African Crops

Crops brought directly from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade include:

• Rice

• Okra

• Tania

• Black-eyed peas

• Kidney beans

• Lima beans

Other crops brough from Africa include:

• Peanuts (originating from South America)

• Millet

• Sorghum

• Guinea melon

• Watermelon

• Yams (Dioscorea Cayennes)

• Sesame (Benne)

These crops were once only used by African Americans in North America, but now white southerners also eat them. During the transatlantic slave trade, black-eyed peas were originally sent to the New World to feed slaves. In the 1600s, okra made its way to the New World. In New Orleans, okra—known as gumbo in Africa—became incredibly popular. The peanut was the next significant crop to travel from Africa to the United States. Americans were fed peanuts throughout the Middle Passage. By 1730, sesame had made its way from Africa to South Carolina, and that same year, a Carolinian transported sesame and sesame oil to London. In the South Carolina Sea Islands, an African woman who eventually taught her planter how to farm rice made the first successful rice harvest in American history.