Runaway Slaves as the Origin of Free ‘Africans’ Abroad
Runaway Slaves as the Origin of Free ‘Africans’ Abroad Ever since abduction of African slaves from the shores of the ‘Dark Continent’, there has been a struggle for the same people to find freedom until slavery was eventually abolished in the years just before 1900. The struggle for freedom has always been costly to the African slaves during the middle passage and after they had been sold to work in American and European plantations. The quickest route to freedom for the African slaves was usually attempting to run away in order to start a new life away from their masters. When slaves attempted to run away, they were pursued using crude means and hunted down like animals. Slaves were usually treated as animals. The people that went after slaves that had run away usually did so in order that they may win the reward that was usually offered by the slave masters. The slaves’ attempts to run away from their white masters was the earliest symbol that they were human beings that desired to live in humane conditions and also the avenues through which the African slaves built the resilience that became useful for several centuries until slavery was illegal. [pic]
Figure 1: Image of 1800s Runaway Slave Named Nelson, blogspot.com, 12 Dec., 1861. Web. 31 Jan., 2013 The poster above (fig. 1) shows the reward and conditions of recovering a run-away slave by the name of Nelson in the era before the abolishment of slavery. 100 US dollars was a good incentive for recapturing fugitive slaves in the past. For this reason, there arose a breed of people that worked in plantations as slave masters who corrected and retrieved the wayward slaves. As Americans were eager to build a nation of people that were loyal to Biblical principles, some of the major problems that the pre-dominantly male chauvinistic society faced were the run-away slaves, disobedient wives and children that were not loyal to the teachings of their parents (Hoffman, Gjerde and Blum 53). The slave masters who
Figure 1: Image of 1800s Runaway Slave Named Nelson, blogspot.com, 12 Dec., 1861. Web. 31 Jan., 2013 The poster above (fig. 1) shows the reward and conditions of recovering a run-away slave by the name of Nelson in the era before the abolishment of slavery. 100 US dollars was a good incentive for recapturing fugitive slaves in the past. For this reason, there arose a breed of people that worked in plantations as slave masters who corrected and retrieved the wayward slaves. As Americans were eager to build a nation of people that were loyal to Biblical principles, some of the major problems that the pre-dominantly male chauvinistic society faced were the run-away slaves, disobedient wives and children that were not loyal to the teachings of their parents (Hoffman, Gjerde and Blum 53). The slave masters who
Cited: Blogspot.com. Image of 1800s Runaway Slave Named Nelson. 12 Dec., 1861. Web. 31 Jan., 2013. < http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EoGW7z- 9yLo/TQlXvoEarBI/AAAAAAAAAAc/Otx6zGDgJwA/s1600/Nelson_Runaway- Ad2.jpg> Bolton, S. Charles. “Fugitives from Injustice: Freedom-Seeking Slaves in Arkansas, 1800- 1860.” Historic Resource Study. 2006. Web. 31 Jan., 2013. Eastern Illinois University. Underground Railroad: A Path to Freedom. 20 Oct., 2008. Web. 31 Jan., 2013. < http://eiu.edu/eiutps/underground_railroad.php> Hoffman, C. Elizabeth, Gjerde John, and Blum Edward J., eds. Major Problems in American History Volume I: To 1877, 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. Print. Sparks, J. Randy. The Two Princes of Calabar: An Eighteenth Century Atlantic Odyssey. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. Print.