1. Running from bondage
Book Response Assignment: Running from bondage
200 points (20% of course grade)
Due Friday, November 18 (11:59pm)
DIRECTIONS: This assignment is a response to Karen Cook Bell’s Running From Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America. To complete this assignment, you must fully answer the below short-answer questions using specific details from the book. YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO USE THE BOOK—ANY USE OF OUTSIDE SOURCES (INCLUDING INTERNET SOURCES) WILL RESULT IN A POINT DEDUCTION OF AT LEAST TEN PERCENTAGE POINTS (AND COULD POSSIBLY RESULT IN A ZERO)! Remember that the purpose of this assignment is to make sure you have read and understood the book, so be as specific as possible and avoid vagueness! You should write a large paragraph (at least 10-15 sentences) for each question. Each question is worth 40 points, for a total of 200 points (20% of your course grade). Please use this sheet and TYPE your answers. To submit this assignment, you must submit as a Word document (.doc or .docx) on Eagle Online Canvas. There is an extended grace period for this assignment, so although you are ENCOURAGED to submit by the due date, you do not HAVE to submit it until Monday, November 28 (11:59pm), and no lateness points will be deducted. No assignments will be accepted after that date.
- What is the author’s central argument in Running From Bondage? Why does the author believe that instances of women running from bondage are important for us to study and understand? What does this book add to our knowledge of both the American Revolution and slave resistance?What kinds of sources does the author use for this book, what are the limitations of these sources, and how does the author read/use them?
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- Describe the specific issues enslaved women faced on the plantation compared to enslaved men. What were the specific ways in which enslaved men and women resisted slavery? In what ways did women’s resistance and men’s resistance differ?
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- How did the American Revolution impact white colonists’ opinions about slavery? What impact did the rhetoric of the American Revolution have on enslaved people, particularly enslaved women? How did the revolutionary period shape enslaved women’s resistance, and in what specific ways did enslaved women resist during this period?
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THE FOURTH AND FIFTH QUESTIONS ARE ON THE NEXT PAGE!
- How did the British impact slave resistance in the colonies during the Revolutionary War? In what ways did both Black men and Black women participate in the war effort, and on what side(s), and for what reason(s)? How did the war affect enslaved women and contribute to their attempts to escape from bondage? What happened to these formerly enslaved men and women in the aftermath of the war?
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- In what ways did slavery weaken as an institution in the North and Upper South states after the Revolutionary War? What were the reasons behind this northern weakening of slavery and expansion of freedom? Also, describe the “maroon” communities that developed during and after the war. How did women fit into these communities? What were women’s specific challenges in these communities, and how did the communities provide more freedom for women?
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