Paul Heinegg wrote:
> I just joined this discussion (and discussion group), so I may be 
> missing the point. What did African American slaves' ability to 
> overthrow their oppressors say about the institution of slavery? As 
> Douglas Deal pointed out and as John Brown's raid and the Civil War 
> proved, it was no easy task.
>
>

Hi Paul and welcome to the list:

There are usually a few threads going at any one time. The one you have 
just commented on started with a question about the WPA slave narratives 
and their implications for the interpretation of slavery in the US 
(specifically, how do we explain the surprisingly positive views of 
slavery in these narratives). That led to a different enquiry: whether 
the relative absence of slave revolts in the US was evidence of some 
degree of satisfaction with, or adaptation to the institution of 
slavery. To view an archive of the recent postings on these matters, 
check out the entries for February and March 2007 at the url listed at 
the bottom of each posting.

If you peruse the latest postings as a group, you'll find there has also 
been much discussion of race, ethnicity, and identity among people of 
biracial and tri-racial ancestry, both in Virginia and in the US generally.

For those not familiar with Paul Heinegg's work, let me just say that he 
has assembled an extremely valuable website 
(www.freeafricanamericans.com) with  specific  documentary references 
to  African American individuals and families (quite a few with mixed 
ancestry) in the Southeast from colonial times into the 19th 
century--all arranged by family name and date! I'm sure many  of the 
subscribers to this listserv have known about and used his site already.

Doug Deal

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