Marronage

Marronage

Slaves in the United States used many different methods to resist slavery, one these methods was to run away from their masters. Slavery was an interdependent system; both masters and slaves relied on each other for survival. Since the masters relied on their slaves for work, slaves used this dependency to their advantage by exerting their rights.

The decision to runaway had great risks and slaves would use three different methods to stay away from the plantation:

1. Join and assimilate Native American tribes. Many Native Americans would assist runaway slaves by making them a part of their tribe.

2. Disguise themselves as free African Americans and live in free African American communities in the South.

3. Creating independent societies away from whites

These large independent societies were called Maroon Societies, and were created and governed by runaway slaves. Maroon Societies had to be well hidden and were very mobile in order to avoid capture from slave hunters. The Southeast of the United States had the highest number of Maroon Societies in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.

H.W. for tonight:

A. Finish the questions on Marronage that was classwork. Here is a link to the slavery site that we have been using.

B. Answer the following questions using your notes and the Slavery Site.

1. What were three factors that would have made escaping very difficult?

2. Where did some slaves choose to runaway to? Why those locations?

3. Who did plantation owners often hire to be slave catchers?

4. Define Covert Resistance:

example:

5. Define Overt Resistance:

example:

Quiz is tomorrow