Unit 4: Topic 12 - African Americans in the Early Republic Flashcards
What strategies did enslaved Africans use to maintain their social identity and culture during their years of enslavement?
Many slaves referred to each other by their African names and not the ones given to them by their slave owners to sustain the memory of their communal heritage. They also kept their West African and Caribbean languages alive among themselves. Additionally, through traditional folktales, music, dance, and religion (in some cases syncretic religion), slaves maintained their culture.
What occurred during the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)?
Ending in 1804, the Haitian Revolution was the uprising of Haiti’s enslaved population, during which they killed much of the white population and established a government of their own.
What was Nat Turner’s Rebellion?
Nat Turner’s Rebellion was an organized slave revolt in Virginia led by enslaved worker Nat Turner. He believed God had chosen him for a mission, so in obedience to that belief, Turner and his followers killed 57 white people. The following day, the Virginia militia ended the rebellion, and Turner and 55 other believed conspirators were hanged. Virginia slave owners reacted in terror, attacking about 200 slaves.
What was the United States vs. Amistad?
In 1839, the illegally enslaved Africans on the Amistad, to be transported from West Africa to the West Indies, killed the captain and the cook onboard the ship after escaping their shackles.
In the United States vs. Amistad, the Supreme Court ruled that the Africans were kidnapped from their homeland and must be set free. At this point in time, the international slave trade was illegal, despite the allowance of slavery within U.S. borders.
What was the effect of the Haitian Revolution and the Amistad Rebellion on the American slave-holding elites?
Fearful of slave rebellions similar to those of the Haitian Revolution and Amistad Rebellion, white plantation owners went to far extents to suppress slaves’ cultural expressions and sought to gain a stricter measure of control over them. For example, between 1820 and 1840, most Southern legislatures made it illegal to free a slave. Additionally, restrictions on education, marriage, and court access were made for slaves. As more efforts of slave resistance and rebellion emerged, the harsher the laws on slaves became.
What was the “peculiar institution?”
The “peculiar institution” was a euphemism for slavery and its economic ramifications in the American South. The term aimed to explain the seeming contradiction of legalized slavery in a country that declared “all men are created equal.”
What was the Vesey Slave Conspiracy?
The Vesey Slave Conspiracy of 1822 was a planned slave revolt organized by Denmark Vesey, a former slave who bought his freedom. He aimed to seize Charleston, kill the governor, and burn the city. Before the plan could come to fruition, some slaves leaked the plot to their owners. Due to this, Vessey was captured and brought to trial, where he was eventually hanged.
Similar to other acts of rebellion, this resulted in harsher laws and further restrictions on the rights of slaves.
What was the Underground Railroad?
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of people, African American as well as white, offering shelter and aid to escaped enslaved people fleeing to the North and Canada.
One of the most well-known “conductors” of the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman, who made numerous trips to the South to rescue people from slavery.
What role did religion play for Northern black communities?
Religion played a central role in uniting free black communities and advocating for the enslaved. Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, a separate black Christian denomination. Allen hoped to form a congregation open exclusively to African Americans, away from racial discrimination. Most members of the church refused to buy anything produced by slaves to protest against slavery.
How did free Northern blacks contribute to the abolitionist movement?
Free people of color in the North were prominent members of the growing abolition reform movement in the Early Republic.
David Walker, a free black Boston clothing merchant, wrote an influential pamphlet denouncing slavery and racial discrimination called “An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World” in 1829. Because Southern post offices refused to deliver anti-slavery literature through the mail, Walker sewed copies of the pamphlet into the linings of coats of black sailors headed to southern ports.
Several enslaved people who escaped became leading orators and writers for the abolitionist cause, including Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth.
