People from the Barbados, in the Caribbean, founded South Carolina, in 1670. Sugar, the big money crop in the Caribbean, was grown on large plantations. Absentee landlords, whose primary interest in North America was the making of a profit, owned many of these plantations in the Caribbean. They imported black slaves to do the work.

South Carolina was settled to grow food for the Caribbean and to get wood to make barrels. The low country of eastern South Carolina is very fertile, but it was also a malaria infested swamp. The high mortality rate associated with malaria soon became common knowledge, and whites refused to go there, especially in the summer. Blacks with the sickle cell trait have immunity to Malaria so they were able to live in this area during the summer or mosquito season.

The climate and abundance of water made it a ideal place to grow rice. Rice and indigo became the important cash crops. The labor required for each occurs at opposite times of year making them an ideal combination. South Carolina's high profitability caused an increase in the need for laborers. Profits were so high that people borrowed money to buy slaves. Because of Angola's long history of growing rice, thousands of slaves from Angola were imported to South Carolina. These slaves were often warriors captured in tribal wars and sold to slavers.

By 1700, 90% of the people who lived Eastern South Carolina were black. As a result, they had much greater autonomy than the slaves in the other colonies. Because they did not have regular overseers, a task-oriented system of labor developed. Each slave was given a task, and once they had completed it they were free to spend the remaining time as they wished. Slave owners also encouraged the slaves to grow their own food in order to eliminate the cost of feeding them.

The slaves often grew more food then they ate, and sold the extra in the markets of Charleston. The large rebellion of Angolan slaves in 1739 caused passage of a series of new laws in 1740 restricting the movement of slaves in the hope of preventing future rebellions. For example, slaves now required a written pass to travel off the plantation.

Black women formed a secret transportation system to get their goods to market. This system and the markets in Charleston where the goods were sold was called "The Black Market"