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Question

Difficulty: MediumEveryday Resistance and Cultural Retention

Read the excerpt below from a runaway slave advertisement in the South Carolina Gazette (1752):

"Run away... a Negro fellow named Jack, who speaks very little English, and is known among his country-men by the name of Quaco..."

Which of the following historical developments is best illustrated by the advertisement's reference to the name Quaco?

  1. The preservation of specific West African naming practices as a form of cultural retention and everyday resistanceAnswer
  2. B
    The successful establishment of grand maroonage communities that achieved permanent independence from plantation society
  3. C
    The rapid emergence of a uniform, single African culture that erased all regional and ethnic differences among enslaved people
  4. D
    The belief that enslaved populations relied exclusively on violent, organized rebellions to resist their enslavement

Answer

The preservation of specific West African naming practices as a form of cultural retention and everyday resistance
The correct answer is correct because the use of the name Quaco, which is the Akan name Kwaku for a boy born on Wednesday, illustrates the retention of specific West African linguistic and naming traditions. Retaining these cultural markers was a vital form of everyday resistance against the legal and social efforts of enslavers to strip enslaved people of their pre-existing identities.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus passage.
The text describes an enslaved runaway named Jack who is known by his peers as Quaco and speaks little English.
Understanding the context of the primary source is necessary to identify the cultural markers present.
2
Identify the historical significance of the name 'Quaco'.
Quaco is an anglicized spelling of the Akan name Kwaku, a day-name indicating a male born on Wednesday.
Connecting the specific detail to West African cultural origins reveals the retention of cultural practices.
3
Relate the cultural retention to forms of resistance under slavery.
Maintaining African names and native languages represents a form of everyday resistance against the imposition of European names and culture.
This links the historical evidence directly to the learning objective of cultural retention and everyday resistance.

Key Concept

Everyday Resistance and Cultural Retention
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Topics

Everyday Resistance and Cultural Retention

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