African-American Resistance to Colonization

Abstract

In most historical treatments of issues concerning Africans, the role of Blacks is diminished or obscured by European scholars. Most often, people of African descent are relegated to a peripheral status, even when the history is their own. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the historiography of the antislavery movement. The valorous role that Africans played in the resistance to any form of enslavement has been co-opted by those who wish to salve European consciences. The struggle belonged, after all, to Africans, and they accepted the obligation to wrest their freedom from those who benefited from their subjugation. Afrocentric scholars those who insist upon interpreting African history from the perspective of the African have the duty to correct the misconception of passive, docile, and accommodating Africans who willingly aided in their enslavement. It is necessary for such scholars to reclaim, restore, and recount their own history. The image of the docile Black is not borne out by history. The chronicles are replete with instances of African resistance to the institution of slavery and to discriminatory practices designed to limit or nullify the rights of Black people. Since most of the history was and is written by Whites, it is necessary to read footnotes and between the lines to cull such history. As Blackett (1986) says, Afro-American history is strewn with veiled references to the many men and women who fought against slavery and discrimination . .. the implication is that in their time they influenced few events (p. 1). Consequently, one is given the impression that the abolitionist movement, the underground railroad, the colonization

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