RESISTANCE
The push for freedom was rising during the early 19th century and slaves were constantly trying to resist. Often times there were offensive forms of resistance however the most common defensive form of resistance was running away. Instead of just simply running without a destination, the elaborate Underground Railroad helped many slaves escape to freedom. While the Underground Railroad may not have helped a huge percentage of blacks in the United States escape from their slave masters, the ones who did try to use the system successfully escaped their captivity.
One abolitionist during the time named William Brown lived in Buffalo for about 9 years after successfully escaping from slavery himself. He carried fugitives across the Great Lakes to Canada on steamboats that he worked on. He was a huge help in the Underground Railroad, “In the year 1842, I conveyed, from the first of May to the first of December, sixty-nine fugitives over Lake Erie to Canada” (Brown 1847). The Underground Railroad was a perpetual system because even survivors of slavery went back to aid others trying to escape slavery through this method. William Brown escaped slavery in the mid 1830’s and was a pivotal person in the Underground Railroad, as was every person who helped fugitive slaves. Even people who were not slaves to begin with helped in the Underground Railroad, “We met a preacher… He said, ‘You need not be afraid of me, -I am the friend of all who travel from the South to the North.’ He told us not to go into Cleveland, as we would be taken up” (Brown 1847). The Underground Railroad was the most common indirect form of resistance by slaves. It was so expansive and effective and was still kept secret by those participating in it. Black and white people who were abolitionists and runaway slaves themselves all helped to push for their freedom. It was not an aggressive form of resistance, however the Underground Railroad proved to be effective because upwards of 100,000 slaves escaped from their slaveholders. Also, any slave could try resisting by using the Underground Railroad. Revolting and using violence was harder for mothers and children to do, so the Underground Railroad proved to be a viable alternative to simply rebelling with violence.
Although much of the well-known individuals who succeeded in fleeing servitude gained their independence, most of other slaves had to use a different tactic in order to gain some type of freedom. One way in which some slaves thought would be a quick solution to this situation would be using direct forms of resistance. In other words, using physical violence in order to gain any kind of freedom. At any rate, single acts of violence are sometimes portrayed as declarations of strength and free will when slaves themselves carry them out. Much slaves would state that there was an empowering feeling that emerged from physically beating their owners; a feeling that made them believe they had become in a way, independent. This feeling suggests that there is something deeply enabling and inherently satisfying about opposing the violence of slavery with violence. Take Frederick Douglas for example: his “turning point” in his life as a slave was when he came across a physical confrontation with his owner in which eventually lasted roughly two hours. To break the “cycle of violence” by one’s OWN hand signifies a great proclamation of both masculinity and self-rule. Thus, if one slave could aggressively retrieve their freedom from the hands of their owner(s), most slaves could have the audacity do so as well. When referring to direct forms of resistance, resistance to violent domination can be seen as taking three different forms: non-violent, violent and self-destructive. The commonality which ties all of these means of resistance is the choice to refuse to be controlled by violence, even if it comes down to death being a possible consequence. Non-violent resistance is the choice to rebel against one’s owner with the absence of violence. If a slave realizes how to loosen the hold of their owner on them, the slave should be able to come to an understanding that their owner’s control depends on violence and if a slave can build the courage to challenge the threat of violence instead of obeying it, the slave can recover a portion of control over their life. Other type of disobedience in the presence of violence can also be self-destruction. In William Wells Brown’s Clotel, self-violence is analyzed as a means of regaining control and attaining freedom. Near the end of the narrative, Clotel, detained by an angry mob, throws herself off a bridge to her death. “She clasped her hands convulsively,” Brown writes, “and raised them, as she at the same time raised her eyes towards heaven, and begged for that mercy and compassion there, which had been denied her on earth; and then, with a single bound, she vaulted over the railings of the bridge, and sunk for ever beneath the waves of the river!”(18). Before her demise, confronted with re-enslavement or death, she reclaims control of her destiny in a final act of self-violence. In this instance, Brown connects freedom and death. The fact that she chose an act of self-destruction over re-enslavement emphasizes the awful in-humaneness of slavery. Violence has made a huge contribution in freeing many slaves, much more than other methods could possibly reach and even though it caused many slaves their death, they had the will to confront an inhumane problem in which they were the victim.
One abolitionist during the time named William Brown lived in Buffalo for about 9 years after successfully escaping from slavery himself. He carried fugitives across the Great Lakes to Canada on steamboats that he worked on. He was a huge help in the Underground Railroad, “In the year 1842, I conveyed, from the first of May to the first of December, sixty-nine fugitives over Lake Erie to Canada” (Brown 1847). The Underground Railroad was a perpetual system because even survivors of slavery went back to aid others trying to escape slavery through this method. William Brown escaped slavery in the mid 1830’s and was a pivotal person in the Underground Railroad, as was every person who helped fugitive slaves. Even people who were not slaves to begin with helped in the Underground Railroad, “We met a preacher… He said, ‘You need not be afraid of me, -I am the friend of all who travel from the South to the North.’ He told us not to go into Cleveland, as we would be taken up” (Brown 1847). The Underground Railroad was the most common indirect form of resistance by slaves. It was so expansive and effective and was still kept secret by those participating in it. Black and white people who were abolitionists and runaway slaves themselves all helped to push for their freedom. It was not an aggressive form of resistance, however the Underground Railroad proved to be effective because upwards of 100,000 slaves escaped from their slaveholders. Also, any slave could try resisting by using the Underground Railroad. Revolting and using violence was harder for mothers and children to do, so the Underground Railroad proved to be a viable alternative to simply rebelling with violence.
Although much of the well-known individuals who succeeded in fleeing servitude gained their independence, most of other slaves had to use a different tactic in order to gain some type of freedom. One way in which some slaves thought would be a quick solution to this situation would be using direct forms of resistance. In other words, using physical violence in order to gain any kind of freedom. At any rate, single acts of violence are sometimes portrayed as declarations of strength and free will when slaves themselves carry them out. Much slaves would state that there was an empowering feeling that emerged from physically beating their owners; a feeling that made them believe they had become in a way, independent. This feeling suggests that there is something deeply enabling and inherently satisfying about opposing the violence of slavery with violence. Take Frederick Douglas for example: his “turning point” in his life as a slave was when he came across a physical confrontation with his owner in which eventually lasted roughly two hours. To break the “cycle of violence” by one’s OWN hand signifies a great proclamation of both masculinity and self-rule. Thus, if one slave could aggressively retrieve their freedom from the hands of their owner(s), most slaves could have the audacity do so as well. When referring to direct forms of resistance, resistance to violent domination can be seen as taking three different forms: non-violent, violent and self-destructive. The commonality which ties all of these means of resistance is the choice to refuse to be controlled by violence, even if it comes down to death being a possible consequence. Non-violent resistance is the choice to rebel against one’s owner with the absence of violence. If a slave realizes how to loosen the hold of their owner on them, the slave should be able to come to an understanding that their owner’s control depends on violence and if a slave can build the courage to challenge the threat of violence instead of obeying it, the slave can recover a portion of control over their life. Other type of disobedience in the presence of violence can also be self-destruction. In William Wells Brown’s Clotel, self-violence is analyzed as a means of regaining control and attaining freedom. Near the end of the narrative, Clotel, detained by an angry mob, throws herself off a bridge to her death. “She clasped her hands convulsively,” Brown writes, “and raised them, as she at the same time raised her eyes towards heaven, and begged for that mercy and compassion there, which had been denied her on earth; and then, with a single bound, she vaulted over the railings of the bridge, and sunk for ever beneath the waves of the river!”(18). Before her demise, confronted with re-enslavement or death, she reclaims control of her destiny in a final act of self-violence. In this instance, Brown connects freedom and death. The fact that she chose an act of self-destruction over re-enslavement emphasizes the awful in-humaneness of slavery. Violence has made a huge contribution in freeing many slaves, much more than other methods could possibly reach and even though it caused many slaves their death, they had the will to confront an inhumane problem in which they were the victim.