Resistance+to+Slavery

=RESISTANCE TO SLAVERY: =

-Underground Railroad/Harriet Tubman:  **
 * 

 The Underground Railroad is neither underground, nor a railroad, which is very surprising! The Underground Railroad is actually a series of unorganized escape routes from the South to the North that slaves took to gain freedom. The runaway slaves traveled by wagon, boat, and foot. Runaways usually traveled at night, which gave the runaways a lower chance of getting caught. In the day the runaways would hide in stations such as stables, attics, and cellars. A fun fact about the Underground Railroad is that it extended all the way up to Wisconsin! The Underground Railroad was loathed by slave owners, and led to harsh punishments if caught. 

 Harriet Tubman was one of the most well-known conductors of the Underground Railroad. Harriet was born a slave in Maryland's Dorchester County around 1820. When she was only a teenager, she suffered a major injury that affected her for her entire life! Harriet then decided to escape because she found out that her owner was about to sell her, which was one of the worst experiences for a slave. When she passed into the free state of Pennsylvania, "I looked at my hands to see if I was still the same person now that I was free. There was such a glory over everything." -Harriet Tubman. Now that Harriet was free she decided to free slaves from further harm and into freedom. In doing so she put her freedom and life at risk! Now that Harriet wasn't a slave she became an abolitionist, a person in the drive to end slavery. When she would free slaves she would carry a pistol to frighten off slave hunters. Because of her courage and determination Harriet freed 300 slaves in 19 trips within ten years! Not one single person was lost and she was never caught! Her amazing talent, the number of slaves she had freed, and just being an escaped slave caused her enemies to offer $40,000 for her capture. That was the largest reward for any slave helping in the Underground Railroad! Harriet's bravery and the Underground Railroad led to many slave's freedom. Not many other slaves were as brave as Harriet was.


 * Fun Underground Railroad game! It puts you in the life of a slave:[|http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/]

Here is a great video about Harriet Tubman and her life: [|http://www.youtube.com/watchv=nQ2Kbk4QTGU&feature=player_embedded]

The Picture above is a portrait of Harriet Tubman, after her years of freeing slaves through the Underground Railroad.

The Painting above shows fugitive slaves arriving at the Underground Railroad. **

 ** - Rebellions/Resistance: **  
 *  Rebellions and resistance were very common actions by slaves. Slave rebellions reminded the whites that the slaves were not content with their lives. Even the slaves that were treated well with baths, full three day meals, and clean and new clothes weekly were not satisfied with their lives. All they wanted was freedom, even if they were going to be in danger of enslavement, discrimination, poverty, and more. Gabriel's rebellion is a well known and important rebellion, at least to people that study the history of slaves. It was the first rebellion of the new country, and the largest in the United States! It occurred in Virginia in 1800. Gabriel's rebellion was led by 24 year old Gabriel, who was an educated slave. He had been trained as a blacksmith and loathed his cruel owner, Thomas Prosser. In 1800 Gabriel and his wife, Nanny, two of his brothers, and other slaves began to make crude swords and bullets to use in their rebellion. They planned to march and capture Richmond and attract slaves from all around. Unfortunately, two slaves in their plan betrayed Gabriel by telling their master about their plan. Even with this drawback there were still as many as 1,000 slaves gathered to attack. Their plan was failed by a terrible thunderstorm, which caused Gabriel and many others to flee. In the end they were captured and hung. Even though their rebellion didn't go as planned, they still made a statement and history. 

 Resistance is like a rebellion, but much smaller. There are two types of resistance done by slaves, passive resistance and physical resistance. Passive resistance was secretive and peaceful compared to physical resistance. In passive resistance slaves would sabotage tools, kill crops, play dumb, refuse to work, work slowly, and sing. This would anger their master and also cause less work to get done. Passive resistance was very helpful and successful for slaves. Physical resistance was mainly hurting or killing your master, and hurting or killing yourself (often to hurt your slave value.) Running away was also very common and often thought about by the slaves. You could think of running away like resistance because you are resisting from working and being a slave. In Chains many slaves ran away to the British because they were “granting freedom to all slaves.” The British happily used the slaves in their army unlike they promised. An example of a runaway was John Mason, a slave in Kentucky. Mason escaped his enslavement and fled to freedom in Canada. He was determined to help others who remained a slave. He knew that returning to the American South could lead to his recapture, but he still did it. His actions carried great risks, but Mason still returned to the South again and again, helping some 1,000 slaves to escape into freedom in Canada. Eventually Mason was captured. Both of his arms were broken and he was sold back into slavery. Unharmed, he escaped again and resumed his work with the Underground Railroad. Freedom is so important to the slaves, as Louis Hughes said, "about three months after my first attempt to get away, I thought I would try it again."

Below are a bunch of runaway slave advertisements from the 18th-century newspapers in Virginia: **











 <span style="color: fuchsia; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> River Jordan was very important and meaningful to the slaves for many reasons. It gave them hope, courage, and inspiration. River Jordan was not a River named Jordan where the runaway slaves would go to, like it seems. That couldn't be true because there is not a River Jordan in every state where slaves could escape. The real River Jordan is in Western Asia and flows into the Dead Sea. River Jordan was used as code by many slaves for freedom and was a sign for freedom. They used this code so their masters would not know that they were going to or thinking about escaping. Isabel, in Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is introduced to River Jordan by her "grandfather," yet he is not really her "grandfather." He said he is the grandfather of everything and everyone. He is really an ancient slave who pumps the water for the slaves at the Tea Water Pump. The "River Jordan" for Isabel is either the North or East River (the slave escape routes by water.) Grandfather says that "the only thing that stands between you and freedom is River Jordan" and that Isabel needs to look hard to find it. In my point of view, I think he is really saying that River Jordan is her way to freedom and to gain it (which she does.) River Jordan encouraged slaves to gain freedom, and many slaves did by crossing River Jordan. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
 * <span style="color: fuchsia; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">-River Jordan: **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Swing Low Sweet Chariot, a spiritual sang by the slaves: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">[] //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Chorus: //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin' for to carry me home; Swing low, sweet chariot, Comin' for to carry me home. I looked over __Jordan__, And what did I see, Comin' for to carry me home, A band of angels comin' after me, Comin' for to carry me home.


 * -Spying: **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Spying plaid a huge role in Chains and affects all slaves that do it. Isabel is first given the idea to do it by Curzon, another slave. She denies doing it, but finds herself spying on her master and his plans against the colony. She then tells everything to Curzon and later on Colonel Reagan. After a while Isabel couldn't stop spying and then revealing what she overheard and got caught! Isabel got in a lot of trouble, but that didn't stop her from revealing her master's plans. Isabel's experience on spying is much like many other slaves. Spying is very risky, one of the riskiest things a slave can do other than run away or hurt their master. Other than being risky, spying leads to harsh punishments, like whipping. If you are going to spy you need understand the punishments and risks that you’re taking. Spying is a big mistake done by many slaves.