Struggle Against Slavery

3 Pages 750 Words

Plowing Liberation

“In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle
which we call love of freedom; it is impatient of Oppression
and pants for Deliverance; and by the leave of our modern Egyptians
I will assert, that the same principle lives in us.”
- Phylis Wheatley


For centuries, America blossomed from the labors of a povished race. Through beatings, mental abuse, trickery and all-out cruelty, White Americans worked to control African Americans in every aspect. An economical control of free labor diminished any ideas of liberation for African Americans. Peter Wood, author of “The Dream Deferred,” Peter Sterns, author of “Culture, Conflict, and Community,” and Olaudah Equiano, author of The Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano describes the life of slaves before freedom ever imagined a toll; two of which addresses the slaves docility or lack there of. From narratives to historical journals, each author uses their own technique to represent Blacks’ resistance and struggle against slavery.

In “The Dream Deferred,” Peter Wood takes a more modern tone analyzing slaves resistance since the 18th century. Wood fights to diminish common stereotypes past historians misrepresented with the slaves.

One the most important topics addressed is the idea of docility. Somewhere through history Americans were led to believe the slaves where feeble minded and accepting to the cruelty bestowed on them. Wood speaks of several uprisings used to position the slaves to receive emancipation in the future. A tactic Wood frequently refers to is the slaves’ choice to partner with the British during the war and inspire uprising in American towns. The slaves mocked the sons of liberty while “crying out’ Liberty!” They also formed their own secrete language through church songs, usually uprising against their suppressors. An often-overlooked fact about the slave revolts is in the summer...