Resistance to Slavery
Directions: Read the following passage then complete the questions from section 20.7
Despite the efforts of slaveholders to crush their spirits, slaves found countless ways to resist slavery. As former slave Harriet Jacobs wrote after escaping to freedom, “My master had power and law on his side. I had a determined will. There is might [power] in each.”
Day-to-Day Resistance For most slaves, resistance took the form of quiet, or passive, acts of rebellion. Field hands pulled down fences, broke tools, and worked so sloppily that they damaged crops. House slaves sneaked food out of the master’s kitchen.
Slaves pretended to be dumb, clumsy, sick, or insane to get out of work. One slave avoided working for years by claiming to be nearly blind, only to regain his sight once freed.
In some instances, resistance turned deadly when house servants put poison into slave owners’ food. So many slaves set fire to their owners’ homes and barns that the American Fire Insurance Company refused to insure property in the South.
Open Defiance Quiet resistance sometimes flared into open defiance. When pushed too hard, slaves refused to work, rejected orders, or struck back violently. Owners often described slaves who reacted in this way as “insolent” (disrespectful) or “unmanageable.”
Frederick Douglass reached his breaking point one day when the slave breaker Covey began to beat him for no particular reason. Rather than take the blows, as he had so many times before, Douglass fought back. He wrestled Covey to the ground, holding him “so firmly by the throat that his blood followed my nails.” For Douglass, this moment was “the turning point in my career as a slave.”
My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance
took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain
a slave in form, the day had passed when I could be a slave
in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white
man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in
killing me.
Covey knew this and never laid a hand on Douglass again.
Running Away Some slaves tried to escape by running away to freedom in the North. The risks were enormous. Slaveholders hired professional slave catchers and their packs of bloodhounds to hunt down runaway slaves. If caught, a runaway risked being mauled by dogs, brutally whipped, or even killed. Still, Douglass and countless other slaves took the risk.
Slaves found many ways to escape bondage. Some walked to freedom in the North, hiding by day and traveling at night when they could follow the North Star. Others traveled north by boat or train, using forged identity cards and clever disguises to get past watchful slave patrols. A few runaways mailed themselves to freedom in boxes or coffins.
Thousands of runaways escaped to free states and to Canada with the help of theUnderground Railroad, a secret network of free blacks and sympathetic whites. The members of the Underground Railroad provided transportation and “safe houses” where runaways could hide. A number of guides, or “conductors,” risked their lives to help escaping slaves travel the “freedom train.” One of the most successful was Harriet Tubman. Having escaped slavery herself, Tubman courageously returned to the South approximately 20 times between 1850 and 1860, guiding more than 300 men, women, and children to freedom.
Rebellion At times, resistance erupted into violent rebellion. Slave revolts occurred in cities, on plantations, and even on ships at sea. Fear of slave uprisings haunted slaveholders. Planters, wrote one visitor to the South, “never lie down to sleep without . . .loaded pistols at their sides.”
In 1822, authorities in Charleston, South Carolina, learned that Denmark Vesey, a free black, was preparing to lead a sizable revolt of slaves. Vesey, along with more than 30 slaves, was arrested and hanged.
Nine years later, in 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led a bloody uprising in Virginia.In what became known as Nat Turner’s Rebellion, Turner and his followers set out to kill every white person they could find. Armed with axes and guns, they killed at least 57 people over a period of two days.
Vesey’s and Turner’s rebellions panicked white Southerners. In response, Southern states passed strict slave codes that tightened owners’ control of their slaves and provided for harsher punishment of slaves by authorities. As one frightened Virginian remarked, “A Nat Turner might be in any family.”
Directions: Read the information in the following links then watch the video link. Answer the questions related to each link.
Who is Nat Turner? Nat Turner
Why did Nat Turner feel justified in killing so many people?
Why was his punishment so brutal?
Have you ever heard of Nat Turner? Why do you think that is?
Who is Harriet Tubman? Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman's Fainting spells followed her all of her life. How would that affect her mission to get slaves to freedom?
How much was the reward for Harriet's capture? Why was it so high?
What would things be like if Harriet Tubman were never born?
What is the Underground Railroad? Underground Railroad
When was the "Underground Railroad" given its name?
Why do you think it was called the Underground railroad when trains were rarely involved?
Now watch the video Songs of Slavery
How does all of this information relate to everything you've read so far?
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