Generations Of Captivity Summary

Slavery has always been known as the story of power over liberty, and it speaks to the ones who were brutally victimized. When we think about slavery people immediately jump to the conclusion of inferiority and sovereignty, the undergo of domination, but most people don't know what really formed within slavery itself due to all of the experiences slaves went through. In “ Generations of Captivity” Berlin seeks to better the knowledge of slavery to people by breaking it down into five different “Generations”. Over these generations slaves refused to surrender their humanity in many different ways, but the main factors that slaves part took in doing so was building communities and relationships with each other, and converting to christianity.
“The revolutionary era offered slaves new opportunities to challenge both the institution of chattel bondage and the allied structures of white supremacy”. The declaration of Independence sets a precedent up for slaves saying “everyone shall be treated equal” which sets a wave of liberation and opens a door to independent freedom creating large expansion of free slaves at the end of the 18th century. The expansion of free slaves generates an immense reconstruction of black life for the ones who are coming out of slavery that allows them to develop a new life. Free slaves took new names upon their identity, introducing and identifying themselves as free people. They constructed black families as they came together and helped other family members that were still enslaved to build their family. At the end of the 18th century they created new establishments of black societies such as schools, churches, and villages. Still with all of this there were more slaves in the 19th century from when the revolutionary war begun. As freedom increased slavery increased, but a good amount of slaves were able to become free and start new a foundation by coming together and not letting the white supremacy take away their