Stereotypes
A stereotype that depicted Black men as lazy and slovenly, constantly whimsical and happy, and contented and docile no matter what abuse they might take.
What is a Sambo?
This Supreme Court decision from 1857 invalidated any legal rights that Black people had and held them to be unable to be American citizens.
What is the Dred Scott decision?
A network that helped enslaved Black people escape to the North and to Canada through providing information, escorts, and safe houses/passage.
What is the Underground Railroad?
A former slave who escaped to freedom, this abolitionist is perhaps best known as the daring embodiment of the Underground Railroad
Who is Harriet Tubman?
A stereotype that came about in the wake of the Civil War, which depicted Black women as domineering, controlling, and emasculating Black men by being breadwinners and the heads of the households.
What is a Sapphire?
This Amendment to the Constitution contains an equal protection clause, but is perhaps best known for establishing the principle of birthright citizenship.
What is the 14th Amendment?
Stealing tools, working slowly, faking sick, learning to read, and passing information were examples of these.
What are enslavement and resistance strategies?
This free Black abolitionist wrote Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829, exhorting enslaved people to rise up and fight against their bonds and enslavers.
Who is David Walker?
A stereotype that portrayed Black women as being asexual and primarily concerned with taking care of house tasks, cleaning, and taking care of children, both their own but especially their White masters' children.
What is a Mammy?
This commonly is thought of as having "freed" the slaves in America, but actually was a military act that had important limitations in establishing freedom.
What is the Emancipation Proclamation (1863)?
Lasting from 1791-1804, this overthrew French rule, established the first independent republic governed by former slaves, and gave inspiration to enslaved people in America.
What is the Haitian Revolution?
This enslaved Black man, nicknamed "Prince," became one of the most famous enslaved people of the 1800s, leveraging his situation and religion to make his way back to Africa.
Who is Abd Al-Rahman Ibrahima?
This stereotype showed Black children as often being chased or eaten, and as being ragged, unclothed, dirty, and generally with exaggerated facial features.
What is a pickanniny?
This act allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves, and eventually gave ordinary citizens rewards for capturing such slaves
What is the Fugitive Slave Act?
An uprising in Louisiana in 1795 that was betrayed by Native Americans, leading to the beheading of lead conspirators, but that revealed the frustrations of enslaved people.
What is the Pointe Coupee Slave Rebellion?
This Presbyterian minister and abolitionist sought to more directly attack slavery through political means, and, in the wake of the Dred Scott decision, sought to bring Black people back to Africa and "civilize" it through Christianity.
Who is Henry Highland Garnet?