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Acts of Resistance: Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793-1803

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Acts of Resistance: Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793-1803 Document generated on 09/26/2021 11:22 a.m. Ontario History Acts of Resistance Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793-1803 Afua Cooper Forging Freedom: In Honour of the Bicentenary of the British Article abstract Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade This paper examines how enslaved Africans living in Upper Canada at the turn Volume 99, Number 1, Spring 2007 of the 19th century protested and resisted their enslavement in diverse ways, and the impact of this resistant behaviour on attempts to legislate against and URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1065793ar ameliorate the effects of slavery in the province. It shows that, in the case of DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1065793ar the Chloe Cooley, her courage in the face of attempts to sell her away to a New York owner provided the catalyst that spurred the Upper Canadian government to pass its gradual emancipation act, some forty years before See table of contents anti-slavery laws were passed elsewhere in the British Empire. This study centres Black Canadians, particularly the enslaved, as actors and agents in the making of their own, and thus a signficant part of Canada’s, history. Publisher(s) The Ontario Historical Society ISSN 0030-2953 (print) 2371-4654 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Cooper, A. (2007). Acts of Resistance: Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, 1793-1803. Ontario History, 99(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.7202/1065793ar Copyright © The Ontario Historical Society, 2007 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ cts of Resistance Black Men and Women Engage Slavery in Upper Canada, A 1793-1803 by Afua Cooper Abstract This paper examines how enslaved Africans liv- he year 2007 marks the bicente- ing in Upper Canada at the turn of the 19th century protested and resisted their enslavement nary of British abolition of the in diverse ways, and the impact of this resistant Atlantic slave trade. The study behaviour on attempts to legislate against and Ton which this paper is based is part of my ameliorate the effects of slavery in the province. ongoing research into the role Black peo- It shows that, in the case of the Chloe Cooley, her ple played in the history of early Cana- courage in the face of attempts to sell her away to a New York owner provided the catalyst that da, their slave status, issues of race and spurred the Upper Canadian government to pass gender, and, of course, the early North its gradual emancipation act, some forty years American antislavery movement. By par- before anti-slavery laws were passed elsewhere ticularlizing the issue of slavery and re- in the British Empire. This study centres Black Canadians, particularly the enslaved, as ac- sistance, this larger analysis centres Black tors and agents in the making of their own, and people, particularly the enslaved, as his- thus a signficant part of Canada’s, history. torical subjects and agents in the making Résumé: Dans cet article nous étudiions les dif- of their own, and thus a signficant part of férentes formes de protestation et de résistance des Canada’s history. I dedicate this paper to esclaves africains contre leur condition dans le e the numerous enslaved African men and Haut-Canada au tournant du 19 siècle; et les conséquences de ces actions sur le plan législatif. women in Upper Canada and British Dans cette lutte pour faire adopter des lois amé- North America who through their own liorant la condition des esclaves dans la province, actions helped to end slavery in these et finalement abolissant l’esclavage, le courage de places. Chloë Cooley résistant aux intentions de la vendre à un propriétaire new-yorkais, joua notamment le rôle de catalyseur. Son cas poussa en effet le n the past few decades, historians of gouvernement du Haut-canada à faire adopter Islavery, in exploring the lives of the en- la loi sur l’émancipation progressive des esclaves; slaved, have attempted to put them at the et cela quelque quarante ans avant que des lois centre of historical inquiry by showing similaires soient adoptées dans le reste de l’empire britannique. Il s’agit d’un épisode important de that they were not the atomized victims notre histoire, et un épisode dans lequel les noirs of slavery that previous historians have canadiens, et particulièrement les esclaves, ont été à considered them to be, but rather active la fois les acteurs et les agents de leur propre destin. agents in their own emancipation. One Ontario History / Volume XCIX, Number 1 / Spring 2007 ONTARIO HISTORY way that the enslaved tried to rise above rebellions and revolts, and homicide. their victimization was to resist as best as However, the cataloguing of resistance they could the degradation and brutali- in such a dichotomous manner suggests zation of slavery. Historian David Barry that every-day resistance and long-term Gaspar has defined resistance within the resistance stand in contradistinction to context of New World slavery as a con- each other, and that the two poles never cept that is used to apply to slave behav- meet. Not so. Both types often shade into iour that cannot be equated with coop- each other. For example, everyday acts of eration with slavery. He also notes that resistance “added up and constituted the resistance was “an important organizing foundation upon which slaves built more principle of slave life.”1 ambitious schemes of subversion that Resistance “spans a continuum that matured into collective political resist- takes into account important qualitative ance or insurrection.”3 And if we think of differences between individual acts and resistance running as a continuum, then those that were collective or had collec- surely there were responses that occur tive potential.”2 Individual acts, often somewhere between these two extreme placed in the category of every-day resist- poles. And there were. For example, ar- ance, involve such actions such as break- son as employed by the enslaved could ing of tools, destruction of livestock and either be an individual or a collective act. other moveable property, work stoppage, Moreover, Bernard Moitt has argued for talking back to their owners, malinger- a gender-specific understanding of resist- ing, temporary marronnage [absent- ance, and notes that there were multiple ing oneself temporarily], and so forth. forms of enslaved women’s resistance. Though this type of resistance “incre- He notes that “gender made it possible mentally hampered” the slave system it for women to restrict fertility and con- posed no long-term danger to it. At the trol reproduction through abortions and other end of this conceptual spectrum is other techniques…” [like infanticide, and collective resistance, which is more radi- abstinence].4 Poisoning was also associ- cal in its orientation and outlook, and ated with females because of their close thus has a long-term impact on the slave links to domestic and household work. system. Examples of long-term resist- Sometimes resistance could be subtle ance are arson, permanent marronnage and fleeting, a scream, a cut eye, or the [permanent self-emancipation], armed sucking of teeth. These could often help 1 David Barry Gaspar, “From ‘The Sense of their Slavery’: Slave Women and Resistance in Antigua, 1632-1763,” in D.B. Gaspar & D.C. Hine eds. More Than Chattel, Black Women and Slavery in the Ameri- cas (Indiana University Press, 1996), 220. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Bernard Moitt, Women and Slavery in the French Antilles, 1635-1848 (Indiana University Press, 2001), 125. acts of resstance 7 restore the self-esteem of the enslaved, if tary. Slave masters ensured that slavery only fleetingly. would reproduce itself by making it legal that slave children inherited their moth- Why Did Slaves Resist? ers’ status. Women in particular, given lavery was an inhuman system in how gender impacted the experience of Swhich one group of persons perma- enslavement, faced particular kinds of nently owned the life and labour of an- abuse such as sexual assaults from the other group, and had the power of life enslaver group. Even when slave masters and death over them. The raison d’etre of accepted the humanity of the slave, as in the enslaved group was to serve the enslav- the case of holding them legally responsi- ing group. Moreover, the benefits accrued ble for crimes they might have commit- from the labour of the enslaved belonged ted, enslaved people had little or no social not to them but to their enslavers. status. Orlando Patterson, sociologist of Slavery in the New World, in addi- slavery, notes that given the marginal sta- tion to being an economic and labour ar- tus of the enslaved, they experienced and rangement, was also a racialized system. endured what he terms “social death.”6 In the Americas, by 1650, Black skin was On the other hand, enslaved Afri- equated with slavery. Black skin thus be- cans never saw themselves as chattel. It came a badge of enslavement and con- was a status imposed on them by their comitantly of racial and social inferiority. owners and White society as a whole. On the other hand, Whites, whether or And it was a status they rejected.
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