Day-to-Day Resistance

This chapter examines the various forms of conservative resistance used by slaves in Florida and often elsewhere within the slave empire of the United States. William Dusinberre called these types of actions or inactions nonviolent “dissidence.” Indeed, bondservants actively, though discreetly, resisted their owners on a day-to-day basis. In doing so, many slaves believed that they could either get away with their recalcitrance or use it to negotiate concessions from their masters. Since enslaved blacks knew that violent attacks could mean immediate death, they naturally and intelligently sought other means of expressing their discontent concerning plantation or farm regimens. Sometimes they made life uncomfortable for their masters, and sometimes, in the process, they made life uncomfortable for themselves.