Summary Of Water From The Rock

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Report of Sylvia Frey’s Water From the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age

Sylvia Frey’s Water from the Rock is meant to convey the deeper meaning of the American Revolution and the determination, line of events and the opportunity for black resistance in America. Frey lays the book out by discussing the economical and geographical differences in America and the effects of this on racial segregation.
The pre-Revolution south in America had a highly successful economical basis in slavery. The source for this was usually in the popular crops such as tobacco, rice, cotton and wheat. With this being intensive labor and highly productive, slavery became popular in the states where this took place. These states included South Carolina, …show more content…

Instead he began to propagate the belief that sharing religion with the slaves would “lay them under stronger obligations to perform the greatest diligence and fidelity”. Though a number of protestant religions moved throughout at the time the Baptist church eventually took ahold of the south to become the most practiced religion.
Frey discusses briefly the African culture that made some influence on the lifestyle of the African slaves. Most of the African cultural practices were bogged down or destroyed by the slave owners and American society. Kinship was the common way of life in Africa and didn’t completely discontinue upon arrival in the states but was made nearly impossible by the deliberate separating of the slaves. The slaves were forced to create new bonds with other slaves brought to the plantation as well but always carried the fear of forced separation with them as well.
Marriage was not a legal possibility between African slaves but they would still try to share some marital bond. Often times the married slaves would be split up at some point and made to spend the rest of their married lives separate from their partner. By 1863 slave homes became 2 parents households with very strong family …show more content…

Eventually the loss of control became too great and a large number of slaves abandoned Georgia leading to that economic collapse. They had been pressed by the British before then to continue keeping up with forced labor. At this point the British had to accept the defeat and abandon the hopes of reestablishing Georgia. When the British landed in Charleston the first place they looked for aid against Americans was to the slaves. They had different intended purposes. Either as means of help for resources, for inciting rebellions, or for working as spies. Unfortunately for the British there was a huge communication barrier leading to little success. Most slaves in Charleston spoke Gullah and many of the slaves still did not trust the British who were trying to turn the slaves to act against their