Specific Guidelines for this Discussion Answer the following questions and post them on the discussion board.

Then respond to two students by NAME. Although bondage restricted slaves' autonomy and left slaves vulnerable to extreme abuse, they resisted slavery. Discuss the variety of ways in which slaves attempted to lessen the harshness of slavery. What were the short and long term effects of their efforts? Use your textbook and the videos to answer this question. Topic Type: Threaded Graded: Yes (Numeric out of 10.0) Peer Review: Yes (Simple Scale) Posting Restrictions: Allow post and reply User Identification: User Name YOU CAN USE THIS WEB http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog08/index.html Student 1:

Slave lesson their harshness of slavery through going to church and worshiping God. The slaves believed that God was keeping the score of how they were treated. Slaves would also sit in their cabins and tell stories at the fireplace. They also spent time with their families. Those short-term effects were some slaves would run away; however, they would get caught and the slave master will beat them and hang them. They not only survived the bondage, but they also were created in the quarter of vibrant African American culture and

community that sub-stain that got thoughts more than two centuries.(The American promise page 392). Reponse to student 1: The slaves didnt get a lot of time to spend with their families. Most of the time they were split up. Male relatives had to watch as their wives or daughters or sisters were beaten and raped and murdered. Other times, slaves were sold again and again away from their families to different parts of the state. They were treated like property.

Student 2: In slavery, African Americans in the nineteenth century developed communities and families. Men and women married each other and would set living quarters together as their own. This gave slaves an escape from the harsh world that they lived in and confidence to rebel against their master. Some slaves faked illness, put rocks in cotton bags before weighed, and broke work tools after being replaced. Others mistreated animals and pretended to play dumb when given directions. Slaves in the Upper South escaped to the north or Canada to gain their freedom. Short-term effects from theses efforts made whites in the south worried about slaves starting a revolt against them at any moment. The slaves also gained a hope to the end slavery, and a will to live behind it. Some slaves developed a skill of craft, and past the skills to their children. The root of African American culture was started in the slave community to keep their spirits up. Long-term effects from theses efforts pushed families to stick together even after being sold to different plantations. Handful of slaves worked extra hours and bought their freedom. They would use the skills that they had learned in slavery to live a better life. Overtime, elite blacks emerge from the cities and were able to engaged in activities with the elite whites. With only six percent of Africans Americans freed, blacks still had to maintain their freedom because they were still subjected to laws just like a slave. To keep their spirits up, African Americans had to be strong during this time and rise above slavery. Do you think slaves in the nineteenth century thought that one day slavery would end? Repsonse to student 2: Slavery did end one day. The United States does not have any slavery right now. It is illegal to own slaves. That was the long term effect of all the effort that the slaves put in and resisted and showed the world how it is wrong to be mistreated like animals. Throughout all the years of fighting. Slavery finally came to an end.

Student 3: The slaves applied all of their efforts in diminishing the harshness of slavery. The slaves fought slavery physically, spiritually, and culturally. Physically, slaves made many attempts to lessen the slaverys harshness. Commonly, the slaves ran away via a secret route called Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman, an escaped former slave, helped them escape. Some slaves died during the route which is very miserable. 100,000 slaves found freedom either in the North or Canada, or in Mexico; however, more than that didnt escape and were captured. Besides escaping, the slaves disapproved their duties in the fields which very risky. They pretended to be ill and pretended to be slow and imperceptive in understanding the simplest orders. Additionally, the slaves abused the animals. The slaves efforts in the fields started to diminish which was essentially due to their lack of interests. The slaves fought slavery spiritually as well. The planters enhanced Christianity because they deemed that their duty was upon the slaves liberation. Moreover, they thought that religion can make the slaves obedient to their masters. Yet, the slaves did not obey their masters. Charles Colcock Joness Catechism for Colored Persons stated, to count their Masters worthy of all honour, as those whom God has placed over them in this world. An ex-slave responded, We aint cared a bit about that stuff he was telling us cause we wanted to sing, pray, and serve God in our own way. In addition, the slaves had faith in God and they believed that God will straighten out the issue of slavery. The Christian slaves also had faith in the conjurers, spirits, and witches and the slaves believed that they will protect us and will harm our masters. Overall, slaves attempt in lessening the harshness of slavery was seen in their worship to God. The planters thought that if the slaves obey their masters and in the meanwhile pray to God, then the slaves can probably attain freedom; however, the slaves disobeyed their masters. This probably explains why they didnt attain liberty. For instance, my religion states that if one does a wrongdoing to you, then you should accept it like it is done by God. We believe that God is found in everyone and doing a wrongdoing to someone is like harming God. Furthermore, if someone does something bad to us, then we shouldnt do anything; God will take care of it. This can probably elucidate why the slaves didn't achieve freedom. The slaves also fought slavery culturally. The cultural traditions were vital because they helped the slaves face the harshness of slavery. The slaves carried West and African parables, proverbs, legends, and games. They told folktales to their children, and some of them were Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. In addition, they retained their unreligious activities such as wood carving, quilt making, and storytelling. To wrap up, there were short term and long term effects of the slaves efforts. The short term effect was that the slaves were detained as well as hanged and banished due to the whites rebellion. The long term effect was the scarcity of food; because they werent really engaged in the fields, less amount of food was produced. Another long term effect is the resistance of slavery. After worshipping God for freedom and protection, the slaves bondage still existed. I think their prayers would have been answered if they had obeyed their masters. What do you think? Was the slaves reaction to their masters right, or they should had obeyed them?

Student 4: Slavery during the 1800s was thought of as a necessity to plantation owners in the South. In 1860, 52 percent of slaves that lived in the South worked on plantations. Plantation slaves produced more than 75 percent of the Souths export crops. The plantation owners depended on slaves to do the work involved in growing cotton, tobacco, sugar and rice, which was physically demanding and required 18 hour days during harvest time. (Roarke 379) The African Americans who where enslaved in the South, were over-comers, who lessened the cruelty of slavery through worship, family and community. They had prayer meetings and focused on stories of deliverance and redemption, such as Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in the book of Exodus. (A Biography of America) Religion provided slaves with a refuge and a reason for living. (Roarke 390) They created family units and shared in the responsibility of creating a home and raising their children. Slavery did not stop them from having a sense of community, where they would gather and share stories, sing songs, offer support and even plan and dream of escape. All the steps taken to lessen the harshness in the life of a slave were long term efforts. Worship, family and community were something slave owners could not take away. Toni Bowman Student 5: The slaves resisted slavery by doing many things to their master and mistress. For example, the slaves would try to run away, kill their slave owner, and even affirmed their humanity and worth by resisting their masters will in the plantation drama. (Retrieved from the American Promise pg. 392) Which means that most of the slaves resisted being a slave by pretending to be sick or even work slowly so only small amounts of food could be cropped. Cropping tobacco, sugar, and rice was hard labor that required a large amount of slaves to do this hard labor. This would devastate the slave owner because fewer slaves would only be able to work. The short term effect of the slave was that most of the slaves were captured after they tried to run away or kill their slave owner. They were captured and hanged when the slave owners caught all the slaves who were responsible for the killing of the other slave owner. The long term effect of their action was if there was not enough food being cropped by the slaves, it could be disastrous for everyone because it would be a shortage of food. I could not believe what some of the slaves had to go through and it never crossed my mind how some slaves would even pretend to be sick or even work slowly so that they could not complete their duties. You would think that the slave owner would not care how sick they were and that they would still have to work and if they did not, they would be killed immediately.

YOUR POST

The slave south consisted of 15 states. About one-third of all Southern whites owned slaves. A slaves life was very harsh and cruel. They were beaten and forced to work in extreme weather conditions. Many slaves looked for ways to lessen the harshness of slavery and pushed for resistance. Lots of slaves used the Underground Railroad to run away from their plantations and masters. Harriett Tubman helped lead these slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad. Other ways that slaves tried to lessen harshness were to pretend to be sick and that they are unable to work. Other slaves may get married and have children and tried to make a place to live of their own. The short term effects of their efforts may result in them being caught and captured. Sometimes the masters were lenient and put back to work. Other times the slaves may be executed