African American History: Chapters 5+6
In addition to potential permanent separation from their families, why was it difficult for slaves to escape from bondage in the South?
Slave catchers patrolled roads looking for runaways.
How many children on average did enslaved women bear in the antebellum South?
7
What percentage of the world's cotton was grown by southern slaves by 1850?
75%
American Missionary Association
A Protestant missionary organization resulting from the merger of black and white missionary societies in 1846 to promote abolition and black education
Popular Sovereignty
A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.
lying out
A form of resistance in which slaves hid near their home plantations
moral suasion
A method of abolitionists attempting to convert people to their cause by highlighting the moral implications of the opposing viewpoint.
invisible church
A term used to describe groups of African American slaves who met in secret for Christian worship
What notion began to form among African Americans as a result of the black convention movement?
African Americans shared a common identity as one black people.
Compromise of 1850
Agreement designed to ease tensions caused by the expansion of slavery into western territories
Missouri Compromise of 1820
Allowed Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, Maine to enter the union as a free state, prohibited slavery north of latitude 36˚ 30' within the Louisiana Territory (1820)
Wilmot Proviso (1846)
Amendment that sought to prohibit slavery from territories acquired from Mexico; the failed amendment ratcheted up tensions between North and South over the issue of slavery.
John Brown's raid (1859)
An unsuccessful attempt by the white abolitionist John Brown to seize the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and incite a slave insurrection (revolt)
What was the name of David Walker's pamphlet in 1829 that advocated for emancipation instead of emigration for enslaved African Americans?
Appeal . . . to the Coloured Citizens of the World
What did Maria Stewart argue would decrease white prejudice against African Americans?
Black moral and intellectual improvement
During the antebellum period, why did black newspapers develop a wider influence than their circulation figures would suggest?
Blacks passed copies from one person to another
Civil Disodedience
Civilians disobeying and ignoring the law but peacefully and nonviolently because the law is unjust
What sectional conflict between the North and the South did Kentucky Senator Henry Clay seek to resolve in 1820 with a bill known as the Missouri Compromise?
Debate over the expansion of slavery
Whose plan for a slave rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina, was leaked by two slaves to their masters, leading to the hanging of their freedman leader?
Denmark Vessey
What was the nation's first black newspaper published by John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish in 1827?
Freedoms Journal
How were most slaves transported from the Upper to the Lower South between 1820 and 1860?
In coffles that contained as many as three hundred men, women, and children
Despite not being legally recognized in southern courts because of their status as "Chattel," why did slave owners encourage their male slaves to marry?
Married men were less likely to escape because of family loyalties.
abolitionist movement
Movement to end slavery
Who led a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831 after experiencing powerful religious visions?
Nat Turner
Why did South Carolina officials adopt new legislation forbidding free black education?
Officials feared that educated free blacks would help slaves plan rebellions.
How did the abolitionist movement influence the women's rights movement?
Opposition to black women speaking in public demonstrated both racism and sexism, and both Black and White women reacted by organizing.
What was the Republican Party's platform on slavery when it formed in 1854?
Opposition to slaverys expansion in the West but not pro abolition where slavery already existed.
ring shouts
Religious dance of African American slaves, performed with hand clapping and a shuffle step to spirituals.
In the wake of several unsuccessful slave rebellions in the early nineteenth century, laws were passed throughout the South that were designed to
Restrict the lives of slaves and free blacks.
How did many northern blacks propose overcoming racial discrimination and oppression during the antebellum period?
Self improvement and community building
Why was the black press important to black communities?
The black press allowed black community leaders to disseminate information to the black community.
Dred Scott v. Sanford
The case that ruled that slaves were property and could not sue
How did the publishing of David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World shift the focus of the antislavery movement in America?
The objectives changed from colonization in Africa to emancipation
Why did the Supreme Court free the enslaved Africans who led an insurrection on the Spanish slave ship the Amistad?
The rebels' enslavement violated treaties prohibiting the international slave trade.
Why did most blacks oppose the American Colonization Society's plans?
They believed the ACS's propaganda hurt black prospects for freedom in America.
How did the writings of African American activists in the 1830s differ from those of the first post-Revolutionary War generation?
They exhibited far less deference to white leaders.
How did other slaves warn escaping slaves that fugitive patrols (called "Paddy-Rollers") were nearby?
They sang songs with cautionary lyrics.
Why did African Americans reject the ideas of the American Colonization Society?
They saw the United States as their home country, especially after so many generations and so much struggle.
Despite enormous risks, how did some African Americans escape slavery in the South for freedom in the North?
They were aided by a network of white and black abolitionists called the underground railroad.
Before the Civil War, what impact did black laws have on African Americans in free northern states?
They were denied access to jobs and slavery.
Why did slaves not view stealing from their owners as a crime?
They were given meager rations and were avoiding starvation.
What was the fate of Nat Turner's supporters after the rebellion was crushed by a Virginia militia?
They were hunted down and killed without trial.
How did fugitive slaves avoid detection in the South?
Traveling at night and following the North Star, amongst other strategies
What was the aboveground arm of the underground railroad that provided shelter, food, clothing, legal services, and jobs to runaway or escaping slaves?
Vigilance Committee
Second Great Awakening
a Christian revival movement that took place during the first half of the 19th century
What did Martin R. Delany propose in the 1850s as a solution to the diminishing black prospect for a viable life in the United States?
a back nation outside the U.S.
cash crops
a readily salable crop that is grown for commercial sale and export rather than local use (cotton)
truant
a slave who temporarily ran away to visit loved ones, go to church or escape punishment, abuse , or undesirable assignments
North Star
a star that always points north and was used by escaped slaves to navigate their way to freedom
Northern black communities committed themselves to what cause in the antebellum era?
abolition of slavery
political action
abolitionist movement that relied on working through political channels to force changes in the law and political practices
Amistad Case (1939)
africans destined for slavery in cuba seized a ship and tried to sail it to africa but the US navy seized it and held the africans as pirates; court declared them free because of the international slave trade had been illegal (1808)
Fugitive Slave Act (1850)
allowed government officials to arrest any person accused of being a runaway slave; northerners required to help capture runaways if requested
Indian Removal Act (1830)
an act forcing Natives living east of the Mississippi River to relocate them Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma)
Frederick Douglass gave speeches on the abolitionist circuit arguing that ending slavery should be achieved by
appealing to the conscience of the nation .
What were the spiritual ceremonies performed by slaves whose West African music, dance traditions, and rhythmic styles influenced musical genres like Blues and Gospel called?
ring shouts
Black Convention Movement
series of conventions where black leaders addressed the concerns of freed and enslaved blacks
Creole insurrection (1843)
slave rebellion on American slave ship that sailed to England and granted freedom in Bahamas
The strategy of moral suasion aimed to convince the white majority in the United States that
slavery was immoral and contrary to the nation's ideals.
fictive kin
someone who becomes accepted as part of a family to which he or she has no blood relation
What services did black churches provide African American communities in addition to a place of worship?
sponsored schools
Black Nationalism
the idea that African Americans should separate themselves from whites and form their own self-governing communities.
Why did slaves often become truant, escaping slavery temporarily for a matter of days, weeks, or months?
to avoid punishment and abuse
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
written by harriet beecher stowe that highly influenced England's view on the American Deep South and slavery; a novel promoting abolitionist movements
Vigilance Committees
groups led by free blacks and their allies in the North to assist fugitive slaves
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
law that allowed the residents of Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide whether or not slavery should be allowed
abroad marriages
marriages between slaves on different plantations; suggested that many owners allowed slaves to choose partners
Underground Railroad
network of anti-slavery activists who helped fugitive slaves escape to North and Canada
In the North during the antebellum period, to what did whites attribute the lower economic status of blacks after emancipation?
racial inferiority
Why was it more difficult for women to escape slavery than for men?
Women accompanied by children could not travel as fast as unaccompanied men.
What Supreme Court decision ruled that no person of African descent was a citizen of the United States and ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional?
Dred Scott v. Sanford
How was knowledge passed from one generation to the next among slaves?
Elderly slaves passed on lessons to younger slaves, often using Oral Tradition methods.
Why did many enslaved women often have difficulty bringing their pregnancies to term and raising healthy infants?
Enslaved women worked long hours and had poor nutrition
What were the goals of Denmark Vessey and his fellow conspirators?
Escape the U.S. and sail to Haiti
During the antebellum period, how did many African Americans pull themselves out of poverty in the face of white hostility?
Establishing small businesses
What argument did Dr. Samuel G. Morton of Philadelphia propose in Crania Americana (1839)?
Europeans had the highest brain capacities, and Africans had the lowest.
Who led a raid on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 with the hopes of triggering a slave revolt that would sweep through the South?
John Brown
Before the Civil War, how did the legal system discriminate against blacks in free states?
Law enforcement and the court system left blacks unprotected
personal liberty laws
Laws passed by Northern states aimed a preventing the return of fugitive laves to the South
During the middle of the nineteenth century, most U.S. sugar came from
Louisianna
Why have some historians described slave religion as an invisible church ?
Slaves were forced to worship in secret out of the sight of distrusting whites.
Who wrote the autobiography/slave narrative Twelve Years a Slave, detailing his experience of being a freedman who was kidnapped and sold as a slave to a cotton plantation in Louisiana?
Solomon Northup
What strategy did the abolitionist movement increasingly advocate in the 1830s to end slavery?
Working within the political system
Why did most black Christians not worship with whites in the antebellum period?
White preachers stressed obedience and humility in their sermons.
Why did few people immigrate to the southern states in the middle of the nineteenth century?
Whites had fewer job opportunities because of slavery.
Which activist began publishing The Liberator in 1831 which became most famous antislavery newspaper?
William Lloyd Garrison
How did many white northerners respond to black emancipation in the antebellum North?
With an increase in racial prejudice and violence
Slaves dreaded being sold down the river to the Lower South because they
feared being permanently separated from their families.
Because slaves were often separated from their families due to death, migration or sale, they created new family relationship with nonrelatives called
fictive kin
What musical genre originated from West African musical traditions and Protestant religious services?
gospel
