This paper addresses the various forms in which women resisted slavery. It also looks at the ways in which these forms of resistance were influenced by factors such as gender inclinations, the geographical location and the kind of work performed by these women. It includes an introduction, the discussion on various forms of resistance applied which are classified under the 3 broad categories of gender, geographic location and work done and finally, a conclusion.
Introduction
Slavery is one worst injustices where an individual is forcefully made to labor for another against their will. The well documented form of slavery was the people of African origin, both male and female were working for the white masters. It is this denial of freedom to a social life, being overworked, mistreatment and other forms of cruelties that probed the slaves to start a wave resistance. The contribution of the women in the rebellion against slavery is often overlooked, a stand which needs to be reconsidered particularly having in mind the way they distinctively used their gender, geographical location and the form of work they performed.
According to gender
Women took several ways of resistance which were either passive or active. Resistance methods applied by females often differed from those applied by their male counterparts. Their form of action sought to particularly maximize their gender to fight the forms of abuse related to them: against sexual abuse where they denied their masters the favors or in an active form they fought physically like in the case of Celia who had bore 2 children to her master (Robert Newsom) before deciding enough was enough and attacking him with a piece of sick and killing him. Women also took charge of educating their daughters on their traditions as a form of retaining the cultural identity. Women are known to posses the art of marketing which in slavery; they were able to use to resist abuse (Stearns, Adas, and Schwartz 56).
Stereotypes were also broken in the slavery resistance where women took active roles and full control of their lives to beat the odds like in the narration of Mary Prince who tells her life and portrays herself as an industrious resourceful and productive woman. The children of the slaves were usually sold out into slavery too thereby being broken from family ties and thus leading a slave life. Women would usually induce abortions to prevent their future generations from being subjected to the same life they were leading. Unlike males, women are known to possess the power to withstand intensive mental and physical hardships coupled with their gift to bring new life into the world. Women in slavery often used this power to tolerate their sexually abusive masters who could not resist the obsession on the women (Ferguson 61).
According to kind of work performed
Most of the slave women’s work was concentrated in the ‘big house’ of their masters. They were therefore able to manipulate their positions in the house to resist. The most common form was poisoning their masters or family members. Another form was destruction of property or livestock. Stealing was another vital tactic like Clara, a woman who stole bullets from the main house to give to her son who used them to kill the master (Stearns, Adas, and Schwartz 116).
Other forms are burning the best dress of the lady of the house during ironing, adding too much salt in the food and humming to traditional songs as they worked to teach their children of their traditions. Nanny Ashanti Maroon was a free woman who used her position as a priestess in her community to lead a battalion in Jamaica against resistance. She used her magical religious tactics to advice on the most appropriate moment to stage an attack. Individuals who held influential positions in the community also fought from their positions. According to Lauderdale Graham, Caetana and Inacia struggle to change the face of Brazilian slavery by challenging men who were decision makers on slavery matters, Caetana condones the flexible harsh structure developed by the male authority in southern Brazil; she believes that ‘Brazilian slavery’ will never look the same (Shepherd 93).
According to geographical location
Slavery in different locations took different shapes from one another. For instance, slavery in the British America differed from that of the Caribbean hence prompting the women to device varying ways of resistance. With the introduction of new plantation farming methods in America, which was backed by high demand of tropical and semitropical crops in demand in Europe, labor specialization became apparent among the Afro Americans as opposed to the slaves in the Caribbean and Brazil who would indulge in any type of labor. This divergence in the source of instruction and the varying geographical location and with the increase in inter-racial mixing led to the slaves’ lives being shaped differently by oppression and resistance. In particular, slaves in North America continued to populate by birth and by mid 18th century, the ties with African culture had been greatly eroded as compared to Brazil and the Caribbean (Eltis 108).
Conclusion
While the role of women in the resistance of slavery maybe downplayed and often considered as not active in the abolishment of slave trade, it is evident that women were able to use their distinctive qualities to offer significant resistance that mostly dealt with oppression related to their kind. This is evidenced by the contribution of women like Stephanie Li Camp, Nanny Maroon, narrators such as Mary Prince and numerous stories of Heroic deeds from women in slavery who stayed true to their word and saw the formation of movements that led to abolishment of slavery.
Works Cited
Eltis, David. The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Ferguson, Moira. History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave. London: Penguin group, 1996.
Prince, Nancy. A Black Woman’s Odyssey through Russia and Jamaica: the Narrative of Nancy Prince. New York: Markus Wiener Publishing, 1990.
Shepherd, Verene. Women in Caribbean History. New York: Markus Wiener Publisher, 1999.
Stearns, Adas, and Schwartz. Hardcover. New York: Harper Collins, 1992.