Slavery Resistance To Slavery

Rebellion has always been the cornerstone of change. Wherever a rebellion has surfaced a change has soon followed, whether it is political change such as an overthrow of a government or just the overthrow of an oppressor such as a slaver. Some rebellions however are less justified than others; none more so than slave rebellions. Slavery in America was one of our biggest mistakes as a nation and was by far the most terrible time in African American history. However most slaves although poorly treated were given places to live and enough food to survive. They weren’t treated as people but as property and had about as many rights as a sack of potatoes. This led to most, if not all, slaves feeling a lot of animosity towards their owners. The more educated of slaves tried to find ways to get out of their servitude. When all peaceful means of getting out of their servitude had failed they went to flat out rebellion. Slave rebellions tended to be extremely violent and usually very rash. And when the rebellions were better planned they tended to be even more violent and disturbing. These rebellions however were completely unjustified and the slaves had no right to revolt the way they did.

Despite North America’s large slave population, there were few powerful slave revolts before 1831. Slaves were complacent and passive so most southern slave owners probably felt like they had enough control over their slaves. This way of thinking was completely changed by Nat Turner’s rebellion. This violent slave revolt showed people what slaves were really capable of. White southerners saw how slaves were smart enough to organize and plan a resistance and because they were getting tired of being oppressed. Even though Nat Turner’s rebellion was considered unsuccessful being that it was shut down in a matter of days, it was successful in that it had a long lasting effect on slavery. This level of success can be attributed to the fact that

     Denmark Vesey was an African-American leader of an attempted slave insurrection in 1822. After many years as a slave, he won $1,500 in a lottery. Vesey used this money to purchase his freedom. He used his intelligence, energy, and luck to acquire considerable wealth and influence in South Carolina. All of these factors helped lead to the largest attempted slave revolt in American history. David Robertson’s book Denmark Vesey outlines his life as a slave, to his freedom, to his execution, and the consequences of the aftermath.

American slavery was something that not only mentally challenging, but it was physically demanding as well. Many slaves did not have the luxury of a “kind” master, and many were mistreatment from birth. Slaves fought masters, and master fought slaves without regard to the human condition. Antebellum slavery was different than past form of American slavery, because slaves had gained a taste of the ideas that were spread from the American Revolution. These idea played a big role in slaves wanting freedom, and doing anything to get it. Antebellum slavery, if it were defined in three simple words, would be categorized as; misleading, ruthless, and resistance. I have chosen these three words, because the give the essence of antebellum slavery, and show the underlying theme of the time period.

The Denmark Vesey rebellion is most remembered because of its closeness to success. The plot internally fell through when informers betrayed him, and confessed to their masters the plans that had been made. By the end of the summer of 1822, Vesey, along with 34 other leaders, were arrested and tried. They were then convicted and executed in a place that is still unknown to us. Although the revolt never took place, the slaves and abolitionists definitely had the resources and ability to do it.

Many slaveholding societies lived in fear of those whom they kept in bondage. Populations of slaves generally outnumbered the masters. Anger from the slaves provoked by a life of being held hostage in chains would often spill over into violent uprisings and revolts. These fears became much worse after the rebellion of one certain slave and his comrades. One of the largest slave rebellions to ever take place in the U.S. was the rebellion of Nat Turner. This rebellion is said to be one of the most important ones of its time, but why? This rebellion played an important role in the development of slave societies before the Civil War.

Many slave owners in the south were outraged when slaves were declared free. Many of them would threaten their former slaves that if they tried to

A rebellion is an act of violence or open resistance to an established government or ruler, it is an uprising, a revolt a mutiny. In the past there has been countless rebellions for countless reasons. There were rebellions that were documented and some rebellions that were probably never heard of, there were rebellions that worked for the good and some that worked in everyone’s favor but the ones who rebelled. Nat Turner’s slave rebellion was one of the largest slave rebellions to take place in the United States and one of the most life changing.

Slavery was a way of life in the South for African-Americans. It was a form of discipline and cruelty to the slaves. Life for slaves consisted of resistance and durability. Although slavery was horrible, some slaves managed to escape their terrible life and did it with success, while others couldn't unfortunately and had to suffer the consequences from their master. Slave families dealt with the fear of being separated, the only way slaves could be separated is by the husband or wife being sold to a different owner or a slaveholder's death could result into the breakup of an enslaved family.

Revolt is a rise away from constitution authority, Several slaves in the plantation revolted in the 1800s, but the Denmark vessey and Nat turner organized slave revolt is one of the most excellently and brilliant planned. Both men prepared strategically to override the institution of slavery. They were never contented with it, cause it made them sad. The revolts took time, courage, bravery and ambition, selfless to even have conceived this idea during that ambition. They were both leader in their community, who strives for greater black opportunities. Their resentment and meticulous planning to execute mass revolt have earned them a place in the history of African American.

Although the Haitian Revolution inspired many revolts made from African Americans, African American themselves were not significantly responsible for slavery’s end. However, different regions had different circumstances that caused African Americans to either have an abundance amount of influence to slavery’s end or little to no influence. The reason being is due to the level of resistance that varied depending on the location of the slaves. Many of the slaves had to depend on the number of supporters that they had to work with because without enough support, the revolts would not go well, which then would not lead to the end of slavery. “Rebellion began at the initial point of capture within Africa itself, continuing down to the barracoons, and it often erupted into mutiny aboard the slavers” (Gomez 110). This quote signifies that rebellion has always been there through each suffering; it was just never prominent enough at the moment because African Americans could handle it at the time since the torments just began. Yet, as time goes by, their ability to endure decreases having to deal with the tortures and sufferings weekly if not daily. Slavery’s end sparked when the debate over the future of slavery began. The dispute then led to secession in which it brought about a war in which the Northern and Western states and territories fought to preserve the Union, while the South fought to establish Southern independence as a new confederation of states under its own

Resistance to slavery in the Caribbean started before African Americans even set foot on the ships that took them on the middle passage across the Atlantic ocean to the Caribbean islands. Slave rebellions and maroonages started to take place in Caribbean slave society during the 18th and early 19th century. The range to the rebellions varied from minor slaves running away from their owners to violence between slaves and the government.

It could be considered almost ludicrous that most African-Americans were content with their station in life. Although that was how they were portrayed to the white people, it was a complete myth. Most slaves were dissatisfied with their stations in life, and longed to have the right of freedom. Their owners were acutely conscious of this fact and went to great lengths to prevent slave uprisings from occurring. An example of a drastic measure would be the prohibition of slaves receiving letters. They were also not allowed to converge outside church after services, in hopes of stopping conspiracy. Yet the slaves still managed to fight back. In 1800, the first major slave rebellion was conceived. Gabriel Prosser was a 24 year old slave who

I agree that rebellions were an effective form of resistance. I liked your quote about overseer and how they controlled the Africans, it added to the quote that I found, "The overseer had a whip, and he was extremely cruel. His work was to whip the conscripts if they rose up or tried to rest, or if they left a trail of their footprints behind them" (285). I thought this quote was interesting because of the description of the overseer and showed the extent of their punishment. It was crazy to me that they would get whipped for even leaving footprints behind! What other rebellions did you think were an effective form of resistance? I was thinking the Boxer Rebellion. Great

One well know rebellion is the Tacky’s revolt. In May 1760, a slave overseer by the name of Tacky led a group of African slaves in a revolt to take over plantations while killing the slave owners. Tacky and the slaves marched to a shop in Fort Haldane where they killed the shopkeeper and stole barrels of gunpowder and firearms. That night hundreds of other slaves joined Tacky and his followers. There was a large celebration for their success in gaining the weapons the need. A group of Obeahman (witch doctor) formed a circle around the camp, throwing powder at the men claiming that it would protect them from injury and death and proclaiming that a Obeahman cannot be killed. The slave’s confidence was now very high. The British troops along with Maroons who were bounded by the treaty to stop the rebellion soon showed up. When the troop hear of the Obeahman’s claimed immortality they captured, killed and hung his head on a stick for all to see. The rebels saw this and most of the slaves lost their previous confidence and returned to their plantations while Tacky and a few men ran into the woods. They were chased by the Maroons, Tacky was shot and then his head was cut off for proof of the defeat. The rest of his men were found in a cave near Tacky Falls, they committed suicide instead of returning to