The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South

Following his conclusion in Chapter 2, Blassingame details the creation of a slave culture that combined aspects of African and Southern cultures while also becoming something unique. Furthermore, the creation of a slave culture was a form of freedom and self-assertion for enslaved people: “The more his cultural forms differed from those of his master and the more they were immune from the control of whites, the more the slave gained in personal autonomy and positive self-concepts” (105). Religion and culture gave enslaved people “some hours of joy and a degree of hope” as well as “permitted the slave to play roles other than that of the helpless dependent driven to his tasks” (106).

Even though plantation owners tried to restrict their activities, especially at night, enslaved people continued to seek out leisure and communal activities with each other. They believed in folk magic as both a source of hope and a potential weapon against their oppressors. Folk tales, proverbs, and songs with African roots were also widely used. However, Blassingame admits that the primary sources on these cultural products are limited because “they generally represented only what blacks wanted white folks to hear” (115).

Nonetheless, some slave songs—which were sung outside the hearing of white people—spoke of oppression and praised the deeds of rebellion by enslaved people.