Courage and strength in the face of a system thats designed to be as repressive as humanly possible is an amazing thing, and the stories of those who struggled against their oppressors can be truly inspiring. Here are just some of the stories of those livingand strugglingin the preCivil War South who took their lives and their fates into their own hands and won . . . although, sadly, some didnt live to see the effect that their actions had on the world around them.
10Ellen And William Craft William Wells Brown was born in Kentucky in 1814, the son of a slave and an unnamed white relative of his mothers master. He and his mother traveled with the family, and in 1832, they triedand failedto escape. Afterward, he was sold and put to work on riverboats, where he quickly learned all he would need to know to escape for good. And escape he did. In 1834, he made his way to Cleveland, where he started his career as an abolitionist, lecturer, and writer. He settled in Buffalo, New York for a while, but eventually moved on to England after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was established. It was there that he wrote the first novel credited toan AfricanAmerican author. The book,Clotel, tells the story of one of Thomas Jeffersons children, born from his slave mistress, and of her attempts to find happiness in the face of hate, prejudice, and the everpresent threat of slavery. She even gets a taste of that happiness, secretly marrying a wealthy plantation owner and bearing his daughter; the happiness is short-lived, though, and only lasts until he leaves her for a white woman and she is soldback into slavery. Later, after moving back to Boston, Brown went on to write whats consideredthe first play by an African-American playwright,The Escape; Or, A Leap For Freedom. Published in 1858, the work is a sweeping social commentary on the conflict between the preCivil War North and South and, on a smaller scale, its also the story of two slaves married in secret.
8Priscillas Homecoming The Coffins were devoutly religious Quakers from North Carolina who, fortunately for thousands of people fleeing slavery, believed that the laws of man were null and void when they directly opposed the morals and values of their God. Not agreeing with the laws of man and actively opposing them are two entirely different things, and the Coffins were of the 'actively opposing' viewpoint. Levi Coffins strong anti-slavery opinions were formed young, when he and his father witnessed a group of chained men on their way to a slave market. He questioned one of the men and was told that they had been taken from their families and that the road before them was a bleak one indeed. At 15 years old, Coffin helped a boy his own age escape slavery, arranging for safe passage to freedom with friends of the family. As an adult, Coffin never forgot the encounter, and after he moved to Newport, Indiana, he set up his eight-room house as a safe stop on the Underground Railroad. He used his position as the executive director of State Banks Richmond office to fund his humanitarian activities, giving those who stayed a night at his home a hot meal and fresh
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clothes in addition to shelter and safety.Thousands of people passed through the safe haven of their home. By 1864, he had gone abroad to organize the English Freedmens Aid Society, which supplied money and aid to those in needback in America.
6Blind Tom Not much is known about the man simply known as Gordon, but according to the few accounts that have survived, he was bedridden for several months after receiving a severe beating from the overseer on the plantation where he worked as a slave. During his time recuperating, he made plans to escape. In 1863, not long after receiving the beating that would make the slaves plight real for so many, he fled his captors and successfully evaded the bloodhounds by rubbing himself with onions. For Gordon, safety was enlisting in the Union army. It was during a medical exam that his scars were uncovered by doctors, who documented his condition in a photograph that would be seenaround the world. Copies of the photograph were widely distributed, and suddenly, those who had never seen the brutality suffered by those who lived a life of slavery saw what people had to endure. The photograph was distributed throughout the Northern states and even in Europe, along with a letter from the doctor who examined him. He called Gordon 'intelligent and well-behaved.' Knowing that the photograph would elicit an emotion that words never could, he let it speak for itself. And speak for itself it did. Gordon became a symbol of triumph, of strength of spirit, and of bravery. Unfortunately, much of what happened to Gordon after he enlisted has been lost. The last record of his actions is a reference to his service at the siege of Port Hudson, but the effect of that single photograph has been immeasurable.
4Harriet Jacobs George Liele was born into a deeply religious Virginia family around 1750. Separated from his biological family early, Liele was sold to a Baptist deacon who allowed Liele to go to church with the rest of the family. It was after they moved to Georgia that he knew he had found a calling. Liele began preaching to other slaves who werent able to read the Bible for themselves, and Liele was eventually ordained and licensed to preach by the same church that he had first attended with his owners. Liele went on to preach throughout Georgia before going on to establish his own church inKingston, Jamaica. He converted several hundred people and eventually established a school as well. His parish consisted of both free men and slaves, and he faced his share of conflict even though he did his best to avoid problems. Soon, one of his converts, a man named Moses Hall, opened a church of his own and garnered the wrath of slave owners. They stormed the church and beheaded David, one of Mosess assistants, as a warning, then threw Moses on the ground before the severed head. They asked him if he knew why they had done it, and Moses answered, For praying. From this time let us have no more of your prayer meetings, they replied, for if we catch you at it we shall serve you as we have served David. Without hesitation, Moses knelt on the ground, clasped his hands together, and said,
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Polly Berry was born a free woman in the early 1800s in Illinois. As a child, she was kidnapped by slave-catchers and sold to a Southern general. Polly had two daughters named Lucy and Nancy with another slave. With their owners death, the girls were sent even farther south and farther away from freedom. Nancy was the first to escape, making her way into Canada. Polly soon followed, returning to her home in Illinois. It was there that she took her case to the courts, suing her owners for her freedom on the grounds that she had been born free and kidnapped into slavery. Because she was able to prove that she had been born free, the courts awarded her continued freedom. After Polly won the case, she went back to the courts tofree her daughter, Lucy. In 1842, Lucy escaped her masters, who were threatening to sell her. She fled to her mother and was held in jail as Polly fought in court to have her daughter officially freed. As the daughter of a free woman, there was no legal grounds for Lucy to be enslaved. Lucy spent 17 months in jail, but was eventually freed at the end of the court case. She was 14 years old. Lucy later married a man named Frederick Turner, who was killed in a steamboat explosion while working. The steamboat had been named for the attorney who had argued for Lucys freedom, Edward Bates. Lucy later went on to write their story in the narrativeFrom the Darkness Cometh the Light, or, Struggles for Freedom.
1Elizabeth Keckley Elizabeth Keckley was born into the life of a slave, but through strength, bravery, and more than a little business savvy, she would become a highly sought after dressmaker in the nations capital as well as a friend and confidante of the First Lady. Born in Virginia in 1818, one of the earliest recorded events in her life was a sexual assault by a man who would become the father of her son, George. In 1852, she married a man who had told her that he was free. He was a slave, however, and Keckleys plans to purchase her freedom and her sons freedom fell through because of the added strain of supporting a husband. Already running her own dressmaking business, several of her clients gave her the money she needed to buy their freedom; she did, then took herself and her son to Washington, DC, left her husband behind, and set up another dressmaking business. Keckleys skill as a seamstress soon became well-known, and she had clients like the wives of Jefferson Davis and Stephen Douglas. In 1861, she was recommended to Mary Todd Lincoln. The First Lady not only admired her skills as a seamstress, but the two soon becameclose friends. They helped each other through the loss of their sons, and Keckley was soon traveling with Lincoln throughout the Civil War. After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Mary Lincoln found herself impoverished and facing scandal. Keckley closed her business in Washington and moved to New York City to help her, organizing her estate and even raising money to help support her friend, causing a massive scandal as she did so. Keckley also wrote her autobiography,Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House, in order to raise more money to help the ailing widow. Mary Lincoln refused much of the money that Keckley raised for her, and in the end, it was the autobiography that drove them apart. Keckley had a writer helping her, and she turned over personal letters
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and documents with a promise that personal, potentially embarrassing entries would be omitted. The omissions never happened, which caused a rift that was never mended between the two women. Keckley eventually returned to Washington, DC, all but destitute. Now, her work is considered one of the few candid glimpses into thelives of the Lincolns. Read more:http://listverse.com/2014/05/20/10-stories-of-triumph-over-slavery-in-the-american-south/ 10 Stories Of Triumph Over Slavery In The American South
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