Slave Resistance In African American Culture Essay

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Research Paper Slave Resistance Through Culture When slaves were brought from Africa to the United States, they were stripped of their human rights and forced into a life of oppression. The conditions of harsh labor led them to resort to different forms of resistance to help them cope with the reality of the situation. One of the ways the slaves found resistance was through their culture. Culture helped the slaves stay resilient because it was all they managed to hold on to after they had been removed from their home in Africa and were forced to develop in their new home. Besides this, culture was a way to secretly protest and criticize slavery without having the slave owners punish them. The songs, stories, and art by the Africans …show more content…

Despite the traumatizing effects of inequality, African Americans were able to rise as a community within their workplace and spread the hope they found in their songs, their folktales, and in their artwork. Music in African culture played a significant role in the struggle to resist slavery. Slave songs, called spirituals, were sung to express emotions and experiences. The slaves sang about their everyday lives, and their hopes, fears, dreams, and complaints. The desire for freedom was evident in songs such as “Run to Jesus, Shun the Danger” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” which encouraged escape, while others encouraged sabotage. For the slaves, openly resisting the slave system was dangerous because of the punishment for opposition. Slave owners even banned drumming because they feared an uprising or of secret messages being delivered amongst the slaves ("Slave Resistance at Work."). However, the words of some spirituals would openly complain despite the consequences. The work song “Heave Away” is a complaint against possibly a master or a driver named Henry …show more content…

The quilts created by the enslaved women were wisely used to interpret secret messages to other slaves, especially those who were escaping. Some scholars think quilting patterns even contained directions for navigating the Underground Railroad. According to the article “The Role of Slave Art in the Resistance” by Joellen ElBashir and Donna M. Wells, “The patterns, knots, stitching, and colors conveyed instructions on ways to escape slavery, and when hung outside, conveyed directions to the North.” Quilts would even be created to map out the surrounding landscape to help escaping slaves familiarize with the land and its terrain. Besides quilts, the homes and other structures built by slave workers were arranged and designed so that it was familiar to the setting of homes in Africa (Rodriguez, Junius P. "Art." Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion.). This bringing of native culture into America showed how the slaves resisted, even after they were forced into the American ways of

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