Issue 3: Captives’ Experience and Slave Resistance Flashcards
Why was plantation life so hard for enslaved Africans
Enslaved Africans were forced to work long hours each day with few
breaks.
The work involved heavy physical labour in all weathers, often in very hot weather.
Enslaved Africans were subjected to harsh discipline, and were liable to be flogged or otherwise punished for the smallest act of resistance.
Slave owners and overseers regarded enslaved Africans as inferior beings and no more than property, so they often did not treat them humanely.
Families of enslaved Africans might be split up at the whim of the slave owner.
Enslaved Africans were forced to live in simple huts and received little food and water.
• Enslaved Africans were forced to give up their African names, language and religion. They were given European names by their owners, required to speak the slave owner’s language and practise Christianity
Why was discipline so harsh on the plantations
• Slave owners and overseers were outnumbered by the enslaved Africans by about 20 to 1, so felt it necessary to impose harsh discipline to keep the Africans under their control.
• Some enslaved Africans did attempt acts of resistance such as sabotaging the crops or machinery, or attempting to run away. This made slave owners favour harsh discipline as a deterrent to African resistance.
• In some plantations the enslaved Africans attempted full scale rebellion, which could easily spread to other neighbouring plantations. On one island, the French plantation colony of Saint- Domingue, the enslaved Africans rose up in rebellion and set up a free
independent country, which they called Haiti. This intensified fears among slave owners on other Caribbean islands that they would also be overthrown if they did not maintain harsh discipline on their plantations.
• Slave owners were motivated by a wish to make profit, and to maximise this profit they needed to work the enslaved Africans as hard as they possibly could, so instilled fear of punishment into them to make them work harder.
• Slave owners and overseers regarded enslaved Africans as inferior beings and no more than property, so they often did not treat them humanely.
• Overseers were held responsible by the slave owners to keep order on the plantation. In order to keep their job, the overseer needed to ensure that discipline was maintained, so tended to be harsh in their treatment of the enslaved Africans.
What forms of resistance took place on the plantations?
•
•The most extreme form of resistance was outright rebellion, where enslaved Africans would rise up against the slave owner and overseers, killing or imprisoning them and then spreading the rebellion to other plantations - as happened in Haiti in 1791.
• Enslaved Africans might attack and destroy plantation property, sabotaging machinery, destroying crops and even burning houses
and barns.
Enslaved Africans might attempt to run away from the plantation where they worked.
Enslaved Africans might steal food from the slave owner’s house or from the crop stores.
Enslaved Africans might deliberately work slowly in the fields or damage the crops when harvesting them.
• Enslaved Africans might continue to use their native language and practise their native religion when in private.
• Enslaved Africans might teach themselves to read and write, and use the communication skills plot with other enslaved Africans.
Why was most resistance unsuccessful on the plantations?
Fear of harsh punishments deterred many enslaved Africans from joining in any resistance.
Overseers kept a close eye on enslaved Africans when they worked in the fields and rested up at night time.
It was difficult for enslaved Africans to run away as they were easily identified as runaway slaves due to their ethnicity.
It was difficult for enslaved Africans to plot any resistance beyond their own plantation due to a lack of communication and contact with other plantations.
Slave owners cooperated with each other to catch runaway Africans and return them to slavery, as well as cooperating to stop rebellion from breaking out on any of the plantations.
The enslaved Africans lacked access to weapons and other tools that could be used for fighting, whereas the slave owners and overseers kept guns and guard dogs.
