Session 6: The Untold Story of Slavery

I do not remember much of what I learned about slavery in grade school, but do I have a pretty clear picture ingrained in my memory of what I imagined slavery to be like: white people sitting on rocking chairs on wrap around porches while black people worked the fields, helpless in their struggle.  Throughout my years of thinking about race and privilege, I've never truly taken the time to go and re-learn this history. Which is part of why I wanted to do this program in the first place.

The readings and the class on Black Liberation this week painted a much different picture than the one taught to me in school.  On this side of history, we see a powerful black liberation movement that persisted through violent repression and white people consistently scared shitless of revolt.

Two articles we read this week did a good job at breaking down this history.  In Vincent Harding's piece, "American Bondage, American Freedom",  he offers context to the efforts whites in power went through to halt rebellion.  As explained in Session 3 write up, one goal of slavery was to break up white and black solidarity in order to halt worker rebellions.    Harding expands on Martinez's point on black/white tension explaining how the creation of slavery and hiring working class whites as armed forces against the increasing black population allowed the dominant class to continue to bring in more Africans to meet economic needs - aka they needed the labor!  During this time african language and drums were also banned to effectively shut Africans out of both cultures and I would guess in an attempt to decrees pride and unity.

As we can see in the following examples, these efforts failed.  Through looking at some of the individual events* that took place during this time, we see a pattern of repression, resistance, further repression and further resistance.

*An important note about the following list of events: I am aware that by not giving a greater context of slavery and why such extreme measures were needed, some parts of this list can serve to uphold the racist stereotype of black people as violent. If that comes up for you, I ask you to challenge yourself to think about what options beyond revolts they realistically had in finding freedom and the systems' role in creating this violence. At the same time it's important to recognize the non violent actions that were occurring at the same time, further explained below. As Harding explains:


"In a setting where slavery was considered both a natural and a legal right, where it had clearly become part of the social, economic and political structure of the nation, the fight of enslaved Africans for freedom was a critical and essential aspect of black radical struggle in America. Each person who broke with the system contributed to a rudimentary level of radical challenge. Such persons denied its legal and political power, chipped away at those parts of the economic system based on their own submissive bodies."
Also a heads up that this is a bit graffic.

-In Virginia in the early 18th century, Africans consisted of more than a forth of the population.  Africans assembling together was seen as a huge danger and threat to peace.  Scared of revolt,  "virginia society, presaging the future of white America, could find peace only by keeping black people under surveillance and control, unallied with lower-class whites".

-In South Carolina around the same years, workers ran away, stealing their own labor.  Whites were scared of more than runaways - "for blacks had so begun to outnumber whites throughout the colony that the threat of insurrection was a constant source of conversation ... a motivation for policy".  Harding tells us that there was never a time that whites lived without fear of uprisings in South Carolina.

-In 1706 in New York, after Africans had "assembled themselves in a riotous manner" in Brooklyn, the governor placed an order "requiring and commanding [all officers] to take all proper methods for the seizing and apprehending of all such Negroes as shall be found to be assembled - and if any of them refuse to submit, then fire upon them, kill or destroy them."

-In 1712 in New York, Africans organized in an attempt to "destroy all the whites in the town".  Those who did not die in the conflict or commit suicide were burned alive.

-In 1739 in South Carolina, twenty workers marched through town "with colors flying and two drums beating", "killing every white person who came within their reach, burned and sacked houses and barns, and eventually built up a company of some eighy marching Africans".  In 1740 a group of from 150 - 200 Africans came together to attempt to take over the city, but their plan was betrayed and the fifty blacks that were seized were hung at a rate of 10 per day.

-In 1741, enslaved Africans were blamed for a series of fires and robberies, including the burning of the governor's home.  Thirteen Africans were burned at stake, sixteen hanged and more than seventy banished.  Later that spring three black people were burned at the stake for burning down seven barns.

-In 1756 in South Carolina, 5 Africans were killed for supposedly poisoning their masters.

-In 1769 in Virginia a group of between forty and fifty tied up two of their boses and whipped them until armed whites killed the leaders and many other of the rebels.

-In 1769 in Louisiana, a group of men and a women killed their master and tried to organize a larger insurrection.  They failed and were "condemned...to death by hanging...dragged to the gallows from the tail of a pack-horse with an...halter tied to the neck, feed and hand.

-Less dangerous levels of resistance included refusal to learn how to use tool without breaking it, noncooperation, recreating religious experience.

-Hundreds of thousands of run aways - hidden in swamps, caves and forest - formed communities outside the domination of the white man.  In one year in Virgina alone it is estimated that around 30,000 ran away.  Not only was this a radical act of disobedience but also a creation of an alternative way of living in a "self determining black way".  In 1793 the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, stating that anyone found to have escaped "shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due"

-In 1774 in Massachusetts a group of blacks petitioned the legislature saying, "we have in common with all other men a natural right to our freedom without being depriv'd of them by our fellow men as we are a freeborn Pepel".

-In 1787 in Philadelphia Richard Allen, Absolem Jones and friends created their own black church when denied their right to unsegregated prayer.

-In the late 18th century, the black revolutionary movement remained strong, fighting for "freedom and honor and dignity at any cost".  White American resistance also remained strong, passing laws and writing letters and publishing articles against black revolutionaries.  Little is known about revolts during this time as a result, except for an uprising in Lousiana in 1791, 92 and 95 and Virginia in 1793.

-Arson was also used as a form of protest - in 1793 in Albany, NY three black people were killed for apparently setting fire through the city.  In 1796, blacks were blamed for fires that broke out in Charleston and New York City and Newark and Elizabeth and Savananah and Baltimore.  Historian CLR James comments on the use of fire for revoltution in San Domingo, "The slaves destroyed tirelessly...They were seeking their salvation in the most obvious way, the destruction of what they knew was the cause of their sufferings; and if they destroyed much it was because they had suffered much".

Angela Davis in her piece "Reflections on the Black Woman's Role in the Community of Slaves" brilliantly argues that the role of women is often left out of the story of black resistance.  During this time when families were separated and outlawed except for to make babies, women participated in the only meaningful labor, the only labor that had a means beyond creating wealth for the elite - domestic labor.  Davis explains that at production, workers were so deprived of humanity that they had no desire for freedom and thus could not create visions for a world outside of slavery.  However in the home, space existed to vision and dream of a different life. Thus the struggle was born out of this space.

Davis goes on to explain another aspect of the role of women: "Even as she was suffering under her unique oppression as female, she was thrust by the force of circumstances into the center of the salve community. She was, therefore, essential to the survival of the community. Not all people survived enslavement; hence her survival-oriented activities were themselves a form of resistance. Survival, moreover, was the prerequisite of all higher levels of struggle."

This is only a snapshot of all the resistance that took place during this time.  To me this side of history feels so crucial to understand, both to see the bigger picture of the Black Liberation movement and the women's role in that and to recognize that since the beginning white people have been terrified of losing control and power.  This mentality seems to continue so clearly today with anti-immigrant movement, based in fear that by 2050 there will be more people of color than white people in the U.S.

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ALSO: check out this great audio by James Baldwin: