What Roles Did Religion, Folklore, and Family Life Play in the Lives of Slaves

Slave Civilization

Influenced by restrictive laws and roughshod handling, slaves combined African and Christian customs to form a culture of survival and resistance.

Learning Objectives

Draw how slave civilization often paralleled forms of resistance to slavery in the United States

Cardinal Takeaways

Key Points

• Slave civilization in colonial N America was largely a combination of tribal African culture, Christian worship, and resistance.
• Treatment of slaves was often brutal and humiliating. Whippings, beatings, executions, and rapes were commonplace.
• Slave culture stressed the primacy of family and cooperation; indeed, the evolution of families and communities formed the almost of import response to the trauma of being enslaved.
• Slaves were often prevented from reading and writing by restrictive laws; yet, they compensated with oral forms of communication such as music and storytelling.
• Some slaves maintained private gardens, selling their produce if their masters permitted it. When this was allowed, some were able to utilize the proceeds to eventually purchase their freedom.
• In the absence of a successful slave revolution (although at that place were some abortive attempts by black slaves to violently claim their freedom), American slaves practiced other forms of resistance.

Central Terms

• patriarchy: A social arrangement in which males concord primary power, predominately in roles of political leadership, moral authorisation, social privilege, and control of holding; in the domain of the family unit, fathers or father-figures concord authorisation over women and children.

Overview

Slave culture in colonial North America was largely a combination of tribal African culture, Christian worship, and resistance. In many respects, American slave civilisation was a civilization of survival and defiance against the American slave organization. In the absence of a successful slave revolution, as in Haiti (although there were some abortive attempts by black slaves to violently claim their freedom), American slaves practiced other forms of resistance. Running away, suicide, slow paces of piece of work, deliberate sabotage of plantation equipment or crops, and poisoning of slave masters were the well-nigh common manifestations of African slave resistance. In all of these instances, slave civilisation enabled a significant amount of resistance to the plantation economy and created a relatively cohesive slave identity that shaped southern life and relationships betwixt slaves and whites in the colonial era.

Handling of Slaves

Although the treatment of slaves varied depending on the plantation, more often than not information technology was characterized by brutality. Whippings, executions, beatings, and rapes were usually suffered past slaves. Some slaves were treated differently co-ordinate to their value or skill sets; for example, artisans, medical practitioners, skilled laborers, or technical experts were usually given preferential treatment and more than liberties than field hands. In well-nigh states, slaves were forbidden to read or write. Sexual abuse of female slaves was endemic in the colonies, where cultural patriarchy treated all women (black and white) as holding or chattel. Sexual relations with enslaved women resulted in a high increase of mixed-raced children built-in into slavery.

Abuses of slavery: Slaves commonly suffered horrid abuses from their masters, as depicted by the scars on the back of this former slave named Peter.

To regulate the relationship betwixt slave and owner, including legal back up for keeping slaves as property, state legislatures adopted various slave codes to reinforce white legal sanctions over the enslaved blackness population. While each country had its ain slave code, they shared many similarities. Such laws normally forbade slaves to learn to read or write or to associate with free Africans, and free blacks were forbidden from voting or belongings public office. Some states denied slaves the right to carry firearms, drink liquor, or exit the plantation without their main's written consent.

Slave Identity, Rooted in African Culture

Slaves strove to adapt to their new lives by forming new communities amongst themselves, often adhering to traditional African customs and healing techniques. Slave civilization stressed the primacy of family and cooperation; indeed, the development of families and communities formed the most important response to the trauma of existence enslaved.

Because slaves were proscribed from reading or writing, American slaves adopted a strong oral tradition—passing down songs, prayers, laments, and stories through music and storytelling. Oral tradition was a stiff characteristic of many African tribal community and immune many African American slaves to feel a sense of cultural connection with the continent of their origins. African-based oral traditions became the primary means of preserving slave history, mores, and cultural information, and this was consistent with the practices of oral history in African cultures. Music, folktales, and storytelling provided an opportunity for the enslaved to educate each other in the absence of literacy, and songs and enthusiastic public worship were oft used as a way of channeling and coping with hardships and voicing grievances to others in the slave community.

Slaves as well drew on other aspects of tribal African culture, such as herbal medicine and prayer. Many slaves were renowned for their medical skills; ofttimes, whites would enlist the expertise of slave midwives or nurses over white doctors for remedies and cures for various ailments. Cognition of herbal medicine could too be used as a form of resistance for poisoning slave masters and killing prized livestock.

When slaves were brought to American plantations, they were slowly stripped of their African religions and converted to Christianity. However, many African cultural elements were incorporated into slave prayer patterns, such as shouting, dancing, and enthusiastic singing using African rhythms. Many of these cultural styles and patterns still characterize worship in African American churches today.

Many slaves cultivated private gardens that were granted to them by their masters. These "kitchen gardens" were used to produce a slave family'due south yearly supply of nutrient. Some slaves were able to sell a surplus of these crops at Sunday markets for a cash turn a profit. Many white masters allowed the "kitchen garden economy" to thrive, letting some slaves exit the plantation on Sundays to sell their wares. Some slaves managed to purchase their own freedom through their kitchen gardens, saving their earnings for years to permit themselves and their children to reach manumission.

Slave Culture as Resistance

Many slaves dealt with the trauma of their situation by actively resisting their condition, whether by defying their masters or running away. Runaway slaves formed what were called "maroon" communities—groups that successfully resisted recapture and formed their own autonomous groups. The about prominent of these communities lived in the interior of Jamaica, controlling the area and keeping the British away. Slaves who ran away were ofttimes fed and sheltered by slaves on neighboring plantations, which enabled them to evade their masters. Literate slaves taught illiterates how to read and write, despite state laws that forbid slaves from literacy. In these respects, slave communities were formed that stretched across plantations and slaves developed a culture of cooperation and opposition to coercive white dominion.

Resistance to Slavery

Slaves resisted oppression in several ways ranging from rebellions and uprisings to sabotage, running away, and destruction of plantation property.

Learning Objectives

Differentiate betwixt the various forms of slave resistance in the United states of america and the reactions to them

Key Takeaways

Cardinal Points

• Although American slaves never successfully overthrew the institution of slavery (as their counterparts did in Haiti ), there was a well-nigh-constant undercurrent of resistance to enslavement in the American colonies.
• The institution of slavery created a false sense of superiority in whites, while simultaneously fueling fears of slave revolt; white responses to such revolts, or even the threat of them, led to gross overreactions and further constraints on slaves' activities.
• Ane notable uprising was the 1739 Stono Rebellion in Due south Carolina, in which a literate slave named Jemmy led a large group of slaves in an armed insurrection against white colonists, killing several before militia stopped them.
• The New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741 were fueled past white fears of more slave uprisings and a series of fires that broke out effectually the city.

Key Terms

• Slave Insurrection of 1741: A supposed plot past slaves and poor whites in the British colony of New York to defection and level New York Urban center with a series of fires.

Introduction

African slaves resisted enslavement and the southern plantation economic system in a multifariousness of ways, ranging from violent rebellion to sabotage, infanticide, suicide, running away, and the deliberate destruction of plantation holding. Although African slaves never successfully revolted and overturned the establishment of slavery like their counterparts in Haiti, there was a near-abiding undercurrent of resistance to enslavement in the American colonies. While most slave uprisings were unsuccessful and historical evidence remains deficient nigh the overall aims and intentions of slave rebel leaders, they effectively intensified public debate over the American establishment of slavery.

The institution of slavery created a fake sense of superiority in whites, while simultaneously fueling fears of slave revolt. White responses to such revolts, or even the threat of them, led to gross overreactions and further constraints on slaves' activities.

Slave Resistance and Uprisings

The Stono Rebellion

One notable uprising that became known as the Stono Rebellion took identify in Due south Carolina in September of 1739. A literate slave named Jemmy led a large group of slaves in an armed coup against white colonists, killing several before militia stopped them. The militia suppressed the rebellion later on a boxing in which both slaves and militiamen were killed, and the remaining slaves were executed or sold to the West Indies.

Jemmy is believed to accept been taken from the Kingdom of Kongo, an area where the Portuguese had introduced Catholicism. Other slaves in South Carolina may take had a like background: Africa-built-in and familiar with whites. If so, this mutual background may have made it easier for Jemmy to communicate with the other slaves, enabling them to piece of work together to resist their enslavement even though slaveholders labored to keep slaves from forging such communities.

In the wake of the Stono Rebellion, S Carolina passed a new slave lawmaking in 1740 chosen An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Other Slaves in the Province—also known as the Negro Act of 1740. This constabulary imposed new limits on slaves' behavior, prohibiting slaves from assembling, growing their own nutrient, learning to write, and traveling freely.

The New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741

Eighteenth-century New York Urban center contained many different ethnic groups, and conflicts among them created strain. In addition, one in five New Yorkers was a slave, and tensions ran high betwixt slaves and the free population, particularly in the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion. These tensions outburst forth in 1741.

That twelvemonth, 13 fires bankrupt out in the city, one of which reduced the colony'due south Fort George to ashes. Ever fearful of an uprising amidst enslaved New Yorkers, the metropolis's whites spread rumors that the fires were part of a massive slave revolt in which slaves would murder whites, burn the city, and take over the colony. The Stono Rebellion was just a few years in the past, and throughout British America, fears of similar incidents were yet fresh. Searching for solutions and convinced slaves were the principal danger, nervous British regime interrogated almost 200 slaves and accused them of conspiracy. Rumors that Roman Catholics had joined the suspected conspiracy and planned to murder Protestant inhabitants of the city simply added to the general hysteria. Very quickly, 200 people were arrested, including a large number of the city'due south slave population.

After a quick series of trials at City Hall, known equally the New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741, the government executed 17 New Yorkers. Thirteen black men were publicly burned at the stake, while the others (including four whites) were hanged. Lxx slaves were sold to the W Indies. Lilliputian evidence exists to prove that an elaborate conspiracy, like the one white New Yorkers imagined, actually existed. The events of 1741 in New York Urban center illustrate the racial divide in British America, where panic among whites spurred great violence confronting and repression of the feared slave population. In the end, the Conspiracy Trials furthered white authority and power over enslaved New Yorkers.

The New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741: In the wake of a series of fires throughout New York Urban center, rumors of a slave defection led authorities to convict and execute 30 people, including xiii black men who were publicly burned at the stake.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/slave-culture-and-rebellion/

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