In their history of the antebellum southern United States, John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger remind the reader that “slavery” was not a solid, opaque block but a constantly shifting, often nebulous atmosphere that thoroughly pervaded American society for several centuries. While there were many legal requirements pertaining to enslavement of people, including their classification as property, the enslaved never ceased their struggles to change as well as circumvent (and sometimes outright defy) those laws.
The concept of manumission is inseparable from that of enslavement. Many people of African American heritage gained their freedom or that of their family members—but not always through any generosity on the part of slave holders. Tradespeople and skilled artisans were among those most likely to purchase freedom. Hired out by their owners to work for wages, merchants and artisans often accumulated enough funds to pay for their freedom or that of their children.
In...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
the case of Sally Thomas, her wages as a laundress paid for the freedom of two sons but not her own. She also had to evaluate the benefits of being free for people of different races, ages, and genders. The two boys she freed had white fathers, and she gambled that lighter-skinned people would have a better chance of succeeding outside of the slavery system. A third son, James, she sent away to be apprenticed, and his owner later freed him.
Some parts of the Thomas family married enslaved people, and their children were born into slavery, while others married free blacks. Both might occur with the same parent. For example, Sally’s son John raised some of his children as free and the others in slavery. Not all the family members remained in the South; along with fleeing to the North or West within the United States, others moved to Haiti and Canada.
The authors point out one extreme irony: that James’s father served on the US Supreme Court, and supported the majority opinion in the Dred Scott case.
How does the Thomas-Rapier family show how Black Americans navigated slavery in the mid-1800s?
The Thomas-Rapier family demonstrates a wide variety of creative approaches that Black Americans used to survive and resist slavery in the mid-nineteenth century United States. The different approaches that various family members took show how resilient and versatile enslaved Americans were, even when they remained within the slavery system. Others managed to leave the slaveholding states and settle in the North or even leave the United States and live abroad.
Authors John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger demonstrate how individuals worked tirelessly to find legal loopholes and negotiate contracts with the slaveholders. Purchasing freedom for themselves or family members was a strong motivation to work for wages, which the enslaved worker would pay to the slaveholder. In Tennessee, Sally Thomas used this system to purchase freedom for her sons, but not for herself. This system was often more successful, as it was for her, if the children were mixed-race, especially if their father was the slaveholder.
Thomas’s free sons took maximum advantage of their liberty, using their profession of barber in distinct ways. John remained in the South, while James traveled abroad before returning to settle in the North. The son who remained enslaved obtained his liberty by leaving the North, and remained free living in Canada and New York.