First Half of Unit 3: Afican Amer Studies

Daily forms of resistance to slavery

Everyday actions such as slowing work paces, damaging tools, obtaining food, feigning illness, and running away to disrupt enslavers' authority.

1526 Spanish settlement revolt

Early uprising near the South Carolina–Georgia coast where enslaved Africans revolted against Spanish colonists and escaped to live among Indigenous communities.

Louisiana Revolt of 1811

Major uprising organized by Charles Deslondes in which hundreds of enslaved people marched toward New Orleans before being suppressed by federal troops and militia.

Creole revolt (1841)

Successful maritime rebellion led by Madison Washington that diverted a domestic slave trade ship to the Bahamas, resulting in freedom for nearly 130 people.

Mutual-aid societies

Community organizations founded by free Black citizens to provide health benefits, burial expenses, financial relief, and social support to families in need.

Richard Allen and Absalom Jones

Prominent religious leaders and civic organizers who founded independent Black congregations and community institutions in Philadelphia during the late 18th century.

Maria W. Stewart

Pioneering Black public speaker and essayist who urged African Americans to pursue education, economic independence, and civil rights in the early 1830s.

Maroon communities

Settlements established in secluded, defensible terrains—such as swamps, dense forests, and mountains—by people who escaped slavery to maintain freedom and culture.

Quilombo dos Palmares

Large, self-governing Maroon settlement in colonial Brazil that preserved African traditions and defended its sovereignty against European attacks for nearly a century.

Queen Nanny

Spiritual and military leader of the Jamaican Windward Maroons who successfully fought British colonial forces and secured a peace treaty granting land autonomy.

Manumission

The formal act by which an enslaver legally grants freedom to an enslaved individual, often through a will, deed, or self-purchase arrangement.

1808 federal slave trade ban

Constitutional and congressional act that prohibited the transatlantic importation of enslaved Africans into the United States, spurring the growth of the domestic slave trade.

American Colonization Society

Organization established in 1816 that advocated the relocation of free Black Americans to West Africa, a plan widely criticized and rejected by Black abolitionists.

Paul Cuffee

Wealthy Black shipowner and activist who financed and directed a voyage transporting 38 free Black emigrants to Sierra Leone in 1815.

Martin Delany

Abolitionist, physician, and proponent of Black self-determination who supported voluntary emigration as a route to global independence and equality.

David Walker

Radical Black abolitionist who published an influential 1829 Appeal warning of divine retribution and urging enslaved people to actively fight for emancipation.

Henry Highland Garnet

Abolitionist minister who delivered an 1843 address urging enslaved laborers to resist servitude directly and refuse submission to enslavers.

Underground Railroad

Covert, cooperative network of routes, safe stations, and abolitionist guides assisting freedom seekers traveling to free northern states and Canada.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Strict federal statute that penalized citizens for assisting runaways, denied accused individuals jury trials, and allowed capture in free territories.

Harriet Tubman

Abolitionist who escaped enslavement, returned south numerous times as a conductor, and served the Union during the Civil War as a scout, nurse, and spy.

William Still

Philadelphia abolitionist and conductor who compiled detailed records of freedom seekers' identities, origins, and family histories to help reunite separated loved ones.

Henry 'Box' Brown

Enslaved Virginian who arranged his escape to Philadelphia by having himself packed and shipped inside a wooden transport crate.

Frederick Douglass's use of photography

Deliberate use of studio portraits to assert Black dignity, intellect, and humanity while directly countering racist caricatures of the 19th century.