Black Resistance
"Free Northern blacks and their enslaved Southern brethren participated in personal as well as organized acts of resistance against slavery…African Americans faced huge odds and the systematic violation of their civil liberties. Consequently, many fervently supported the abolitionist cause with both open and surreptitious acts of rebellion. Northern blacks began forming groups to support the cause for freedom." (Source: Black) |
Robert Shelton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History CSU |
Slave Rebellions
"3. Gabriel’s Conspiracy, 1800.
A skilled blacksmith who stood more than six feet tall and dressed in fine clothes when he was away from the forge, Gabriel cut an imposing figure. Gabriel began to formulate a plan, enlisting his brother Solomon and another servant ... in his fight for freedom... Twenty-five African Americans, worth about $9,000 or so...were hanged together before Gabriel went to the gallows and was executed." (Gates, Did) |
"4. German Coast Uprising, 1811.
In 1811, about 40 miles north of New Orleans, Charles Deslondes, a mulatto slave driver... took volatile inspiration from that victory seven years prior in Haiti… On the rainy evening of Jan. 8, Deslondes and about 25 slaves rose up and attacked the plantation’s owner and family. They hacked to death one of the owner’s sons, but carelessly allowed the master to escape." (Gates, Did) |
"5. Nat Turner’s Rebellion, 1831.
Driven by prophetic visions and joined by a host of followers — with no clear goals — on August 22, 1831, Turner and about 70 armed slaves and free blacks set off to slaughter the white neighbors who enslaved them. In the early hours of the morning, they bludgeoned Turner’s master and his master’s wife and children with axes. By the end of the next day, the rebels had attacked about 15 homes and killed between 55 and 60 whites... " (Gates, Did) |
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