No Longer Yours: Aspects of Slavery and Freedom Seeking in North CarolinaMain MenuCreative Commons LicensePreface and AcknowledgementsArcOnline Maps and ArcStory MapsAdditional Project ComponentsIntroductionEarthWoodFireWaterWindEscapingNetwork to Freedom Underground Railroad LocationsMaps and Additional ResourcesResourcesBrian Robinson351175f8b63e375b96b75c26edde5534c94e8162Torren Gatson9cd3f098d43ed240801c35d1d0fd0737b5602944Rhonda Jones4c7a2610c10c17f5b487bcebc8abbbf64c221aa6Arwin Smallwood329b2d587e93ceaac77a3b3e316b5ce377128ac0Self-Publish
12021-12-01T18:27:54+00:00Earth-Life-Measuring Intellect and Morality1plain2021-12-01T18:27:54+00:00Enslaved people found dignity and equality among themselves, how they worked, and how they viewed their morality compared to whites.
Enslaved people found dignity in doing good work, and blacks, “as an agrarian people, were gratified by watching the products of their hands grow and flourish.” Moreover, they found some freedom in their labor because their freedom did not require abusing or robbing humans to achieve their goals.
To that point, enslaved people found themselves morally superior to whites. Because whites, in particular, white Christians, allowed and supported slavery, they could not be looked upon as gospel carries. Blacks believed themselves to be true believers.
Intellectually, they felt themselves to be the equals of their masters. Without formal education, “slaves believed they held the secrets of the soil and of nature and harbored an abundance of mother wit that few whites could equal.” Enslaved people battled with the negative self-images of their intellectual capacity, which were impressed upon them by the greater institution of slavery and dominant culture. Yet, it is important to note that enslaved persons knew that they were highly skilled and educated in ways that could only be understood from the perspective of the enslaved.
