df

Before and during the Civil War, enslaved African-Americans resisted

their bondage in a variety of active and passive ways. Since the odds

against a successful mass rebellion were so overwhelming, most slaves

resisted through small acts of individual protest. The most common

form of resistance, which took place on a daily basis, involved staging

work slowdowns, “accidentally” breaking tools, and committing small

acts of sabotage. Other slaves ran away, usually short distances, in

order to temporarily withhold their labor as an act of protest and a form

of negotiation for better treatment.

Some fugitive slaves attempted to make a permanent escape. By the

1830s, a network of sympathetic individuals had created the

“Underground Railroad,” in which abolitionist “conductors” like

Harriet Tubman ushered slaves down secret roads and into safe houses,

offering them a perilous escape route to northern free states.

At least nine armed slave revolts took place in 18th and early 19th

century America, including the Stono Rebellion in 1739, Gabriel

Prossey’s conspiracy in 1800, Denmark Vesey’s plot in 1822 and Nat

Turner’s rebellion in 1831. Many other conspiracies were thwarted

before they could even begin. These insurrections were most common

in the few places where slaves outnumbered whites, but even so, the

rebels’ efforts usually had only limited success. The unfortunate result

of many slave rebellions was the mass execution of the attempted