" Very few, if any, African-Americans accepted their status as slaves. Most, if not all, slaveowneres were completely aware of this and, in general, they lived in fear of the African-Americans under the control. Not only did slaveowners expect slaves to run away, letters and diaries give strong evidence that slaveowners (and even non-slaveowners) in the south believed that rebellion was imminent. They had lived with this fear since 1792 when the Haitian Revolution proved unambiguously that slaves were ready to revolt and could do so with a passion that was awe-inspiring. Added to this mix was the fiery rhetoric of abolitionists, both black and white. The most frightening, to the slaveowners, of these abolitionists was Henry Highland Garnet who had escaped from slavery at the age of ten. In 1843 he called for a slave strike and suggested that it escalate to a slave revolt. By this point, the south had been rocked by three slave revolts which had struck fear to the very hearts of slaveowners."--Slave Rebellions
Listen up. Today, The Daddy is feeling all those blacks who came before him: The ones who fought bravely to carve some kind of existence in this foreign land.
Because we know so little about our history, because some of us, especially the elite or "bugee" blacks among us, are so cynical and sarcastic about the plight of blacks today, it may be convenient and comforting to rest our head on the comforting shoulders of cynicism and escapism. It may be easy to say to friends at house gatherings and parties that "Blacks don't do shit," "Black folks ain't about nothing," that Africans have done little, if anything to fight for their freedom and some land of their own to run their own lives as they saw fit. Far from it, Africans were already used to living their own lives free of white dudes like Abraham Lincoln or representatives of white colonialists giving them bibles and bible thumpers while steadily killing off our people and making deals with chiefs to take African land.
A good example of Africans trying to break free and live their own lives was the rebellion of some enslaved Africans in 1733. You see, today, November 1, is the day of the first successful African rebellion, which took place in 1733. Here, enslaved Africans on the island of St. John, which today is part of the United States Virgin Island, defeated the Danish Army and took over the island, planting their own flag.
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| List of insurrections (partial list) |
| 1712 New York Slave Revolt |
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15 comments:
Aviva: Welcome and thanks for following daddyBstrong. Please feel free to come back and make comments. Everyone has a piece of this blog. Blessings.
I thought you were going to get back to music and poetry.
Excellent post. Your series are always enlightening...perhaps this is your next one?
Mac, I did some research in grad school once upon a time. In Virginia (and what is now WV) up until 1832, the slave laws were not well defined and pretty much let slaves do what they wanted as long as there was no trouble. Then Nat Turner came along and led a rebellion. Suddenly, it seems like the legislature was totally consumed with laws effecting slaves. They couldn't congregate, marry, go to their own chuches, travel, etc., etc. The laws that came onto the books in 1832 were one of the biggest blitzes of law making concerning a single topic anywhere (I suspect).
So yea, they were afraid, especially in the deep south where they were greatly outnumbered.
Great article. Always a pleasure.
Sagacious:WV makes a great study. For one thing it developed these oppressive laws, but so many great African Americans came out of that state.
Another thing were the people who gathered there. John Brown and Frederick Douglass hung out there. John wanted Douglass to join the rebellion. Douglass told Brown he appreciated his commitment, but the rebellion wouldn't work. They disagreed on the rebellion but remained allies against slavery.
WV is loaded with great history, but all I hear is negative stuff about the country that makes me sick. Everything I read about WV is negative. Thanks, Sagacious.
Anon: Whe I sit at the computer, I almost never know what I'm going to write. I start by reading the paper, checking other blogs. But I always seem to end on what I think is important for that day: something current like Philadelphia Phillies or something more educational like the piece I just did on the first rebellion. Blessings.
Oh I just loved this post so much!
What a great history lesson.
MacDaddy,
very good post.I recently read Randall Robinson's book on Haiti,which led me to read more on Toussaint L' Ouverture and the military success of the slave victory over the strongest European land army.
Yea Daddy, some really great American came out of WV who were of African descent.
After WV became a state it enacted many pro integration laws. Many legal precedents were set in WV.
I took a grad class on Black WV History from a very renowned scholar on the topic(Dr, Ancilla Bickley). It would be interesting to get you some of the nonpublished materials she provided us with that I still have. Also, Dr. Joe Trotter at Carnegie-Mellon who grew up in So. WV has published a couple books on blacks in the coal fields of WV. Yes, we have a lot of positive Black history.
Sadly, in the past few decades WV has become a bastian of racism and continues in horrible economic depression. When jobs began getting more and more scarce in the coal fields, guess who the first miners were to migrate out into the midwest and south? The ones who were the first to be laid off or not offered the fewer jobs of course and we can all figure what group that was. No, WV aint the same old place it used to be.
Sagacious: Thanks for the knowledge.
Della: Thank you.
D-Place: Thanks. I'm a student of history; and I feel I have so much to learn. I think the school system lied to me about how history went down. On top of that, they ignored the most important aspects of African American and working class history. So I'm not the only one who lack a lot of knowledge about our history.
Sagacious: I'm going to check, but I think the great historian Carter G. Woodson came out of WV...Maybe I'll develop a list. I know there were many great African Americans who came out of there.
Great post Daddy. I have read it several times so I can be relatively sure most of it will stick. Thanks for sharing.
MacDaddy,
Everytime I take one of these pills for falling five feet off a ladder backwards makes me think I have did something [comment on your blog] when I haven't. Might be a good defense in court.
Slavery in the American Mountain South by Wilma A. Dunaway 2003 gives some interesting insights into resistance of slavery with most emphasis on the mountains of Appalachia. You may have seen my blog review on the book earlier this year? Much data on a very sad subject.
rainy
Daddy, Yes, Woodson is from the WV coal fields. He went to college over in Ohio. Was pres. of WV State College for a few years . . . I think in the 20s.
I've read his biography. A great man.
Other WVians:
Henry Louis Gates ("Skip" to folks around here)
Leon Sullivan
Booker T. Washington
Thanks, daddyBstrong for this list. Im feeling the fact that we werent just passive accepters of slavery! There is so much of our history that the youth of today NEED to know. Knowing would make the difference in their lives, I believe. The info you gave us here is enough to start a good research project. Blessing (black-folks.blogspot.com)
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