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Juneteenth is in a week. This is just a reminder that my ancestors were not slaves, they were ENslaved. Know the difference, know the implications.
While they might sound the same they’re very different. This is alone is critical to understanding the abolition of slavery and to truly understand both liberation and freedom.
Let us discuss.
Before we begin, for further reading I would encourage you to read Lectures on Liberation (Angela Davis) and Black Reconstruction (W.E.B. DuBois) - this thread relies heavily on these texts.
Before we begin, for further reading I would encourage you to read Lectures on Liberation (Angela Davis) and Black Reconstruction (W.E.B. DuBois) - this thread relies heavily on these texts.
First and foremost you must understand the nature of slavery in the United States. The institution, here, unlike in other implementations did not work the enslaved Africans to death and replace them with newly imported ones.
No, the enslaved in the U.S. were bred. Future generations of Africans were quite literally born into slavery. This is why we talk about not knowing where we are from, struggles of identity and culture, etc.
Notwithstanding, this is significant. You may remember learning about rebels like Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner.
They were born as "slaves." These are people who had no concept of freedom or life outside of slavery (as opposed to the original enslaved Africans on these shores).
They were born as "slaves." These are people who had no concept of freedom or life outside of slavery (as opposed to the original enslaved Africans on these shores).
They actively rejected the only reality they ever knew. That speaks volumes of their mentalities and how they viewed themselves -- they obviously did not see themselves as slaves, as they literally rebelled against the institution and worked to dismantle it.
Interestingly, we say a handful of their names. But what if i said this mindset -- this rejection of slavery and bondage was collective.
It was.
You may have learned that abolitionists, the North, or Abraham Lincoln freed the "slaves;" however,
It was.
You may have learned that abolitionists, the North, or Abraham Lincoln freed the "slaves;" however,
in reality the actual "slaves" were the most instrumental in their own freedom.
Firstly, the outcome of the Civil War was never intended to be the freeing of the "slaves."
Secondly, note the first step to freedom per Lectures on Liberation:
Firstly, the outcome of the Civil War was never intended to be the freeing of the "slaves."
Secondly, note the first step to freedom per Lectures on Liberation:
"The first condition of freedom is the open act of resistance -- physical resistance, violent resistance. In that act of resistance, the rudiments of freedom are already present."
Before we get into the nitty gritty, before the civil war even began there were "slaves" rebelling. Not just running away but setting shit on fire, knocking shit over, and poisoning their owners.
S/N: Black women have been with the shits from jump. They were instrumental in acts of resistance - for example, they were the ones primarily doing the poisoning. For further reading check out Angela Davis's “Reflections on the Black Women’s Role in the Community of Slaves”
Continuing: It's very clear that over the course of slavery, collectively, the enslaved Africans rejected their bondage -- this being the key distinction in being a slave vs. being enslaved. What happened during the civil war only solidifies this truth.
Enter: the "fugitive slave." The "fugitive slave" was key to the end of slavery -- so much DuBois writes:
"Fugitive slaves, like Frederick Douglas and others humbler and less gifted, increased the number of abolitionists by thousands and spelled the doom of slavery."
"Fugitive slaves, like Frederick Douglas and others humbler and less gifted, increased the number of abolitionists by thousands and spelled the doom of slavery."
During the war they saw an opportunity and seized it. They began to run away in larger numbers than before. But instead of just going North -- they went to federal camps and essentially began working for the Union army in various different capacities.
You probably were taught that the Northern army recruited "slaves" or something to that effect -- which may be true, but in the majority of cases these were enslaved Africans who decided to participate in the war to negotiate the freedom of their people.
"By walking into the federal camps, they showed to doubting Northerns the easy possibility of using them as workers and as servants, as farmers, and as spies, and finally, as fighting soldiers. And not only using them thus, but by the same gesture, depriving their
enemies of their use in just these fields. It was the fugitive slave who made the slaveholders face the alternative of surrendering to the Norther, or to the Negroes."
Again, the purpose of the Civil War was to preserve the Union -- it was never about ending slavery. Yet, the enslaved Africans made it about their freedom through resistance. In fact "without them, as Lincoln said, the North could not have won the war."
Had they not rejected their condition and seized the opportunity -- the North would have lost the war and slavery would have remained.
The distinction between "slaves" and "enslaved" is not just semantics -- it's important because one diminishes the role that our ancestors played in their own freedom. They never once accepted their condition.
We often say "I'm sick and tired of being sick a tired" and we're always sick and tired of talking about and protesting for the same shit because we are always rejecting our condition and not being complacent in our treatment.
The same is true for them.
The same is true for them.
Even further, I feel like regardless it's not appropriate to call them that because obviously that's not how they viewed themselves. In Lectures on Liberation Davis discusses how some philosophers would say freedom is always an option
even to those in bondage -- because bondage can be eliminated through death. There were MANY enslaved Africans who felt the same way. So, to call them slaves when there were thousands choosing death to literally not be a slave diminishes the value of their actions.
I hope this makes sense! Read a book! Sorry for any typos. Please stay out of my mentions with ignorant comments, your education is not my burden love :).
