settlers the myth of the white proletariat

But because insurrections were so rare, when they are taught in isolation, students are left with the impression that the vast majority of enslaved people who did not rebel accepted their bondage. Uprisings make clear that African Americans who engaged in rebellion opposed slavery. Accordingly, teachers must push beyond rebellions. Teaching resistance effectively requires focusing on more than a handful of highly visible and extremely dramatic attempts to secure freedom. As long as slavery existed, African Americans resisted. Regardless of form or function, resistance was never-ending. And while rebellion sought total liberation from slavery, most forms of resistance strove for something much less, for making life a bit more bearable until the Day of Jubilee finally arrived. Their resistance took many forms, from highly visible attempts to flee bondage, to nearly imperceptible acts of sabotage and subterfuge. Rebellion, though, was not the only way that enslaved African Americans fought back. “I have adventured my life in endeavoring to obtain the liberty of my countrymen, and am a willing sacrifice in their cause.” “I have nothing more to offer than what General Washington would have had to offer had he been taken by the British and put to trial by them,” declared one of Gabriel’s compatriots. The freedom-seekers, however, showed neither regret nor remorse. Gabriel and 26 others would eventually be executed. A torrential rain the night of the insurrection delayed the blacksmith’s plans just long enough for the plot to be revealed by a pair of enslaved turncoats. And to invoke the spirit of the American Revolution, as well as to call out the hypocrisy of American revolutionaries who refused to abolish slavery, he planned to carry a banner that read “Death or Liberty.”īut Gabriel’s bold bid to secure his freedom and spark a rebellion that would spread throughout the slaveholding South ended before it could really begin. Along the way, he intended to recruit fellow enslaved people and was willing to kill anyone who dared to stop them.

Gabriel planned to lead a group of armed rebels to Richmond to seize the state capital. In 1800, an enslaved blacksmith named Gabriel, who lived and worked near Richmond, plotted to topple the Old Dominion’s slaveholding regime.

Rebellion was the most dramatic type of resistance to slavery. They wanted their freedom, and when that proved impossible to obtain, they endeavored to make life worth living, even under the most appalling conditions. African Americans fought back because they refused to accept their lot in life. Highlighting resistance also renders African Americans’ humanity plain to see. Hasan Kwame Jeffries is an associate professor of history at Ohio State University and host of the “Teaching Hard History” podcast.

Settlers the myth of the white proletariat