UNIT 2: FREEDOM, ENSLAVEMENT, AND RESISTANCE

Anti-emigrationists

They believed African Americans had a right to stay and claim full citizenship in the U.S., rejecting ideas of exile.

Maroons in Haiti

Escaped enslaved people who formed independent communities and led resistance during the Haitian Revolution.

Long-term effects of the Haitian Revolution

It shaped Black political thought and became a symbol of Black freedom and resistance against oppression.

Captives' resistance aboard slave ships

Through hunger strikes, suicide attempts, revolts, and sabotaging the ship's crew or structure.

Elizabeth Key

A mixed-race woman who successfully sued for her freedom, prompting legal changes to enforce racial slavery.

Religion inspiring revolts

Leaders like Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey used religious visions and scripture to justify rebellion.

Impact of resistance on the slave trade

It led to increased security on ships and higher risks and costs for slavers.

Africans in Spanish colonization efforts

They helped claim Indigenous lands for Spain, participated in expeditions, and sometimes gained freedom through military service.

German Coast Uprising

A major 1811 revolt in Louisiana where Charles Deslondes led hundreds of enslaved people toward New Orleans before being stopped.

Gang system of labor

A tightly controlled system where enslaved people worked from dawn to dusk under overseers, mainly in cotton and tobacco. Created work songs with syncopated rhythms to keep the pace of the work

Where maroon societies formed

In swamps, mountains, and forests across the Americas, including Brazil (quilombos), Jamaica, and U.S. regions like the Great Dismal Swamp.

Haitian Revolution

A successful revolt (1791-1804) by enslaved people in Saint-Domingue that established Haiti, the first Black republic in the Americas.

Impact of African music on U.S. music

It laid the foundation for gospel, blues, and later American genres through syncopation, improvisation, and performance styles.

Cultural effects of diverse African origins

They led to the blending of languages, religions, and customs that shaped African American culture.

Paul Cuffee

A free Black sea captain who led the first group of African Americans to resettle in Sierra Leone in 1815.

Harriet Jacobs 'Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl'

A person who hid for seven years to escape her enslaver and protect her children.

Estevanico

An enslaved Moroccan who explored Texas and the Southwest and served as a guide and translator before being killed by Indigenous people.

Stono Rebellion

A 1739 revolt in South Carolina that led to harsher slave codes limiting Black autonomy and gatherings.

Three stages of the transatlantic slave journey

Capture and march to the coast, the Middle Passage across the Atlantic, and final transport to labor destinations.

Top slave-trading nations

Portugal, Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Maria W. Stewart

A pioneering Black female activist who published political essays and gave speeches advocating abolition and women's rights.

Port receiving the most enslaved Africans in the U.S.

Charleston, South Carolina, where nearly half of U.S.-bound enslaved Africans arrived.

Daily resistance tactics of enslaved people

They slowed work, broke tools, feigned illness, and escaped to resist slavery's control.

19th century African American self-identification

They used terms like African, Negro, Colored, Afro-American, and later African American to reflect pride and political beliefs.

African American authors' portrayal of auctions

They used narratives and poetry to describe emotional trauma and counter myths of slavery's benevolence.

Creole revolt

In 1841, Madison Washington led a shipboard mutiny and sailed to the Bahamas, freeing 130 enslaved people.

Atlantic creoles

Africans with knowledge of European languages, trade, and customs who often gained limited social mobility before slavery became rigid.

Cause of the Stono Rebellion

Enslaved Africans in South Carolina, inspired by promises of freedom in Spanish Florida, rebelled in 1739 under Jemmy.

Sojourner Truth

An abolitionist who sold her photographs to raise money for the abolitionist cause as well as participating in activities such as speaking tours and recruiting Black Soldiers to the Union Army. Her photos showcased Black women’s leadership in the fight for freedom.

Enslaved people's impact on the U.S. economy

They generated wealth for enslavers and built infrastructure but were denied wages and property rights.

Fort Mose

A free Black settlement in Spanish Florida established in 1738, offering asylum to escaped enslaved people who converted to Catholicism.

Radical resistance vs. moral suasion

Radical resistance promoted direct action and rebellion rather than relying solely on appeals to morality.

Unique aspects of women's slave narratives

They emphasized family, vulnerability, and sexual exploitation, contrasting with male narratives focused on autonomy and escape.

Instruments developed by African Americans

They adapted West African instruments like drums, banjos, and rattles using local materials, maintaining musical traditions.

Partus sequitur ventrem

A legal doctrine stating that the status of a child follows that of the mother.

Law ensuring hereditary slavery

A law that made children's legal status follow that of their mother, ensuring hereditary slavery.

African American art and crafts

They created quilts, pottery, and baskets influenced by African traditions to preserve stories, heritage, and community memory.

African Americans supporting the Union

Men served as soldiers and laborers; women worked as nurses, cooks, and spies, often escaping slavery to do so.

Conditions during the Middle Passage

Captives were packed tightly, faced starvation, disease, abuse, and about 15% died during the voyage.

Free Black communities in the North

They formed mutual aid societies, schools, churches, and supported abolitionist literature and speakers.

Significance of Black women's activism

It highlighted intersections of race, gender, and class and laid the foundation for later civil and women's rights movements.

Bisa Butler's honor of Black history

Through quilted portraits that blend African American traditions with historical symbolism, such as in 'I Go to Prepare a Place for You'.

Slave narratives

Autobiographical writings by formerly enslaved people used to document their experiences and support abolition.

Discrimination faced by Black soldiers

Lower pay, harsher punishments, and risk of re-enslavement or execution if captured by Confederates.

Black Seminoles

African Americans who found refuge among the Seminole people and fought alongside them in wars against U.S. forces.

African skills influencing American culture

Basket-weaving, rice farming, music, carpentry, blacksmithing, and herbal medicine.

Cotton's impact on slavery in the U.S.

The cotton boom increased the value of enslaved labor and fueled westward expansion of slavery.

Juan Garrido

A free African conquistador who joined Spanish expeditions, helped conquer parts of the Caribbean and Florida, and planted the first wheat in Mexico.

Henry Highland Garnet

An abolitionist who urged enslaved people to rise up against slavery and later supported Black emigration to Africa.

Race classification

It denied multiracial individuals full recognition and entrenched racial hierarchies.

Regions of origin for U.S. enslaved people

Senegambia, Angola, Nigeria, and the Gold Coast; nearly half came from Senegambia and Angola alone.

Second Middle Passage

The forced migration of over one million African Americans from the upper to the lower South to meet cotton labor demands.

Capoeira

A martial art developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil combining combat, music, and dance.

Harriet Tubman

An escaped enslaved woman who returned South at least 19 times to lead others to freedom and also served as a spy during the Civil War.

Task system of labor

Laborers had daily quotas and some autonomy; often used in rice cultivation, allowing cultural retention like Gullah language.

Types of labor performed by enslaved people

They worked in agriculture, skilled trades, domestic service, and institutions like churches and colleges.

Ladinos

Africans acculturated to Iberian customs who served as intermediaries, explorers, and early settlers in the Americas.

Experience at slave auctions

Enslaved people were inspected, separated from families, and sold under degrading and violent conditions.

John Horse

A Black Seminole leader who fought for freedom and helped relocate his community to Mexico for safety.

Economic impact of enslaved people

They generated wealth for enslavers and built infrastructure but were denied wages and property rights.

Instruments developed by African Americans that were influenced

Rattles from gourds, the banjo, drums in order to recreate instruments similar to those in West Africa

West African instruments

They adapted West African instruments like drums, banjos, and rattles using local materials, maintaining musical traditions.

19th century African American identity

They used terms like African, Negro, Colored, Afro-American, and later African American to reflect pride and political beliefs.

Enslaved women resistance

Through self-defense, escape, abortifacients, and protecting their children from being born into slavery.

Creation of spirituals

They combined Christian themes with African rhythms and call-and-response singing to express hope, resistance, and secret messages.

Portrayal of auctions by African American authors

They used narratives and poetry to describe emotional trauma and counter myths of slavery's benevolence.

Art and visual culture in abolition

Artists used symbols of slave ships and African suffering to honor the past and push for justice.

Final stage of the slave trade

Survivors were quarantined, resold, and transported within the Americas, often far from their port of arrival.

Amistad revolt

In 1839, Sengbe Pieh led a rebellion on La Amistad; survivors later won a Supreme Court case securing their freedom.

Results of the Stono Rebellion

Dozens were killed, and South Carolina passed stricter slave codes to suppress future uprisings.

Ladinos

Africans acculturated to Iberian customs who served as intermediaries, explorers, and early settlers in the Americas.

Maroon societies

In swamps, mountains, and forests across the Americas, including Brazil (quilombos), Jamaica, and U.S. regions like the Great Dismal Swamp.

Maroon communities

Groups of escaped enslaved people who formed self-sustaining settlements in remote areas and preserved African cultures.

Constitution and slavery

It avoided the word 'slavery' but included clauses like the 3/5 compromise and fugitive slave return law.

Origins of U.S. enslaved people

Senegambia, Angola, Nigeria, and the Gold Coast; nearly half came from Senegambia and Angola alone.

Haitian Revolution impact on the U.S.

It inspired slave revolts, increased fear among U.S. enslavers, and influenced the Louisiana Purchase by weakening France's hold.

Gullah

A creole language spoken by the Gullah people, significant for its preservation of African linguistic heritage.

Gullah

A creole language combining African and English elements, developed among enslaved communities in the Carolina lowcountry.

one-drop rule

A racial classification system where any African ancestry defined a person as Black.

General Order No. 3

The military order delivered in Texas declaring all enslaved people free following the Civil War.

Colored Conventions

Political meetings held by African Americans to discuss civil rights, education, and collective identity.

rejection of the term 'African'

They wanted to emphasize their American identity in response to colonization efforts and exclusion from national life.

Dred Scott decision

The Supreme Court ruled that Black people were not U.S. citizens and had no legal standing, even if free.

partus sequitur ventrem

A law that made children's legal status follow that of their mother, ensuring hereditary slavery.

Freedom Day celebrations

They honor Black resilience, commemorate emancipation, and continue the legacy of resistance and cultural pride.

Charleston, South Carolina

The port that received the most enslaved Africans in the U.S., where nearly half of U.S.-bound enslaved Africans arrived.

Constitution's address of slavery

It avoided the word 'slavery' but included clauses like the 3/5 compromise and fugitive slave return law.

Black men in the Civil War

Around 200,000, most of whom had been enslaved before the war.

Slavery laws

Adopted by Indigenous nations, these laws hardened racial lines and reduced recognition of Black-Indigenous kinship.

Slavery in Brazil

Different from the U.S. as Brazil received more Africans, had greater manumission rates, and allowed more cultural retention through music and festivals.

Free Black communities in the North

They formed mutual aid societies, schools, churches, and supported abolitionist literature and speakers, shaping African American identity and resistance throughout U.S. history.

Art and visual culture supporting abolition

Artists used symbols of slave ships and African suffering to honor the past and push for justice, crucial for shaping African American identity and resistance.

Slave codes

Laws that defined slavery as lifelong, inheritable, and race-based, restricting mobility and rights of enslaved people.

Slave ship diagrams

Depicted tightly packed human cargo illustrating inhumane conditions, used by abolitionists to expose slavery's brutality.

Maroon wars

Armed conflicts between maroons and colonial forces to defend freedom, such as those led by Queen Nanny in Jamaica.

Race classification

Denied multiracial individuals full recognition and entrenched racial hierarchies, shaping African American identity and resistance.

End of slavery in Brazil

Gradually ended through manumissions and legal reforms, culminating in 1888 with the emancipation of the remaining 1.5 million enslaved people.

Black women's activism

Historically significant for highlighting intersections of race, gender, and class, laying the foundation for later civil and women's rights movements.

Black emigrationists

Believed in relocating to Africa or Latin America to escape U.S. racism and achieve Black self-determination.

Effects of the slave trade on West African societies

Increased warfare, weakened communities, and caused long-term instability by removing generations of leaders and kin.