Enslaved African Americans developed a sense of racial identity. ... When the African slaves were brought to the new world, they wanted their children and future generations to know about Africa, and its splendor, and how wonderfully Africans lived and thrived before the onset of slavery. ... For entertainment slaves made musical instruments with carved motifs that resembled African stringed instruments. ... Black spirituals were sung with an African vocal quality and to African rhythmic accompaniment of finger snapping, clapping, and stamping. ... In the colonial period, African slaves usu...

• Word Count: 2002
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Douglass's devotion to abolitionism led him to confer with Abraham Lincoln during the civil war and after the war he fought for the rights of women and African-Americans alike. ... In fact, there were other slave narratives in his time, some told by former slaves to white writers, and Douglass wanted to distinguish his work from other such narratives. ... This motif inevitably takes us back to his statement of authorship i.e.: The phrase "Written by Himself" which persuasively made the entire text seems more authentic. ... By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their a...

• Word Count: 2277
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Family relationships would allow slaves to develop a unique sense of self and would encourage alliances among slaves, a serious threat to the slave owner's hold on power. It was illegal to educate slaves. ... Sophia Auld had never owned a slave and was as yet unpracticed in treating slaves cruelly. ... He employs classic American literary motifs to tell his story. ... His experience is also relevant to that of all Africans in America at that time. ...

• Word Count: 1047
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School