Anansi’s portrait

1 Anansi : this excerpt evokes the god Anansi, a joker character in West African folklore, a sometimes looking human-looking spider often associated with slavery and more particularly with resistance to masters. In fact Anansi has a habit of using his cunning to defeat his oppressors. His stories are oral tales.

Anansi’s portrait is an illustration of Bethany Minervino, an American artist currently living in North Carolina.

Names / Nicknames : ‘Anansi’, ‘Aunt Nancy’

Appearance : he is the ‘spider’god : he looks like a spider, often represented with 4 legs and 4 arms (a spider has 8 legs)

Origins : the legend of Anansi was born in West Africa.

Locations : It was then brought to America and the Caribbean by the slaves.

Powers : he can trick and manipulate stronger people with his extraordinary intelligence to achieve his goals.

The folktales featuring Anansi’s victories over stronger creatures gave the slaves hope and the strength to resist, or rebel against their masters. The god was an inspiration and a relief for the slaves who thought they were doomed (condamné).

2 Slave rebellions : this text presents the most famous revolt in the history of American slavery : led by Nat Turner, an American slave from Virginia, a group sowed terror and killed about sixty white people on various plantations in 1831. Even if the revolt was finally stifled (étouffée), it caused a general wind of panic and specific militias were created to control the population in this area.

A Rebellion :

Who : Nat Turner (slave preacher) and a few followers

Where : small farms of Southampton (Virginia)

When : August 1831

Motivations : Nat Turner was convinced he had been chosen by God to free his people.

Consequences : 60 white people were killed by the rebels on their farms.

B&C Nat Turner was a slave preacher who worked in Virginia. One day, he had visions of an oncoming war between black and white angels so he became convinced he was to be the spearhead / torchbearer( fer de lance) of a black revolution against the white masters. ( he felt entrusted with a sacred mission to emancipate his people). He managed to convince a few followers and together, they went on a killing spree(une folie meurtrière) and killed about 60 people before their uprising (soulèvement) was quelled / crushed( réprimé) by a militia.

3 War and Freedom : The Civil War and Emancipation :

a) The text summarizes the main features of the Civil war and its close link with the problem of slavery.

b) The graph explains the logical link between plantation productivity and slave population. It makes it possible to clearly understand the real reason for the existence of slavery and therefore also the reasons for the break between Northeners and Southerners. We see that the number of slaves is proportional to the quantity of cotton produced and that therefore the more the state wishes to enrich itself, the greater

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