Study Notes: Unit 2 - Resistance, Abolition, and Community Building

Agency

The capacity of individuals to act independently and make their own free choices.

Overt Resistance

Visible, direct, and often forceful opposition to the institution of slavery.

Fugitivity

The act of escaping slavery, which could involve truancy or permanent escape.

The Underground Railroad

A clandestine network of secret routes and safe houses aiding enslaved people in their escape.

Marronage

The establishment of communities by escaped slaves in remote areas.

The Great Dismal Swamp

A major site on the Virginia/North Carolina border where escaped enslaved people lived.

Stono Rebellion

A major uprising in South Carolina in 1739 where enslaved people marched toward Spanish Florida.

The Haitian Revolution

The successful slave revolt (1791-1804) leading to the founding of a state free from slavery.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

An 1831 revolt led by a preacher in Virginia that killed nearly 60 white people.

Cultural Resistance

Maintaining African practices, which served as acts of defiance against oppression.

Workplace Sabotage

Acts like breaking tools or feigning illness that undermined the slave system.

Poisoning

A method of covert resistance where enslaved cooks poisoned their enslavers' food.

Gradualism

An early abolitionist approach focusing on slowly phasing out slavery.

American Colonization Society (ACS)

Founded in 1817 to send free African Americans to Africa to create Liberia.

Immediatism

The radical demand for immediate abolition of slavery without compensation.

David Walker’s Appeal

A radical pamphlet calling for enslaved people to rise up, banned in the South.

Frederick Douglass

An escaped enslaved person who became a prominent abolitionist and journalist.

Sojourner Truth

An abolitionist who combined the fight against slavery with women's rights.

Harriet Tubman

The most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, known for rescuing enslaved people.

The Black Church

A central institution for mutual aid and community building among free African Americans.

Mutual Aid Societies

Organizations providing financial support and assistance in the Black community.

Quasi-freedom

The precarious status of free Black individuals who faced legal discrimination.

The North

Characterized by larger free Black communities and organized abolitionist activity.

The South

Home to a distinct caste system with free people of color often holding wealth.

Common Mistakes in History

Misunderstandings about the Underground Railroad, women's resistance, and abolitionism.

The Passive Slave Myth

The false belief that enslaved people passively accepted their fate until freed.