You raise an interesting point.
 
The slaves in Haiti, who were apparently very mistreated, rose up in 1791  or 
thereabouts and essentially wiped out the entire white population of the  
country.  Napoleon sent in troops in to put down the rebellion, and  they were 
essentially wiped out also by the slaves who then took control of  their 
country.  Those Haitian slaves were serious about throwing off the  shackles of 
slavery and gaining their freedom apart from their masters "by any  means 
necessary" to quote Malcolm X.  
 
In contrast, the slaves in the US, aside from the infrequent Nat Turner  
style uprisings, seemed more compliant and complacent and more accepting of  their 
chosen role.  I wonder if that was because their lives weren't all  that bad 
considering the norm for that place and time in our  history.  Much of the 
"white trash" in the  South weren't quite as well off as the better treated 
slaves, as I  read my history.  It seems that the slaves in the US opted to rebel, 
if at  all, by individuals running away rather than violent group resistance 
that would  seem to be the natural reaction for a group of people, in Virginia  
outnumbering the white population at one point by more than 4 to 1, 
perceiving  their lives to be so hopeless and unbearable.  Or, perhaps it was the  
Christianity that they were introduced to by their masters that served as the  
opiate of the population.  
 
No, I don't think I could have lived under the heal of slavery.  But,  I 
think you would have to put me in the Haitian category of response, although  
obviously I can't possibly understand all the dynamics at work that rendered  
American slaves so seemingly accepting of their roles in society.  However,  I 
suspect the truth is, after reading the slave narratives, that many of the  
slaves didn't find their worlds to be all that terrible and  unbearable during 
slavery in the South and were content to keep on keeping  on.
 
 
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