The African slave trade was the commencement of a mountainous amount of resistance towards the idea of being enslaved. Slaves within Africa performed any action they could in order to escape and rebel against the obligations provided by their slave masters. Resistance could take the form of secret networks to freedom. Established maroon communities in Jamaica, Suriname, and Brazil formed elaborate systems for defense, communications, and subsistence, frequently involving the collusion of those who remained on plantations. They developed their own means of resisting the demands and dangers of slavery—of doing what was required but knowing how to minimize the risks and dangers around them. De los Reyes Castillo Bueno, Frederick Douglass, and Olaudah Equiano are significant historical figures who have experienced the struggles of being an enslaved African. These three authors have educated their readers about the hardships that life brung them due to them living the life of an underprivileged African slave. In these authors novels, each holds a theme that brings their journey and perspective of life to light. Bueno speaks about the topic of discrimination, Douglass brings to light to power of having an education and Equiano touches upon the loss of one’s identity; each theme playing a large role within both slavery and resistance, enlightening the difference of struggle due to regional differences.
Bueno’s Reyita: The Life Of A Black Cuban Woman In The Twentieth Century, is a personal narrative that touches upon Bueno’s life over the past 94 years of existing in the world as a black Cuban woman. She reflects on the hardships she faced as a lower class black woman, while being married to a white man, and being discriminated against due to her race. Both race and class are two of the main components in Bueno’s life that led her to facing discrimination from a young child up until her adult years of living. The theme of discrimination is emphasized throughout the entire novel, stressing the exclusion that Africans had gone through in the Afro-Cuban community. As a young child, Bueno was often treated differently than her siblings due to her mother prefering her light skinned children over Bueno who was fairly darker than them. Her mother corrupted her way of living, making her feel uncomfortable and confused as how ro prevail in life as black woman. Bueno reflects on her husband, Antonio Amador Ruberia Gomez, a white man whose family was not acceptive over the fact that he was marrying a black Cuban woman. Ruberia’s mother states, “What? A black woman! Not in my house!” (Bueno, 61). Bueno felt both ashamed and humiliated at the fact that she could not be accepted by her husbands family due to her being a black woman. Although her husband’s family was uncomfortable at the thought of allowing Bueno to be apart of their family, Bueno’s family took great pride in allowing Ruberia to become a part of Bueno’s life. Bueno stresses, “I didn’t want a black husband, not out of contempt for my race, but because black men had almost no possibilities of getting ahead… facing lots of discrimination” (Bueno, 166). In Cuba, if a black woman married a man of white decent, life would become well balanced and black woman would be granted many more opportunities and become financially stable. Bueno wanted her family in the future to be granted with educational opportunities and a place in the workforce without them feeling as if they won't be able to succeed due to them having a black father. Throughout Bueno’s marriage, she tended to go through marital discriminatory oppression due her husband forcing both her and her children to perform tasks such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and fanning him as if he was their slave master. This was a form of at home slavery that Bueno and her family were not very acceptive of. It became hard to accept the fact that her husband was slowly getting comfortable with discriminating against her family but she “needed to preserve her marriage, whatever the cost” (Bueno, 85). Cuba was well known for being a country within Latin America that faced hardships when it came to racial discrimination. Slavery would often find a way to impact the Cuban society due to the government not taking matters into their own hands and being blind at the need of putting discrimination to an end. Bueno remains a heroic figure in the land of Cuba, due to her influencing many black Cubans to believe that they will be able to prevail through whatever racial struggles may be brought upon them and that they will always be a part of their Afro-Cuban society.
The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography by Douglass where he provided his readers with an outlook of how life was like as a former slave and the cruelty that was brought upon him throughout his journey of attempting to achieve freedom. Being a slave and attempting to achieve an education was an impractical though to slave masters, but Douglass believed otherwise. Escaping the life of being a slave in the South was impossible to Douglass without the power of having an education. The idea of obtaining an education to slave masters was not allowed. Slaves were forbidden from attempting to learn anything due to the chance of them being able to gain knowledge and rebel against their slave masters. According to Douglass, in order prosper in life and become free, having an education was key. In order to become free, Douglass believed gaining the ability to comprehend literacy would grant him the ability of doing so. Withdrawing from Tuckahoe and no longer being under the ruling of his father as his slave master was the start of a new life and a gateway to obtaining an education. In chapter six, Douglass begins to learn the alphabet and how to spell words by his mistress Mrs. Auld. Mr. Auld, Douglass’ master, is furious at the thought of Douglass being capable of learning anything besides what it means to be a slave and prevents his wife from continuing to educate Douglass. Mr. Auld states, “A ni**er should know nothing but to obey his master – to do as he is told. Learning would spoil the best ni**er in the world” (Douglass, 20). The thought of not being able to teach Douglass was unacceptable to Mrs. Auld, making her become famous at the thought of slavery. Mr. Auld not wanting Douglass to understand the power that knowledge holds is what determines Douglass to want to pursue an education even more. The more slaves became literate, the more likely they were to rebell and escalpe, leaving their masters with no slaves out on their plantations fields. Douglass began to develop friendships with the white kids in Baltimore and manipulated them into becoming his teachers to teach him more of the alphabet in order to successful master the art of reading. The pursuit of learning not only allowed Douglass to no longer remain a slave, but it allowed him to grant others with the ability to learn by opening up a Sunday school to teach others the importance of becoming literate. This Sunday school was the gateway for slaves to become intelligent. Indeed it was a risk for slaves to not obey their masters and follow their rules, but the idea of having an education was something all slaves have dreamt of accomplishing. Overall, pursuing an education was Douglass’ pathway towards no longer resisting the life of becoming an educated and free man in the North.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano is an autobiographical narrative by Equiano that largely reflects upon the fight for freedom for slaves all across the world. This book provides a large amount of information on life while being a part of African slavery, slave trading, and the hardships slaves had to face while being transported from multiple countries. Equiano goes through multiple different identities throughout the novel, trying to figure out who he really is and was born to be. Equiano being an African and slave is often what corrupted him into thinking he had no identity. Throughout the course of his existence, he felt as though he was “considered a slave simply a piece of property, an article of commerce much like the pots and cloth found in the market” (Equiano, 3). He felt as though he was inhumane and had no jurisdiction over who he was and what he wanted to pursue in the future. Slave masters would often change their slaves names which would lead to slaves losing a part of themselves and forgetting who they are. Altering one’s name forced slave to constantly refrain from being perceived as something they will never become. In Equiano’s case, he often had to surrender towards his slave masters and accept the name provided to him without resisting. On page 52, Equiano states, “I was called Jacob; but on board the African scow I was called Michael”. Throughout Equiano's travels, he often had trouble grasping the English language, not realizing how many times his name has been changed over the course of his time being traded across the Middle Passage. This all changed once Equiano was able to understand the slave system and its alteration of taking control of others identities. Once he was granted freedom and the ability of learning how to read and write, he became a part of the Christian society and abolitionist movement, fighting for those who were a part of the slave trading system to become free and liberated.
The idea of enslaved Africans going against their masters orders and sabotaging the plantation work field is greatly emphasized in Reversing Sail by Michael A. Gomez. Resistance became apparent in the slaves workforce, leading to many losing their their temper and raging out towards their slave masters. Many ended up killing their slaveholders through physical acts of violence or often positioned them and spit in their foods when preparing their meals. Slaves became lazy in the fields, preventing their masters from receiving their crops and woman often gained attitudes at thought of having to perform any actions that would benefit their masters. Suicide became an overriding theme throughout the lives of those who were enslaved. Based on our African Diaspora Lecture, “flying Africans became fed up with slavery and took wings and flew back to Africa” (Lecture, 10/11). Although suicide was viewed as an act of giving up and escaping freedom, it was very well common throughout the African Diaspora allowing the dead to become connected with the land of Africa.
Sankofa is a powerful film that brings to life the reconstruction of allowing slaves voices to be heard and those in power of them to be silenced, displaying an appreciation of the African Diaspora culture. The film represents propaganda of both slavery and resistance through the use of displaying two different perspectives, the slave masters and the enslaved attempting t prevail though African resistance. Jeremiah does an excellent job at presenting different forms rebellion throughout the film and shows how the Slaves attempt to fight through these rebellions in order or be free. The film displays different ways those on the plantation who have gone through mistreatment often prevail through such acts of resistance. The burning of the cane in the plantation fields was an act of rebellion performed by the enslaved in order to display their prevalence of African renaissance and upset their slave masters. Although this act of rebellion led to the deaths of many slaves, it still displayed the willpower of the slaves. After Shola ends up murdering her rapist, many of the slave masters of the plantation end up being killed, allowing the slaves to begin to realize the significance of resistance. Through the struggles and hardships of propaganda presented throughout the film, Shola ends up developing a larger appreciation of African culture and develops an awareness compared to the beginning of the film.