Freedom, Slavery, and Resistance
324 soru
Read the excerpt below and answer the following question.
"I feel that I represent a class, three millions of whom are this night in chains on the American soil, and in their name, and for their sake, I appeal to your hearts and your consciences... The slaveholder is a man-stealer... You have no slave law here; your atmosphere is too pure for a slave to breathe. But you are connected with the system by the cotton trade."
— Sarah Parker Remond, speech delivered in Manchester, England, 1859
Based on the excerpt, which of the following best describes the strategy employed by Black abolitionists like Sarah Parker Remond to advance their cause?
Read the following excerpt from the 1705 Virginia Act Concerning Servants and Slaves:
"Be it enacted... That all servants imported and brought into this country... who were not Christians in their native country... shall be accounted and be slaves, and as such be here bought and sold notwithstanding a conversion to Christianity afterwards."
Which of the following historical developments is most directly reflected in this statute?
In the aftermath of the foiled 1800 Richmond conspiracy led by the enslaved blacksmith Gabriel Prosser, the Virginia legislature responded by taking which of the following actions?
Read the statement below, made by an enslaved conspirator during a trial in Virginia in 1800:
> "I have nothing more to offer than what General Washington would have had to offer, had he been taken by the British and put to trial by them. I have adventured my life in endeavouring to obtain the liberty of my countrymen, and am a willing sacrifice in their cause."
This statement best demonstrates which of the following characteristics of Gabriel Prosser’s conspiracy?
Read the excerpt below from a 1643 Virginia colonial tax statute:
'Be it enacted and confirmed that all Negroes, male and female, and all other men from the age of sixteen to sixty, shall be tithable [subject to taxation].'
Which of the following historical developments is best illustrated by this statute?
Read the excerpt from a lecture delivered by Maria W. Stewart at Franklin Hall in Boston on September 21, 1832, and answer the following question:
'I have heard it asserted that we are a lazy, idle, and unproductive race. I turn to history, and find that we were once a noble and a majestic people... Why sit ye here and die? If we say we will go to a foreign land, the same enemy has been there before us... if we sit still here, we die also. ... What if we are a silly people? What if we are a lazy, idle, and unproductive race? Who has made us so? Is it not the cruel oppressor that has crushed our energies, and bound our hands and feet?'
Which of the following statements best describes the central argument Maria W. Stewart presents in this excerpt?
During the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, a significant portion of the enslaved insurgents were originally from the Kingdom of Kongo in West Central Africa. Which of the following factors from their Kongolese background most directly influenced their rebellion and their choice of destination?
Following the discovery of the Denmark Vesey conspiracy in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822, the state legislature passed the Negro Seamen Act. This law required free Black mariners arriving in Charleston ports to be imprisoned until their vessels departed. Which of the following best explains the primary motivation behind this legislative response?
Read the following excerpt from a historian's analysis of British colonial law in the seventeenth century:
'By enacting laws that determined a child’s legal status based on the condition of the mother, colonial legislatures did more than just secure a self-reproducing labor force. They fundamentally altered the legal meaning of motherhood, making the maternal bond the primary mechanism for the transmission of hereditary status.'
Which of the following historical developments is best explained by the analysis in the excerpt?
The following excerpt is from a memoir published in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, an enslaved woman who hid in a crawlspace in her grandmother's house:
"I resolved to leave my children, for a time, to the care of my grandmother... I knew that my master would search for me, and that my children would be his leverage. I did not escape to the North immediately, but instead fled to a nearby swamp and eventually concealed myself in a tiny crawlspace in my grandmother’s attic, where I remained for seven years to stay near my family."
Which of the following historical conclusions about the gendered patterns of resistance to enslavement is best supported by the excerpt?
Read the following excerpt from a report by Captain John Ashley of the English slave ship *Adventure* (1767) to the ship's owners:
"On the tenth day of our voyage, a sudden insurrection was raised by the men in the hold, who had by some means procured a cold chisel and hammer. We later discovered that several of the women captives, who were permitted to walk on the deck without irons, had gathered these instruments from the carpenter's chest and passed them through the gratings to the men below. Their conspiracy was carried out with such silence that we had no suspicion until the hatches were forced."
Which of the following conclusions about resistance during the Middle Passage is best supported by Captain Ashley's account?
Read the historical description of the Windward Maroons of Jamaica below:
"The Windward Maroons of Jamaica, led by Nanny in the early eighteenth century, utilized the *abeng* (a cow horn) to transmit coded messages across the Blue Mountains. They also disguised themselves with forest vegetation to carry out surprise ambushes in steep, narrow ravines, successfully defending their settlements against repeated British military expeditions."
Based on the passage, which of the following best describes the historical significance of these defense strategies?
Read the 1765 South Carolina colonial advertisement below:
"Run away from the subscriber... three Negro men: Cyrus, Pompey, and Caesar... They have taken with them axes, hoes, and some cooking utensils. It is suspected they have joined a company of other runaways in the thick swamps near the Santee River, where they are reported to have built huts and begun planting corn."
Based on the advertisement, which of the following concepts of resistance is best illustrated by the actions of these men?
Following the 1831 Nat Turner rebellion in Virginia, southern state legislatures moved to consolidate control over both enslaved and free Black populations. Which of the following was a direct legal consequence of this rebellion?
Read the following excerpt from a 1662 Virginia statute:
"Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishman upon a Negro woman should be slave or free, be it therefore enacted and declared by this present Grand Assembly, that all children born in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother..."
The legal doctrine established in this statute represented a significant departure from English common law by doing which of the following?
A 1722 account of an uprising aboard the English slave ship Ferrers off the coast of West Africa describes how captives 'found means to rid themselves of their irons, and having killed the captain... fought desperately to gain their freedom' before being suppressed by the crew. This account best serves as evidence of which of the following aspects of Middle Passage resistance?
Enslaved women's daily labor in the plantation household brought them into constant proximity with the white family's private conversations, letters, and daily schedules. This domestic positioning enabled them to serve as crucial nodes in the 'underground telegraph,' passing vital information about slave patrols, sales, and escape routes to the wider enslaved community, thereby transforming domestic servitude into a site of strategic intelligence gathering.
Based on the passage, which of the following best describes how gendered labor roles in the plantation household influenced the methods of resistance available to enslaved women?
The following is an excerpt from the first editorial of *Freedom’s Journal*, published in New York in 1827:
"We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the publick been deceived by misrepresentations, in things which concern us dearly..."
Based on the excerpt, which of the following was the primary purpose of founders Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm in establishing this publication?
"That from and after the passing of this Act, if any vessel shall come into any port or harbor of this State, from any other State or foreign port, having on board any free negroes or persons of color, as cooks, stewards, mariners, or in any other employment on board such vessel, such free negroes or persons of color shall be liable to be seized and confined in gaol [jail]... until such vessel shall be cleared out and ready to depart..."
— South Carolina Legislative Act, December 1822
This legislative act was passed in the direct aftermath of which of the following events?
Read the excerpt from the royal decree issued by King Charles II of Spain in 1693 concerning enslaved people fleeing British colonies:
"...giving liberty to all... the Men as well as the Women... so that under the rule of my royal word they may be spared... and that they be instructed in the Holy Catholic Faith..."
Which of the following was a direct consequence of the Spanish policy described in the excerpt?