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Difficulty: MediumEveryday Resistance and Cultural Retention

Read the excerpt from the South Carolina Act of 1740 (also known as the Negro Act of 1740) and answer the following question.

"And forasmuch as it has been by experience found, that the permitting of slaves to meet together in numbers, or to feast, or to use drums, horns, or other loud instruments, may be of dangerous consequence . . . Be it enacted, that all and every person and persons . . . who shall permit or suffer any slave or slaves . . . to beat drums, blow horns, or use other loud instruments . . . shall forfeit the sum of ten pounds..."

Based on the excerpt, the prohibition of drums and horns primarily reflects which of the following dynamics in colonial slaveholding societies?

  1. The potential of retained African cultural practices to serve as tools for organizing and coordinating resistance among enslaved peopleAnswer
  2. B
    The rapid and complete cultural assimilation of enslaved Africans into British colonial society
  3. C
    The consolidation of independent maroon communities that successfully defeated the colonial militia
  4. D
    The elimination of diverse ethnic identities in favor of a single, uniform West African cultural system

Answer

The potential of retained African cultural practices to serve as tools for organizing and coordinating resistance among enslaved people
The correct answer is the option focusing on the potential of African cultural practices to organize resistance. Drumming was a key cultural retention from West Africa that served both spiritual and practical purposes, including long-distance communication. Following events like the Stono Rebellion of 1739, colonial authorities recognized that drums could be used to coordinate uprisings, leading them to explicitly ban these instruments to limit the communication networks of enslaved communities.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the primary source excerpt for historical context.
The excerpt is from the South Carolina Act of 1740, passed in the wake of the Stono Rebellion, and explicitly bans enslaved people from using drums, horns, and other loud instruments.
Understanding the legislative response to rebellions helps clarify slaveholders' motives.
2
Identify the relationship between the banned activities and African cultural retention.
Drums and horns represent West African cultural traditions that were retained and adapted by enslaved communities in the Americas.
This links the specific artifact (drums) to the historical concept of cultural retention.
3
Determine why colonial authorities viewed these cultural retentions as a 'dangerous consequence'.
Slaveholders feared that drums could be used to communicate across plantations to organize and coordinate rebellions, showing that cultural retention acted as a form of covert preparation for resistance.
This connects cultural retention to everyday and active resistance, pointing to the correct option.

Key Concept

Everyday Resistance and Cultural Retention
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Everyday Resistance and Cultural Retention

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