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Resisting in Their Own Way: Black Women and Resistance in the British Caribbean

Miles, Dawn Michelle

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, African-American and African Studies.
The history of the British Caribbean is many times relayed through the lens of slavery because enslaved Africans were the workforce that sustained the economy of the islands. The men and women of African descent who labored in bondage each have stories of life and resistance that historians have tried to capture and scholars have been particularly interested in the latter. Unfortunately, these studies have tended to overlook the more obscure methods of resistance and label them as accommodation. This have often led to a misunderstanding of the ways in which women of African descent resisted their exploitation. Enslaved women, many times, occupied unique spaces in slave societies, where they were able to strategically gain certain freedoms for themselves and, sometimes, their families. The purpose of this research is to illuminate some of these methods of resistance through the lives of three specific women. Rachel Pringle, Old Doll, and Queen Nanny were all enslaved in the British Caribbean from the late eighteenth century through the early nineteenth century, and each woman engaged in acts of resistance that could be ignored as accommodation, however, through a close reading of their stories, this work highlights the more obscure ways of resistance available to slave women. These women secured their manumission or a quasi-free status that was through business ownership, literacy, strategic relationships with Whites and the use of folklore.
Dr. Walter Rucker (Committee Chair)
Dr. Leslie Alexander (Committee Member)
Dr. Simone Drake (Committee Member)
72 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Miles, D. M. (2010). Resisting in Their Own Way: Black Women and Resistance in the British Caribbean [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1275345029

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Miles, Dawn. Resisting in Their Own Way: Black Women and Resistance in the British Caribbean. 2010. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1275345029.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Miles, Dawn. "Resisting in Their Own Way: Black Women and Resistance in the British Caribbean." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1275345029

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)