John. W. Blessingame, The Slave Community: The Plantation Life in The Antebellum South (Oxford University Press, Inc: 1972, 1979). John Wesley Blassingame was a scholar, historian, educator, writer, and leading pioneer in the study of American slavery. He received a bachelor's degree at Fort Balley State College in 1969, a master's degree at Howard University in 1961, and a doctorate at Yale University in 1971. He then became a history professor at his alma mater in 1974 at Yale University. He was a professor of history, African-American studes, and American Studies for 29 years. His repatoir of books that he has written and published include: The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South, Black New Orleans 1860-1880, The next chapter, chapter five, discusses the runaways and rebel slaves. The author talks about different rebellions that occurred on ships and on the plantations. He discusses that the slaves did have hopes of escaping but some were unwilling to leave their families or fearful of the consequences of being caught. Blassingame shows many examples of successful rebellions and runaways but points out that it was never easy and there was always a high price to be paid. Chapter six about the predictions that the slave owners had about the behavior of the slaves, in other words stereotypical slaves. There were three basic stereotypes: Sambo, Jack, and Nat. Jack was the faithful slave as long as he was well treated, Nat was the rebel slave who was vengeful and savage, and lastly Sambo, the faithful and loyal slave. In closing the chapter, the author points out that the characterization of these types of slaves shows more about the slave owner's personality, rather than the slave. The seventh chapter discusses the plantation and the everyday life of the slave. The author discusses the different roles of the slaves and the varying degrees of labor upon each slave. The slaves were flogged into submission and from an early age their mastered indoctrinated them with the "power of whiteness". The reality of every day life on the plantation for slaves was a harsh and cruel one. The last chapter discusses the variety of personalities of the
does an excellent job detailing the important role that conjure played in slave communities. Conjure was so significant to slaves because it provided reasons as to why things happen. For the slave it “made sense of the mysterious and inexplicable occurrences of life” (123). If they did not understand why they had been enslaved “conjure was a system of belief, a way of perceiving the world” that provided answers (123). Slaves used conjure as an “attempt to locate the cause of irrational suffering”…
extremely successful in Georgia after the 1830 planter-assembly of two powerful associations for the religious instruction of slaves—the most famous being the Liberty Country Association. Thanks to these alliances, many Georgia slave-owners built churches on their own plantations because almost half of the states’ slave population lived on estates with more than thirty slaves. Prominent planters facilitated the role of religion for enslaved Africa-Americans living throughout South Carolina. For example…
The Community of Enslaved Africans and their Religious & Spiritual Practices. During a most dark and dismal time in our nations history, we find that the Africans who endured horrible circumstances during slavery, found ways of peace and hope in their religious beliefs. During slavery, African's where able to survive unbearable conditions by focusing on their spirituality. Christianity was amongst the slave community. Being that the vast majority of the slave community was born in America,…
Osborne History 1228 6 February, 2015 Effects of the Trans – Atlantic Slave Trade The Trans – Atlantic slave trade, was a period during which 12 to 13 million African people were forcibly taken from their homes and sent across the Atlantic Ocean to live and work in the Americas. Removing so many people from their homeland inevitably had far reaching consequences. As a result of the Trans – Atlantic slave trade, families and communities were torn apart. It also halted the development of many parts of Atlantic…
the black community Although the characteristics of black family life have changed dramatically from its roots in West Africa to the present day in the United States, it still retains many of the same values. Whether genuine or fictive, kinship and community have always been an important part of black life. Early European explorers of Africa noted the hospitality with which they were invited into African homes and communities. Hospitality, charity, and mutual aid in the black community are not only…
between others slaves. Nat was the leader of one of the most famous revolt in the United States. Southampton area was covered with several slaves who had reached resistance on their owners holding harsher responsibilities such work land and household. Many plantation owners and farmers though that owning slaves was a status symbol because it was a common activity to use slaves as a work hand. I believe that the most important reason violence was not an appropriate response it is because slaves were threatened…
Native Americans and slaves resisting of Andrew Jackson his Army as their way to survive. Through Hell and high water, they continued to fight for various reasons. The Angolans were tired of being ran through. Tired of seeing their civilization being torn down. It was time to take a stand. Around the mid-1800s, Fort Mose, was known as an important free black community as well as Negro Fort. Fort Mose was Florida’s, as well as the nation’s first sanctioned free black community. Negro Fort, these,…
system. Slavery was based on the chattel principle. Slaves were thought as property by their slave owner. Slavery started when poor Europeans sold their slaves to become indentured servants. The idea of indentured servants failed and so the colonists turned to importing African Americans to Jamestown. Slaves were put through strenuous work on plantations doing their owners work for them. This created a relationship between the slave and their slave holders that would be physically brutal at times and…
“liberty” mean to Indians (pre-contact), European Christians, Englishmen, and African slaves in seventeenth and eighteenth century America? On what did each group base their liberty? How did each group’s lived experience of “liberty” impinge on the “liberties” of others? To Englishmen liberty meant personal independence to own land. To Native Americans liberty was commitment to family, group, and community autonomy and self-determination over individual freedom, the ability to be an active participant…
up of stations and other things that helped slaves escape from slavery to the north. I believe it is important to preserve the stations, cemeteries, and trails/paths that the slaves took on their journey. The reason it is important to preserve these things is because it is part of the history about slaves. One of the things from the Underground Railroad is the stations. The stations were houses, barns, and other buildings used to hide the slaves as they escaped to the North. The stations…
