Introduction
African Americans applied a broad variety of strategies and tactics in the move towards the realization of their freedom from enslavement. From escaping away from the plantations of their masters to filing lawsuits in the corridors of justice in the 19th Century, Black abolitionists in the US employed a collection of tools to fight for equality by challenging slavery.
Non-violent approaches that entailed petitions, antislavery speeches, literary protests, and freedom suits ensured that the Black American abolitionists demanded a moral high ground that manifested in both words and deeds. Such tactics allowed the African American slaves to influence the course of the Revolution War and the Cold War as stakeholders whose interests required consideration.
The failure of the peaceful tactics to grant African Americans liberation from slavery prompted them to engage their masters in violence between the 1780s and 1830s. Considerably, the slave masters gave in to the mounting pressure leading to the success of the Black abolitionists in fostering equality in the US irrespective of one’s race, ethnicity, or social class. In this light, this paper identifies the strategies applied by the Black Americans coupled with how they integrated them into the fight against slavery. Furthermore, this paper will show the response of the masters to the antislavery protest tactics utilized by the Black Americans.
Background
The push towards the abolition of slavery emerged in the first half of the 19th Century when Black Americans waged an assault against their exploitative masters who jeopardized the realization of a society characterized by equality. During that period, the Black Americans joined hands with white abolitionists to stage resistance against the discriminative practices by the authoritative parties in the society, who enslaved the poor and marginalized groups.
The biracial efforts geared towards the abolition of slavery broadened the rift between the masters and the exploited parties, thereby, threatening the unity of the American society as experienced in the Constitution Convention period. However, towards the second half of the 19th Century, Black Americans concentrated on agitating for their freedom against slavery as racism heightened.
Since then, Black Americans employed several approaches and techniques that sought to break the slavery shackles that barred them from enjoying their freedom. The initial strategies entailed the use of religious organizations to agitate for the rights of the enslaved African Americans. Primarily, church organizations opposed the practice of slavery since it separated families and sold strong and able members to the masters. Later, Black American abolitionists formed anti-slavery societies that sought to stage organized advocacy procedures for the restoration of equality.
The advocacy against slavery entailed the employment of tools including signed petitions forwarded to Congress for consideration, the organization of conferences and meetings, and rejection of products made through the input of slave labor. Further, the abolitionists printed heaps of literature besides making multiple speeches that revealed the intention of their advocacy. In some adverse instances, the Black Americans adopted violence to air their antislavery grievances. As the 20th Century approached, the US welcomed the abolition of slavery.
Literature Review
The struggle for the prevalence of equality in American society traces its roots from the efforts of the Black American abolitionists since the former years of the 19th Century. Notably, the primary trigger of exploitation in American society germinated out of a political system that supported slavery. The end of the Revolution led to a situation where the southern states in the US relied considerably on slavery for economic prosperity, whereas the northern states provided slaves but disregarded economic importance. Consequently, the economic forces created a rift between the northern and southern states, thus, provoking the need for restoring quality.
Importantly, the Declaration of Independence besides the colonies’ tussle for freedom from the English rule motivated Black Americans including those from the southern states to engage in antislavery strategies for the sake of sustaining equality. However, failure to realize the dream of a society where the freedom of every individual, irrespective of one’s background, created bitterness among the oppressed, which necessitated an uprising.
Amid staging an antislavery protest, the Black American abolitionists faced a challenge from the southern states where slave labor gained regard as a crucial aspect for economic success in the US and Europe. The developing international market for slave labor realized popularity as slaves in the US needed to work unceasingly in the cotton fields to feed the English textile factories. Therefore, the global market demands undermined the efficiency of the abolitionists in the US in the early 1800s.
On the other hand, the northern abolitionists, spearheaded Black Americans towards the attainment of freedom from slavery as states such as Maryland eradicated slavery as early as 1820. In this regard, Black Americans in the North inspired the Southerners to abolish the practice of slavery despite its economic gains. Essentially, they employed strategies such as legal petitions by seeking thousands of signatures from Africans who opposed slave labor in the US. Consequently, such engagements influenced the New England state to illegalize slavery despite the smaller population of Black Americans in the area as compared to the free “people of color” who oppressed the former.
The church also contributed to the abolition of slavery in the US as Black American clergy advocated equitable rights that would facilitate the attainment of socio-economic and political justice. Therefore, religious organizations influenced the freeing of slaves in the states of Massachusetts that constituted 1% of the US population in the 1840s. Most Americans in the 1830s upheld religious values strictly in their daily undertakings in the small villages and countryside locales. For this reason, Black American families in the mentioned settings created a reform-oriented and religious society that sought to foster the attainment of justice in American society.
Besides, efforts by the American Anti-Slavery Society facilitated the abolition of slave labor in the state of Virginia that constituted 30% of the slave laborers in the population during the same period. Similarly, the Underground Railroad strategy assisted numerous slavery escapees to find housing, which liberated them from the discrimination of their masters. By 1865, the Underground Railroad managed to provide safety, guidance, and housing for thousands of escapees in the northern parts of the US and as far as Canada.
Therefore, besides engaging in the mentioned strategies and tactics, Black Americans considered various approaches that would facilitate their liberation from the exploitative slave labor administered by their masters. Addressing the strategies adopted by Black Americans in detail would provide a better understanding of the long walk they undertook towards freedom.
Strategies applied by Black Americans to combat slavery
A mentioned earlier, Black Americans engaged in several strategies and techniques that pursued the realization of freedom from slave labor. The efforts and activities of Black abolitionists gained ground and influence in the wake of the 19th century where various social institutions advocated the equitable rights of Whites and Blacks in the US. Therefore, identifying the various approaches employed by the Black activists and their supporters before analyzing how they integrated the moves to raise their antislavery agenda is crucial.
The application of Christian beliefs and values against slavery
The clergy led the agitation against slavery in the US since the late 1730s. During this period, the religious institution, which is the church, in this case, considered slavery as a “notorious sin” that would bar the adherents who practiced it from realizing the kingdom of God. Particularly, the believers preached that since they believe in a just God, they should also practice justice in their undertakings to attain equality. Therefore, Christianity upheld the goodness of God in advocating the abolition of slavery especially among the Black Americans, who experienced the full effect of exploitation as opposed to other racial groups.
One of the earliest individuals to integrate religious beliefs in the struggle towards the elimination of slavery included the Quakers. These religious exponents perceived the slave masters as pretenders who falsely professed the holy and pure Christian religion. Furthermore, in the 1740s, the Church facilitated the filing of hundreds of petitions that pushed for the emancipation of African Americans from slavery. Therefore, besides preaching for an American society characterized by justice and equality, the Church also facilitated the submission of petitions to colonial administrators before eventually reaching the United States Congress.
Antislavery Societies
Antislavery societies provided an organized platform that agitated for the rights of the discriminated and exploited Black Americans in the hands of their masters. In Philadelphia, a gathering of abolitionist activists and leaders from at least ten states facilitated the creation of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. The meeting saw the election of the society’s officials before William Lloyd Garrison contributed significantly to drafting its declaration and constitution. Therefore, the society provided a legal body that could air the grievances of the Black Africans who offered their labor under coercion in the masters’ plantations.
The integration of the American Anti-Slavery Society in the race towards the emancipation of the underprivileged Black Americans from slavery entailed influencing the members to emancipate themselves from oppression through non-violent means. Led by Garrison among other officials, the society instilled the essence of “moral suasion” as well as the “overthrow of prejudice by the power of love”, thereby, denoting the liberal approach integrated by the body. Furthermore, the Society promoted the boycott of slave-manufactured products including cotton besides advancing civil disobedience and public lectures and publications.
The use of music and poetry
Music and poetry constituted one of the effective tools that the abolitionists embraced to popularize their sentiments. Created by George W. Clark, The Liberty Minstrel formed one of the popular songs that spread the antislavery message throughout the US since 1844. Although authored by a White American, the lyrical arrangement of the song gained popularity among the blacks as well as the white masters. Furthermore, former slaves also engaged in the creation of songs and poems that delivered the antislavery message.
William Wells Brown, a freed slave, integrated music and poetry as a tactic that would facilitate the liberation of more slaves in the US. In 1846, he released the Anti-Slavery Harp, made up of an array of songs and poems that called on the Black Americans to unite against their masters by meeting regularly to address their grievances. Another abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, integrated a new approach to music by using verse and a few stanzas to raise the enthusiasm amongst the White and Black Americans towards liberation from their discriminative masters. Garrison’s work emphasized freedom for all by underlining the verse “naturally and instinctively on the side of liberty” that also saw its embracement by the American Anti-Slavery Society.
The Underground Railroad
Established in the 1780s before gaining popularity in the 1830s, the Underground Railroad tactic facilitated the liberation of the Black Americans from slavery considerably. The Underground Railroad provided Black American slavery escapees with an effective route that led them to freedom. The Underground Railroads traversed 14 northern states as they led to Canada where slave hunters could not reach the escapees. The network operated in disguise or in the dark to ensure that the escapes could find secure areas to settle away from the reach of their oppressors.
Black Americans integrated the system in their fight against exploitation by establishing lines and stations that represented routes and stopping stations correspondingly. Furthermore, organizing the movement in the dark allowed them to manage an underground strategy effectively. Interestingly, the religious institutions also facilitated the operations of the Underground Railroad for the sake of fostering their beliefs and values. For instance, the Quaker, Methodist, and Covenanter clergy believed that securing the Black American escapees was essential for the spread of God’s goodness and equality for humanity.
Slave revolts
Although not commonly practiced, revolts organized against slavery formed part of the strategies employed by African Americans against slavery. Compared to the Caribbean, slave revolts in the US occurred on a smaller scale as hundreds of slaves gathered in the southern states as opposed to the thousands of rebellious slaves in the Caribbean. In this regard, Black abolitionists integrated the revolts in the move towards freedom by organizing meetings to air their grievances against the oppressive system. One of the largest revolts in the US occurred around 1811 where at least 400 hundred slaves gathered around New Orleans to protest against their masters.
The integration of revolts meant the application of violence or coercion to drive the message of liberation home. In the New Orleans case, Black American slaves armed themselves with knives, axes, canes, and clubs as they marched towards their master, Major Andry. The main aim was the destruction of property and the termination of their oppressor’s life that saw them kill Andry’s son. Consequently, the revolt created tension thereby warning the masters of slavery to rethink their decision of discriminating the African Americans based on race, social status, gender, or ethnicity.
The response of the slavery masters
In response to the petitions forwarded by the Quakers, the colonial administrators and slave masters challenged the basis of their Christian arguments by terming them hypocritical. The defendants argued that the Quakers also enslaved Black Americans, albeit in insignificant cases. However, the continued efforts of the Quakers were led by Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Lay, who founded their abolitionist arguments on the application of the Golden Rule and the natural law rights as in the case of the Revolution period. In this light, besides using religious teachings to free Black Americans from slavery, they also used legal provisions to add more weight to their arguments.
The American Anti-Slavery Society founded its tactics on a liberal approach that overlooked violence as a way of demonstrating the degree of their dissatisfaction with the masters. Consequently, the society secured the attention of the US Congress among other concerned parties. However, as the society adopted a radical approach, most of its members developed contradicting ideas that promoted disunity. For instance, some of the leaders led by Garrison preferred a radical approach that disregarded the influence of the church in liberating the people from slavery.
In 1839, the society collapsed due to differences, thus, giving the oppressors room to continue with their inhumane acts in the plantation fields. Nonetheless, the impact of breakaway organizations such as the Free Soil Party and the Republican Party intensified the move towards liberation in the 1840s and 1850s.
The Underground Railroad created suspicion among the masters of slavery as they were worried by the declining number of slaves. Mainly, the northern states experienced the effect of the Underground Railroads tactics resulting in the placement of bounties for certain escapees. For instance, a reward of $40,000, which was offered by slaveholders for the recapture of Harriet Tubman, a fugitive believed to have escaped through the Underground Railroad, headlined the news in the 1830s. Therefore, the escape route network provided a good strategy for cutting the supply of slaves in the US.
Concerning the increased use of songs and poems by the abolitionists, the government, and the proponents of slavery in the US developed fear as lyrics of freedom rent the airwaves. For this reason, the mounting pressure prompted the masters to employ counteractive strategies that would undermine the spreading of the abolitionist’s slogans and messages versed in songs. In this case, the oppressors frustrated the composers of the antislavery songs and slaves to discourage them from engaging the exploited masses in fighting for their rights. For instance, in 1835, before publishing his songbook that sought to convey the abolitionist message, William Lloyd Garrison faced mistreatment when he was dragged in the Boston streets after composing songs that angered the anti-abolitionist group in Massachusetts.
The masters that enslaved a considerable population of the Black Americans by engaging them in forced labor in their plantations responded to the Black-led revolts by contacting the security forces for intervention. In the case of the New Orleans revolt that took place in 1811, the US Army besides the militia forces organized an attack against the rebellious Black American slaves, which left 66 dead on the spot. Besides, the injustices prevailed as the firing squad killed 16 more even after trial. The response showed the height of inequality in American society in the early years of the 19th Century. Axiomatically, despite the rarity of revolts in the US, it created fear among the slave owners, thus, denoting the height of tension as more advocacy strategies were implemented.
Conclusion
Since the first half of the 18th Century, Black Americans developed and integrated several strategies that facilitated their journey towards liberation from slavery. The integrated strategies entailed the incorporation of Christian values, antislavery societies, music and poetry, the Underground Railroad, and slave revolts besides other tactics. In response, the slave masters applied coercion and military intervention to neutralize the efforts of the agitators. However, the effort of the Black American abolitionists paid off in the 1840s as the US illegalized slavery.
Bibliography
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