A Critical Essay Review
Fulfillment of the Course
Requirements of American History 2010/20
Antonio, Bly. "Crossing the Lake of Fire: Slave Resistance during the Middle Passage, 1720- 1842." Journal of Negro History 83.3 (1998): 178-186.
Similarly, the resistance during the middle passage was difficult to achieve. This is so because the existence of cramped and filthy space in the ship made cooperation difficult. The extreme shortage of the holdings also caused the hostility among the slaves. The situation of the holding area contributed to slave madness and ended up killing each other to secure a room to breathe. It was difficult to resist because the slaves were required to avoid being seen by slave crews who were vigilant against revolt. The crew singled out and punished Africans whom they suspected were causing the revolt. In addition to avoiding being seen by crews, slaves had to prevent their conspirators from reporting them to crewmembers. The crew enticed some slaves to give them their plans of revolt by giving them privileges and benefits. In most cases, some slaves were given their freedom for giving information and sabotaging the revolts. Therefore, the revolt was hard to achieve because slaves were uncertain about whom to trust.
However, the argument that the author gives for slave revolt are less significant explanations for revolt than slaves’ capability to overcome the entire problem. During this period, there was important of solidarity among the slaves. Although slaves shared a common goal, solidarity was less effective because those who surrounded them were totally strangers with weird customs and illegible languages. Similarly, he argues that during the middle passage, they lost two crewmembers and twenty slaves due to some strange epidemic. It could be better if the author gave the type of epidemic that led to the death of the writer to understand the extent of suffering.
In a recap, the author's arguments indicate that there were so many obstacles, which the slave encountered during the resistance. The revolt did not guarantee success, but several slaves achieved their freedom during their rebellions cases. Although most cases of slave resistance did not achieve the goal of freedom, ever-present threat of revolt contributed to beneficial effect.
Work Cited
Antonio, Bly. "Crossing the Lake of Fire: Slave Resistance during the Middle Passage, 1720- 1842." Journal of Negro History 83.3 (1998): 178-186.
