What did the slaves follow?

There were four main routes that the enslaved could follow: North along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to the northern United States and Canada; South to Florida and refuge with the Seminole Indians and to the Bahamas; West along the Gulf of Mexico and into Mexico; and East along the seaboard into Canada.

How was slavery in colonial America connected to culture?

Slavery was more than a labor system; it also influenced every aspect of colonial thought and culture. The uneven relationship it engendered gave white colonists an exaggerated sense of their own status.

What happened to the slaves after they reached the Americas?

Occasionally they injured or killed their owners and families, or in desperation took their own lives. Many ran away. Some established communities of runaways (or maroons) in the swamps and mountains out of the reach of slave owners.

What was the impact on the slaves of seasoning?

Disease. Newly arrived slaves experienced high rates of illness during the seasoning process. During the Middle Passage, slave traders forced enslaved Africans to live in tight quarters without ventilation, sufficient food, or water, and with no opportunity for hygiene.

Why were slaves running away from the South?

Of course, the main reason to flee was to escape the oppression of slavery itself. To assist their flight to freedom, some escapees hid on steamboats in the hope of reaching Mobile, where they might blend in with its community of free blacks and slaves living on their own as though free.

What did slaves call the Big Dipper?

the drinking gourd

How did culture help slaves survive the brutality of slavery?

Slave religious and cultural traditions played a particularly important role in helping slaves survive the harshness and misery of life under slavery. Many slaves drew on African customs when they buried their dead. Conjurors adapted and blended African religious rites that made use of herbs and supernatural powers.