Its night time on the plantation and the grounds seem to be quiet. The master of the plantation and his family are all tucked into bed sleeping peacefully. A horse’s nicker can be heard faintly in the distance but if one listened harder another sound could be heard. The sound of song and dance, although hushed, filled with hurt, pain but most of all hope. The slaves were meeting for their secret church service, and these services brought hope and peace to the hurting slave. These hush harbor meetings helped lessen the harshness of slavery for these captive people. Besides religious meetings, slaves used family, day-to-day resistance and rebellions as ways to resist the cruelty of slavery.
It is no doubt that most slaves were treated badly. Slaves were made to work for free and were beat and sometimes killed for disobeying or resisting slavery. Some slaves outright rebelled against their owners, but other slaves found more subtle ways to resist the harshness of being a slave. These subtle ways would not blatantly alarm the slave owner that the slave was resisting against their tight reigns. One way slaves would resist was to fake ailments that prevented them from working. This would cost the slave owner money and sometimes crops. Slaves would also steal food, animals and money. The most powerful way of silent resistance was slaves learning to read and write without their owners knowledge.
Although most slaves weren’t allowed to have families, slaves commonly had families they kept secret from their masters. Slave marriage wasn’t recognized by white people so slaves would hold their own private ceremonies and marry in secret. “No laws recognized slave marriage, and therefore no master or slave was legally obligated to honor the bond” (Roark et al. 365). Slaves made their own traditions such ‘jumping the broom’ which is still used today in some African American weddings. After the ceremony or during the reception, a broom is placed at the newlyweds’ feet. The...