Africans during enslavement - Essay Example

Africans during enslavement Africans during enslavement and oppression fought back with various methods depending on their situations. Examples from Sankofa and Roots will show how depending on station and generation Africans resisted their enslavement and oppression. Shola (Sankofa) and Bell (Roots) as house slaves did not fight directly. Kunta Kinte (Roots) and Shango (Sankofa) resisted more vigorously as field slaves. Kunta Kinte and Nunu (Sankofa) were also born in Africa. This created a deeper resistance due to having once been free. Bell and the daughter with Kunta, Kizzy, were born into slavery, thus did not know any other way. Depending on the slave’s station and generation the enslavement and oppression of white men was resisted by Africans in diverse manners. The station of a slave directly impacted the level and type of resistance. House slaves were integrated into the household. Generally these slaves were better fed and clothed. Beatings were also less severe than those slaves working in the fields. If punished, house slaves could be slapped or scolded, but the severest punishment would be banishment to be a field hand. Thus when a house worker resisted it was in a more subtle manner in order not to be sent to the field. Examples of a house workers resistance is Shola in the beginning and Bell. Shola did not want to cause trouble. However she was drawn to Shongo. She would give him extra food in the field. Her love for him was resistance. This led to Shola going to the meetings in the cave with Nunu and Shongo. Shola want to be good in order not to get into trouble, but was influenced by the ones she loved to have a more direct rebellion. In the end, Shola ran away and then after being captured, participated in an armed rebellion. Her circumstances dictated a personal resistance unique to Shola. Bell was also a house slave. She was born and raised in her master’s house. Her form of resistance was secretly learning to read while playing school with the white children. She also took food to Kunta without pork when he visited with his master. After Bell and Kunta married, she allowed Kunta his African ways. Bell had seen and heard about bad masters, she knew as a house slave her master was better than most. In order to survive and resist, Bell was cautious in her resistance. Field hands or field slaves did not have the same privileges as house slaves. Men and women would work in the fields plowing, planting, and harvesting cotton, sugar cane, wheat, tobacco, and other cash crops. Field hands were the slaves that were rebellious, strong, and disposable. Field hands were beaten more. This desperate situation cause a more direct rebellion. Field hands would run, attack, and resist in violent manners. These slaves had nothing to lose. The choices were grim. Field slaves could be beat to death, work to death, or live a miserable existence until death. Kunta was a field hand after being brought to North America as a slave. He was strong, but ran every chance he got. The last time Kunta escaped, slave trackers cut his foot off. After his foot was cut off, Kunta could no longer run. His master made him a driver. Kunta had to find another way to resist. He celebrated his African roots quietly. One example is of putting stones in a jar every full moon. This was a way to count the passage of time. He named his daughter an African name of Kizzy. Kunta also received to eat pork due to his Muslim background. All of these acts were ones of resistance. Enslavement and oppression resistance also depended upon generation. Kunta and Nunu were African. The slaves from Africa were once free. Kunta and Nunu had family, friends, and a tribe. On the other hand, Bell, Kizzy, Nunu’s son, Joe (Sankofa) were first, second, and further generations. The slaves born in captivity only knew slavery. The generation of birth impacted slaves on the subtle or direct resistance to enslavement and oppression. Examples of Nunu and Kunte’s resistance due to being African can be seen in their religious practices. Nunu prayed to her African god. She sang, danced, and told others of her African beliefs. In the cave, the ritual to join the rebellion was one from Africa. The green flowers slapped on the body were an African tradition. Kunte also remembered Africa. As a result both resisted harder than the slave generation born out of Africa. The slave ship, rape, and death made both Nunu and Kunte never forget the cruelty of the white man. Joe and Kizzy resisted in different ways due to being first generation slaves. Instead of an outright defiance, they both at first tried to please the white man. Joe became headman to watch the slaves work. Kizzy worked in the house. However, later Joe realized the white man lied to him about his mother. He then burned down the church with his mother’s body and the priest. Kizzy realized too late after being caught writing a pass for a runaway slave. In the end, both realized the white man would never be pleased. Resistance to enslavement and oppression by Africans depended on the station and generation of the slave. House slaves and field slaves fought against the white man in diverse ways. Some ways were subtle, others were more direct. Africans born in Africa had a greater sense of loss due to having once been free. Those slaves born into slavery only knew that life. Africans knew the different. Thus the way the slaves resisted were different depending on unique situations of each slave. Works Cited Haley, Alex. Roots: The Saga of an American Family (30, annotated ed.). Vanguard Press, 2007. Sankofa. Accessed 28 September 2015 from: http://rocket.lib.muohio.edu/kaltura/1_438plfae Read More