000 acres. By 1754, he
reportedly owned two slaves and later twelve. In 1757, as a justice of the Peace, he tried a
Black man for theft and ordered his execution.523
[135]
While Georgia's Jews took care, as German Jew Eben Ezer saw it, "to keep down ne-
gro slaves and the Roman Catholics,”524 there was “no discrimination against Jews in matters
of trade," and "no obstacle to Jews holding office in the colony."525 Blacks had no such free-
doms in Georgia's early years due in part to the efforts of the Jewish community. Despite this
distressing report of the condition of Georgia's slave population, much of it from his own pen,
Jewish historian Leon Hühner concludes: "In the record of the Jews of the Colony of Georgia
there is no stain."52 - Relationship between blacks and jews, NOI
