Written from an essay by Kristin Gallas, principal of MUSE Consulting, for Lowell National Historical Park's Lyddie: Voices from the Field (chapter 6).
"I am a human"
Enslaved African Americans — captured by force or born into slavery — fought slavery every day, in small and large ways:
- faking illness to avoid work that enriched their enslavers;
- breaking tools;
- keeping traditional beliefs;
- running away.
Historians call this agency: acts through which enslaved people asserted their humanity inside a system that denied it. Each act said, in effect, "I am a human."
Freeing body, mind and soul
Slavery in the United States was evil for many reasons. White people controlled enslaved people's bodies through laws that made Black people property, and through mental and physical abuse that bred intense fear. Enslaved people still found ways to free their bodies, minds and souls.
| Freedom of | How |
|---|---|
| The soul | keeping religious traditions and knowledge such as music; building kinship networks of family and friends — which most enslavers discouraged, since people without family ties were easier to sell |
| The mind | learning to read and write. By 1833, almost every southern state had outlawed teaching enslaved people to read, for fear of what literacy's knowledge and power would do. Readers could interpret the Bible for themselves, and texts like David Walker's Appeal … to the Coloured Citizens of the World |
| The body | escape |
Running
Historians estimate that from 1820 to 1860, only about one thousand people escaped each year, out of nearly 2.5 million people of African descent enslaved in the United States. Some ran toward freedom; others ran to rejoin family and friends. Black and white helpers gave shelter, food and directions to the next safe house.
Escape was dangerous and uncertain, and enslavers offered large rewards for recapture.
Every act of agency carried risk: whipping, being sold away, even death.
Sources
Based on "Lyddie: Voices from the Field — Chapter 06: Enslaved People's Agency," an essay by Kristin Gallas published by the National Park Service and in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The essay cites the Museum of the American Revolution's Finding Freedom: Agency and Resistance; the National Park Service's Underground Railroad study; and the Library of Congress's Resistance and Abolition. The author's photograph is not reproduced.
In these publicationsLowell National Historical Park
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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