How Enslaved and Free Black Resistance Shaped and Influenced U.S. Slavery

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How Enslaved and Free Black Resistance Shaped and Influenced U.S. Slavery

Introduction

Particularly in the Southern United States, slaves played a significant albeit unwilling and unrewarded role in setting a strong economic foundation for the country. In the 17th and 18th centuries, African American and African slaves worked mainly on the Southern seaboard’s tobacco, indigo, and rice plantations. Eventually, slavery was rooted in the sugar and cotton plantations. Although businessmen from the North made lots of fortunes from trading in enslaved people and investments, slavery was never rife in the north. Although slavery was the law of the land that had lasted for more than 300 years, American slavery was resisted and challenged every day by its survivors, victims, and people that found it morally unacceptable. The long campaign to abolish human trade was one of the biggest crusades in U.S history. Its success was due to decades of agitation and organization of African Americans and their allies. African slaves had numerous ways of resisting enslavement but despite this, they never successfully managed to overturn the slavery institutions like their counterparts from Haiti. The institution of slavery gave white people a false sense of superiority. While most slave uprisings were not successful, they managed to effectively intensify the public debate of the American institution of slavery. This essay discusses how enslaved, and free black resistance shaped and influenced the institution of US slavery.

Ordinary Acts of Resistance

The most common acts of resistance that enslaved blacks employed were the small gestures of rebellion. These acts of rebellion were common on a day-to-day basis. They included sabotage such as setting buildings on fire or destroying tools. Targeting their master’s property was a way to attack the master himself indirectly. Another way enslaved people showed resistance was by playing dumb, feigning illness, or slowing down work. It was common for both men and women slaves to pretend to be sick to catch a break from the inhumane and harsh working conditions. It was easier for women to fake sickness than men since they were required to bear children for their masters. At the very least, some masters wanted to protect their slaves’ childbearing capacity. Some of the slaves also played on their masters’ prejudices by pretending to not understand instructions provided to them. Deborah Gray White, a historian, tells a tale of an enslaved woman who poisoned her master in Charleston, South Carolina, and was executed (Berry & Parker, 2018). White also posits that women also resisted against the childbearing burden as it only meant providing their master with an extra pair of hands. White speculates that women may have resulted to abortion or birth control to protect their offspring from slavery. While there is no way to ascertain this, White insists that women slaves had their own ways of preventing pregnancy. Throughout America’s slavery history, African Americans and African slaves resisted as much as possible. The odds of them resisting successfully or escaping were limited, so majority of them resisted the only way they knew they could; through individual actions. Additionally, enslaved individuals resisted slavery through their religious beliefs and distinctive culture that kept hope alive in the face of persecution.

Freedom Seeking

Enslaved people also sought freedom by running away. Most slaves that sought freedom only found it for a short while. They would hide in a nearby forest or visit a spouse or relative in another plantation. Slaves run away as a way to get relief from their work, avoid harsh punishments imposed by their masters, or just to escape life in general. While some were able to run away completely, some slaves hid and formed maroon communities in nearby swamps and forests. When northern states started abolishing enslavement following the end of the Revolutionary War, the North became a symbol for many slaves. Slaves spread word amongst each other about freedom. At times, the instructions would be spread musically; they would be hidden in songs and words of spirituals. For example, the words “Follow the Drinking Gourd” in spirituals referred to the Big Dipper and North Star and was used as a guide for escapees from the North to Canada.

Slave Rebellions

Stono Rebellion of 1739

Slave rebellions were other notable ways that contributed in shaping the slavery institution in the United States. Without a doubt, African-American slaves rebelled and Joel Rodgers had already identified as many as 33 slave revolts by 1934. The Stono Rebellion of 1739 was one of the greatest slave rebellions of the time. It was staged in 13 colonies. On Sunday 9th, September 1979, about 20 slaves, under the instruction of a man called Jimmy, decided to teach their white counterparts a painful lesson on the desire for liberty (Doddington, 2018). They gathered along Stono River, raided Hutchenson’s store, and executed the white owners. They then placed the victims’ heads on the steps for all to see before proceeding to kill the occupants, torching the structures and marching to the colony in St. Augustine where they would be free under Spanish law. Not all slaves joined the insurrection. As a matter of fact, some slaves hung back and helped hide their masters. However, many joined the cause and soon, the number reached 100. The insurrectionists carried banners and paraded along with King’s Highway, shouting, “Liberty!” The slaves fought against white for about a week before being raided and killed by colonialists.

The New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741

In the eighteenth century, New York City contained numerous ethnic groups and the conflicts that ensured among them caused strain. Additionally, one out of five New Yorkers was a slave. Tensions were high between the free population and slaves, especially because of the aftermath caused by the Stono Rebellion (Morgan, 2022). The tensions burst out in 1841. That same year, 13 fires started in the city, one of which reduced Fort George colony to ashes. Because they feared an uprising from slaves, white people began rumors that the fires were part of a plot by revolters to kill white, burn the city down and take control of the colony. Because the Stono Rebellion had only occurred a few years ago, there were fears of similar incidents. Convinced that slaves were the problem, British authorities interrogated over 200 slaves. They eventually arrested them, accusing them of conspiracy. Following a series of quick trials at New York City hall, the state executed 17 New York slaves. 13 black men were burnt publicly, while the other four were hanged. Seventy of the slaves were sold to West Indies. There was little evidence pointing to a conspiracy. The events that took place in New York City in 1741 are an indication of the racial divide where panic among white people sparked repression and violence against the slave population that was feared.

Calls for Abolition

While enslaved people were busy fighting slavery structure on their day-to-day lives, another battle was happening in the public sphere. African Americans had been vocal about slavery from the beginning. They were joined by European Americans eventually, and by the start of the 19th century, the push for nationwide abolition had gotten to a boiling point. The American Revolution rhetoric, with its invocation of universal freedom and inalienable rights, had caused a huge debate on the access of people of color to these rights. Majority of the Northern states, many of which had not employed slave labor for a while had abolished it by 1820s (King, 2020). The North had become a staging ground for new energized attacks against slavery in the South. Free and formerly enslaved African Americans were at the forefront of the battle for abolition and fought on many fronts. The slaves came together and formed regional, local, and national abolitionist societies where they toured the country tirelessly. Within no time, a team of powerful public speakers was formed and would be dispatched to troubled locations within a moment’s notice. The speakers included William Wells Brown, Frederick Douglass, and Isabella Baumfree, who is better known as Sojourner Truth. Notably, Henry Highland Garnet spoke directly to African Americans while he was still in slavery to call for dramatic action. In his message, he said:

“Brethren, arise, arise! Strike for your lives and liberties. Now is the day and the hour. Let every slave throughout the land do this, and the days of slavery are numbered. You cannot be more oppressed than you have been-you cannot suffer greater cruelties than you have already. Rather die freemen than to be slaves. Remember that you are FOUR MILLIONS!”

Moreover, some of the African American activists tackled the fight in a much less public manner. This includes working undercover and organizing daring raids to free fugitives from lynch mobs and kidnappers. Other activists went to the extent of traveling deep into hostile grounds, guiding fugitives towards freedom using vast networks of sympathetic helpers that they had already established. They also had hiding spots across regions that were known as Underground Railroad. Most struggles occurred in print. African Americans also founded anti-slavery newspapers such as the National Watchman, Mirror of Liberty, Freedom’s Journal, and the North Star (Fox-Amato, 2019). African Americans sparred with people that defended slavery in the newspapers and magazines pages and also posted broadsides on the streets of the city. Soon, a new literature genre emerged. Abolitionists flooded the market with leaflets and books giving a true account of what life in slavery was like hair-raising escapes and the lives of free slaves that had attained public prominence. Abolitionists encountered violent opposition. Their books were burned and printing presses smashed. Their lives were also threatened in the South and the North. However, through their perseverance, abolitionists exacerbated the slavery conflict taking it to a critical point. The insistent attacks by abolitionists galvanized the opinions of slaveholders in the South, which helped to guarantee that the matter would be eventually decided through open war. In so doing, they gave a model of organized opposed that would be used by countless advocacy groups to come.

Conclusion

In closing, slavery was a pertinent issue in the 18th and 19th century. Slaves were the backbone of the economy as they provided free labor to their masters. It was within the law to own slaves. Slaves provided labor in plantations and had a child bearing duty to their masters. Slaves were subjected to all manner of oppression, ranging from flogging to rape. Enslaved and free slaves resulted in various ways to demonstrate resistance. While some resulted in running away, others burned their master’s property or destroyed their tools. Notable slave rebellions were The New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741 and the Stono Rebellion of 1739.

References

Berry, D. R., & Parker, N. D. (2018). Women and slavery in the nineteenth century. In The Oxford Handbook of American Women’s and Gender History.

Doddington, D. S. (2018). Contesting slave masculinity in the American South. Cambridge University Press.

Fox-Amato, M. (2019). Exposing Slavery: Photography, Human Bondage, and the Birth of Modern Visual Politics in America. Oxford University Press.

King, L. J. (2020). Black history is not American history: Toward a framework of Black historical consciousness. Social Education, 84(6), 335-341.

Morgan, K. (2022). Slavery and servitude in North America, 1607-1800. In Slavery and Servitude in North America, 1607-1800. Edinburgh University Press.