The belief systems of Daoism, Shinto, and animism stress

harmony with nature to live in peace

obedience to caste rules to achieve moksha

proper behavior to maintain social order

acceptance of monotheism to achieve salvation

One similarity between Confucianism and Christianity is that both belief systems emphasize

making pilgrimages to holy shrines

converting others to their teachings

The Ten Commandments, the Eightfold Path, and the Five Pillars of Faith each serve to

provide followers with a guide for living

establish distinctions between social classes

provide regulations for government workers

Believers of Hinduism are expected to

fulfill their dharma for a favorable reincarnation

follow the Eightfold Path to achieve enlightenment

Which statement about the Islamic Golden Age is a fact rather than an opinion?

Knowledge of astronomy was used by Muslims to fulfill religious obligations.

Islamic medicine was more advanced than Chinese medicine.

Poetry and literature were more important fields of study for Muslims than was mathematics.

Islamic philosophies relied less on Greek philosophical masters than on Indian philosophical masters.

Religions/Philosophies

Hinter den Bergen Zwei Bilder sagen mehr als tausend Worte Wolfgang Ullrich Wer über Erfahrung mit Bildern verfügt, weiss, wie unerwartet und wie stark sie aufeinander reagieren können. So uninteressant ein Bild für sich alleine sein mag, so komisch, zynisch, erhellend oder erhebend wird es oft, wenn man es mit anderen Bildern kombiniert. Ähnliches kennt man sonst am ehesten vom Chemieunterricht: Zuerst harmlose Stoffe entfalten ungeahnte Energien und Effekte, sobald sie zusammengebracht werden. Besonders verblüffend ist immer wieder, was alles durch die Verbindung von nur zwei Bildern passieren kann. Einmal werden sie zum Gegensatzpaar, in einem anderen Fall bestätigen und verstärken sie sich gegenseitig – oder sie variieren ein Thema, erzählen auf knappste Weise eine Geschichte, geben in ihrer Verschiedenheit ein Rätsel auf. In der Geschichte der Kunst, aber ebenso in der Propaganda oder Werbung nutzte man die Aussagekraft von Bildpaaren häufig: vom Diptychon in der christlichen Tradition des Andachtsbilds bis hin zu plakativen Vorher-nachher-Bildern, mit denen ein Haarwuchsmittel angepriesen oder ein kultureller Niedergang beklagt wird. In der Moderne, in der Bilder allgemein verfügbar geworden sind, ist das Kombinieren von Bildern sogar mindestens so wichtig geworden wie das Machen neuer Bilder. Die wohl subtilste Form des Bildpaars taucht aber vor allem in früheren Jahrhunderten auf. Es handelt sich dabei um Pendants. Sie ergeben sich daraus, dass man zwei Bilder zusammenfügt, die ein verwandtes Sujet zeigen, es aber unterschiedlich behandeln, also aus jeweils anderer Perspektive, in verschiedenen Stimmungen oder mit wechselnden Konnotationen darstellen. Die Blütezeit der Pendants war das 18. Jahrhundert, sie wurden aber bereits von Claude Lorrain und auch noch von Caspar David Friedrich virtuos eingesetzt.[1] Viele Pendants stellten aber nicht einmal die Künstler selbst zusammen; vielmehr wurden sie in den Werkstätten und Verkaufsräumen von Druckgraphikern arrangiert. Diese erkannten nämlich, dass sich Kupferstiche oft besser paarweise als alleine verkaufen ließen, weil sie dem Publikum dann mehr Stoff zum Räsonieren boten. So wurde es sogar üblich, Stiche von Werken verschiedener Künstler zu kombinieren, und selbst Bilder, die zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten entstanden waren, ließen sich als Pendants vereint wiederfinden.[2] Der Tiroler Fotograf Lois Hechenblaikner hat diese Praxis nicht nur neu aufgegriffen, sondern sie um eine zusätzliche – entscheidende – Dimension bereichert. In Gegenüberstellungen, an denen er seit dem Jahr 2000 arbeitet, präsentiert er jeweils ein Bild in Schwarz-Weiß – meist ein Foto aus dem reichen Nachlass des Agraringenieurs Armin Kniely (1907-1998) – neben einem Farbbild, das er selbst fotografiert hat. Die unterschiedlichen Entstehungszeiten der Bilder sind damit, anders als bei den Pendants des 18. Jahrhunderts, bereits auf den ersten Blick erkennbar und auch Thema: Lois Hechenblaikner geht es darum, sichtbar zu machen, wie sich eine Region – fast alle Motive stammen aus Tirol – innerhalb von nur zwei Generationen verändert hat. Wo man in den 1930er und selbst noch in den 1960er Jahren Bergbauern bei ihrer mühsamen Feldarbeit aufnehmen sowie ein ritualisiertes Brauchtum dokumentierten konnte, sind mittlerweile der Tourismus und die Formate der Eventkultur am prägendsten geworden. Doch statt nur einen Strukturwandel festzuhalten, besteht Hechenblaikners besondere Fähigkeit darin, in jeder Gegenüberstellung zwei formal analoge Szenerien aufeinander zu beziehen. Erst so werden aus seinen Bildpaaren auch Pendants – zwei Fotos, die trotz aller Unterschiede jeweils genügend Gemeinsames haben, um zum Vergleich herauszufordern. Die Bildpaare gehen bei Hechenblaikner auch immer über das bloß Assoziative hinaus, das in der Kunst sonst beliebt ist, weil das Arrangement dann eine Vieldeutigkeit verheißt und verrätselt wirkt (oft aber nur beliebig ist). Vielmehr empfindet man seine Pendants als geradezu unheimlich – als unglaublich und grotesk –, weil die von ihm entdeckten Ähnlichkeiten so stark sind. Daher überlegt man auch, ob es sich bei den Farbfotos nicht vielleicht um direkte Remakes der Schwarz-weiß-Motive handelt. Doch ist schnell zu erkennen, dass Lois Hechenblaikner seine Bilder nicht eigens inszeniert: Da fast immer Menschen, nicht selten sogar größere Gruppen darauf zu sehen sind, wäre es zu aufwändig, für einen einzelnen Fotografen gar unmöglich, die Szenen zu stellen. Vielmehr ist es Hechenblaikners hervorragendem Bildgedächtnis zu verdanken, wenn er bei seinen Streifzügen durch das Land immer wieder Situationen entdeckt, die denen auf alten Fotos genau entsprechen: Wie einst ein Bauer Jauche auf die Felder spritzte, so schießt man jetzt Schnee aus Kanonen, die Stecken, um die man früher das Heu zum Trocknen wickelte, ähneln verblüffend Handy-Masten, und wo die Landwirte einst stolz ihre Schafe präsentierten, posieren heute Golfspieler mit ihren Trolleys. Die Botschaft der Pendants ist somit eine doppelte: Sie künden sowohl von den gewaltigen Umbrüchen in den Alpen während der letzten Jahrzehnte als auch davon, dass alle Veränderungen doch nur scheinbar sind, ja dass sich lediglich die Hüllen und Akzidenzien gewandelt haben, in denen dieselben Muster geradezu zeitlos zur Geltung kommen. Man könnte darin eine Bestätigung für das sehen, was Aby Warburg als Pathosformeln bezeichnet hat, nämlich Gesten und Konstellationen, die über Epochen und sogar über Kulturen hinweg immer wieder auftauchen und die damit den Status anthropologischer Konstanten besitzen. Wollte Warburg diese Formeln mithilfe eines Atlasses erforschen, der Bilder unterschiedlichster Herkunft mit jeweils verwandten Sujets auf Tableaus versammelte[3], so läßt sich das vorliegende Buch von Lois Hechenblaikner als Tiroler Variante eines ähnlichen Projekts würdigen. Doch während Warburg, getrieben von metaphysischem Interesse und auf der Suche nach so etwas wie Archetypen menschlicher Existenz, auf den einzelnen Tafeln seines Atlasses weit ausholt und auch Bilder zusammenbringt, die zumindest auf den ersten Blick nur wenig gemeinsam haben, ist Hechenblaikners Arbeit ungleich konzentrierter. Da er immer nur Bildpaare zeigt, denen zudem allen dasselbe Schema zugrunde liegt, wird der Betrachter viel stärker geführt. Jede Doppelseite gerät bei ihm zu einer neuen Pointe. Doch verhindert die Form des Pendants, dass mit dem Erfassen der Pointe schon alles vorbei ist. Im Gegenteil fordert sie zur weiteren Reflexion heraus, und das Spiel von Identität und Differenz, das Lois Hechenblaikner mit jeder Gegenüberstellung auf die Spitze treibt, eröffnet dafür den Raum. Viel mehr als einzelne Bilder, mehr aber auch als andere Formen von Bildpaaren verlangen Pendants sogar ausdrücklich aktive Rezipienten, die diesen Raum mit ihren Gedanken füllen. Sie können dann entweder darüber sinnieren, wieso sich zwei vermeintlich so unterschiedliche Lebenswelten wie Landwirtschaft und Tourismus, Religion und Sport, Brauchtum und Kommerz in so ähnlichen Bildformeln ausdrücken, oder sie können der Überlegung nachgehen, wie sich eine Region innerhalb kurzer Zeit so stark verändern konnte, dass alle Tätigkeiten und Situationen komplett durch andere Tätigkeiten und Situationen ersetzt wurden. Ist also einmal die Ähnlichkeit des Unterschiedlichen das Faszinosum, so das andere Mal die Andersheit des Gleichen. Jeweils aber muss der Rezipient beides – Identität und Differenz – zusammendenken. Er kann sich dabei auf ein einzelnes Beispiel konzentrieren und Überlegungen zur jeweiligen Rolle etwa von Schafen und Trolleys – zu ihrer Eignung als Symbole für eine Lebensform – anstellen. Er kann sich aber auch von der Summe der Bildpaare anregen lassen und so zu Theoriebildung animiert werden, um für das ihm Dargebotene eine Erklärung zu finden. In einem Text spricht Lois Hechenblaikner selbst davon, durch die Bildpaare solle „im Kopf des Betrachters ein so starkes drittes Bild entstehen, dass ihm förmlich ‚das Licht aufgeht’“. Doch sind es – je nach Interesse, Haltung und Vorbildung – durchaus unterschiedliche Lichter, die aufgehen können. Während Hechenblaikner die Gegenüberstellungen zuerst mit dem Ziel anlegte, die Veränderung Tirols und des Alpenraumes als Verlustgeschichte zu erzählen, ist es mit ihnen genauso möglich, die verschwundene Welt nachträglich zu dekonstruieren. Läßt der Wechsel vom Schwarz-weiß zur Farbe einerseits den Schluss zu, dass sich in der Gegenwart eine brutale Marktlogik durchgesetzt hat, derzufolge alles mit möglichst starken Reizen – mit Grellheit und Obszönität – auf sich aufmerksam macht, so kann man daraus andererseits also auch die Mahnung ableiten, auf das Vergangene nicht nur deshalb sentimental zu blicken, weil es durch die einheitliche Tönung verfremdet erscheint. Obwohl das Leben der Bergbauern, ihre familiäre Bindung, ihr Gottvertrauen und ihre dem Rhythmus der Jahreszeiten gehorchende Arbeit idyllisch wirken mag, könnte das alles vielmehr ähnlich – genauso? – derb, banal und kalt gewesen sein wie die heutige von Unterhaltungsindustrie, Animiergewerbe und Konsum bestimmte Welt des Massentourismus. Oder muss es sich doch eindeutig um einen Verfall handeln, wenn allenthalben natürliche Materialien durch Kunststoffe ausgetauscht, freie Blicke durch Werbetafeln verstellt, beschauliche Szenerien von Massenevents abgelöst, Ernst und Strenge durch Albernheit und Ausgelassenheit ersetzt wurden? Aber ist es nicht auch ein Zeichen von Freiheit und Wohlstand – und damit sogar ein Fortschritt –, wenn die Menschen ihre Launen heute ausleben können und nicht länger ein enges, allein von Armut und Notwendigkeiten bestimmtes Leben führen müssen? Selbst wenn man klar für eine Deutung optiert und sich entweder als Kulturpessimist oder als Fürsprecher einer grundsätzlichen Gleichwertigkeit verschiedener Epochen oder aber als Fortschrittseuphoriker bekennt, kann man die jeweils alternativen Interpretationen wohl nie ganz ausblenden. Je besser ein Bildpaar ist, desto stärker sind vielmehr zugleich die jeweils anderen Sichtweisen präsent. Es gehört sogar geradezu zum Wesen von Pendants (wie ihr Name, abgeleitet vom lateinischen ‚pendere‘, bereits verrät), zu einem Abwägen zu verleiten und feste Positionen in die Schwebe zu bringen. Pendants sind also die ideale Bildform für Skeptiker, die sich ungern festlegen und immer gerne mindestens eine zweite Sichtweise parat haben. Zwei Bilder, so wie Lois Hechenblaikner sie aufeinander bezieht, sagen daher tatsächlich mehr als tausend Worte, mit denen nämlich jeweils nur eine einzige Position formuliert werden kann: Satz und Gegensatz in sich vereinend, verführen Pendants zum philosophischen Denken – zu einem nie abschließbaren Nachdenken über Geschichte, Menschen, Kultur. Das Schwanken zum Prinzip erhebend, sind sie die besten Stimulanzien des Geistes.

How were the classical civilizations shaped by their religious and philosophical beliefs and by the rule of law

Interaction between religious, philosophical and political belief

Hi, I'm John Green, this is Crash Course U.S. History, and today, we're going to talk about slavery, which is not funny. 0:06 Yeah, so we put a lei on the eagle to try and cheer you up, but let's face it, this is going to be depressing. 0:10 With slavery, every time you think, like, "Aw, it couldn't have been that bad," it turns out to have been much worse. 0:14 Mr. Green, Mr. Green! But what about – 0:15 Yeah, Me from the Past, I'm going to stop you right there, because you're going to embarrass yourself. Slavery was hugely important to America. 0:20 I mean, it led to a civil war and it also lasted what, at least in U.S. history, counts as a long-ass time, from 1619 to 1865. 0:29 And yes, I know there's a 1200-year-old church in your neighborhood in Denmark, but we're not talking about Denmark! 0:35 But slavery is most important because we still struggle with its legacy. 0:38 So, yes, today's episode will probably not be funny, but it will be important. 0:42 [Theme Music] North & South economic ties 0:51 So the slave-based economy in the South is sometimes characterized as having been separate from the Market Revolution, but that's not really the case. 0:57 Without southern cotton, the North wouldn't have been able to industrialize, at least not as quickly, because cotton textiles were one of the first industrially products. 1:04 And the most important commodity in world trade by the nineteenth century, and 3/4 of the world's cotton came from the American South. 1:11 And speaking of cotton, why has no one mentioned to me that my collar has been half popped this entire episode, like I'm trying to recreate the Flying Nun's hat. 1:18 And although there were increasingly fewer slaves in the North as northern states outlawed slavery, cotton shipments overseas made northern merchants rich. 1:26 Northern bankers financed the purchase of land for plantations. 1:29 Northern insurance companies insured slaves who were, after all, considered property, and very valuable property. 1:35 And in addition to turning cotton into cloth for sale overseas, northern manufacturers sold cloth back to the South, where it was used to clothe the very slaves who had cultivated it. 1:45 But certainly the most prominent effects of the slave-based economy were seen in the South. Slave-based agriculture in the South 1:49 The profitability of slaved-based agriculture, especially King Cotton, meant that the South would remain largely agricultural and rural. 1:56 Slave states were home to a few cities, like St. Louis and Baltimore, but with the exception of New Orleans, 2:00 almost all southern urbanization took place in the upper South, further away from the large cotton plantations. 2:06 And slave-based agriculture was so profitable that it siphoned money away from other economic endeavors. 2:11 Like, there was very little industry in the South. 2:13 It produced only 10% of the nation's manufactured goods. 2:16 And, as most of the capital was being plowed into the purchase of slaves, there was very little room for technological innovation, like, for instance, railroads. 2:23 This lack of industry and railroads would eventually make the South suck at the Civil War, thankfully. 2:27 In short, slavery dominated the South, shaping it both economically and culturally, and slavery wasn't a minor aspect of American society. Popular attitudes concerning slavery 2:35 By 1860, there were four million slaves in the U.S., and in the South, they made up one third of the total population. 2:42 Although in the popular imagination, most plantations were these sprawling affairs with hundreds of slaves, 2:47 in reality, the majority of slaveholders owned five or fewer slaves. 2:51 And, of course, most white people in the South owned no slaves at all, though, if they could afford to, they would sometimes rent slaves to help with their work. 2:57 These were the so-called yeoman farmers who lived self-sufficiently, raised their own food, and purchased very little in the Market Economy. 3:04 They worked the poorest land and, as a result, were mostly pretty poor themselves. 3:08 But even they largely supported slavery, partly, perhaps, for aspirational reasons, and partly because the racism inherent to the system gave even the poorest whites legal and social status. 3:18 And southern intellectuals worked hard to encourage these ideas of white solidarity and to make the case for slavery. 3:23 Many of the founders, a bunch of whom you'll remember, held slaves, saw slavery as a necessary evil. 3:29 Jefferson once wrote, quote, "As it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. 3:37 Justice is on one scale, and self-preservation in the other." 3:41 The belief that justice and self-preservation couldn't sit on the same side of the scale was really opposed to the American idea, 3:47 and, in the end, it would make the Civil War inevitable. 3:50 But as slavery became more entrenched in these ideas of liberty and political equality were embraced by more people, 3:55 some southerners began to make the case that slavery wasn't just a necessary evil. 3:59 They argued, for instance, that slaves benefited from slavery. 4:03 Because, you know, because their masters fed them and clothed them and took care of them in their old age. 4:07 You still hear this argument today, astonishingly. 4:09 In fact, you'll probably see asshats in the comments saying that in the comments. 4:12 I will remind you, it's not cursing if you are referring to an actual ass. 4:15 This paternalism allowed masters to see themselves as benevolent and to contrast their family-oriented slavery with the cold, mercenary Capitalism of the free-labor North. 4:26 So yeah, in the face of rising criticism of slavery, some southerners began to argue that the institution was actually good for the social order. 4:33 One of the best-known proponents of this view was John C. Calhoun, who, in 1837, said this in a speech on the Senate floor: 4:40 "I hold that, in the present state of civilization, 4:43 where two races of different origin and distinguished by color and other physical differences as well as intellectual, are brought together, 4:51 the relation now existing in the slave-holding states between the two is, instead of an evil, a good. A positive good." 4:59 Now, of course, John C. Calhoun was a fringe politician, and nobody took his views particularly seriously. 5:04 Stan: Well, he was Secretary of State from 1844 to 1845. 5:07 John: Well, I mean, who really cares about the Secretary of State, Stan? 5:10 Danica: Eh, he was also Secretary of War from 1817 to 1825. 5:13 John: All right, but we don't even have a Secretary of War anymore, so... 5:16 Meredith: And he was Vice President from 1825 to 1832. 5:19 John: Oh my god, were we insane?! 5:21 We were, of course, but we justified the insanity with Biblical passages and with the examples of the Greeks and Romans, 5:28 and with outright racism, arguing that black people were inherently inferior to whites. 5:33 And that not to keep them in slavery would upset the natural order of things. 5:37 A worldview popularized millennia ago by my nemesis, Aristotle. God, I hate Aristotle. 5:42 You know what defenders of Aristotle always say? 5:44 "He was the first person to identify dolphins." 5:47 Well, ok, dolphin identifier. 5:50 Yes, that is what he should be remembered for, but he's a terrible philosopher! Lives & experiences of enslaved people 5:53 Here's the truth about slavery: 5:55 It was coerced labor that relied upon intimidation and brutality and dehumanization. 6:00 And this wasn't just a cultural system, it was a legal one. 6:03 I mean, Louisiana law proclaimed that a slave "owes his master... a respect without bounds, and an absolute obedience." 6:09 The signal feature of slaves' lives was work. 6:12 I mean, conditions and tasks varied, but all slaves labored, usually from sunup to sundown, and almost always without any pay. 6:20 Most slaves worked in agriculture on plantations, and conditions were different, depending on which crops are grown. 6:25 Like, slaves on the rice plantations of South Carolina had terrible working conditions, 6:29 but they labored under the task system, which meant that once they had completed their allotted daily work, they would have time to do other things. 6:36 But lest you imagine this is like how we have work and leisure time, bear in mind that they were owned and treated as property. 6:42 On cotton plantations, most slaves worked in gangs, usually under the control of an overseer, or another slave who was called a "driver." 6:49 This was back-breaking work done in the southern sun and humidity, and so it's not surprising that whippings – or the threat of them – were often necessary to get slaves to work. 6:58 It's easy enough to talk about the brutality of slave discipline, but it can be difficult to internalize it. 7:03 Like, you look at these pictures, but because you've seen them over and over again, they don't have the power they once might have. 7:09 The pictures can tell a story about cruelty, but they don't necessarily communicate how arbitrary it all was. 7:14 As, for example, in this story, told by a woman who was a slave as a young girl: 7:18 "[The] overseer... went to my father one morning and said, "Bob, I'm gonna whip you this morning." 7:22 Daddy said, "I ain't done nothing," and he said, "I know it, I'm going to whip you to keep you from doing nothing," 7:28 and he hit him with that cowhide – you know it would cut the blood out of you with every lick if they hit you hard." 7:33 That brutality – the whippings, the brandings, the rape – was real, and it was intentional, because, in order for slavery to function, slaves had to be dehumanized. 7:43 This enabled slaveholders to rationalize what they were doing, and it was hoped to reduce slaves to the animal property that is implied by the term "chattel slavery." 7:51 So the idea was that slaveholders wouldn't think of their slaves as human, and slaves wouldn't think of themselves as human. 7:57 But it didn't work. Let's go to the Thought Bubble. 7:59 Slaves' resistance to their dehumanization took many forms, but the primary way was by forming families. Family, love, & religion of enslaved people 8:05 Family was a refuge for slaves and a source of dignity that masters recognized and sought to stifle. 8:10 A paternalistic slave owner named Bennet H. Barrow wrote in his rules for the Highland Plantation: 8:15 "No rule that I have stated is of more importance than that relating to Negroes marrying outside of the plantation... It creates a feeling of independence." 8:23 Most slaves did marry, usually for life, and, when possible, slaves grew up in two-parent households. 8:28 Single-parent households were common, though, as a result of one parent being sold. 8:32 In the upper South, where the economy was shifting from tobacco to different, less labor-intensive cash crops, the sale of slaves was common. 8:40 Perhaps one-third of slave marriages in states like Virginia were broken up by sale. 8:45 Religion was also an important part of life in slavery. 8:47 While masters wanted their slaves to learn the parts of the Bible that talked about being happy in bondage, 8:52 slave worship tended to focus on the stories of Exodus, where Moses brought the slaves out of bondage, 8:57 or Biblical heroes, who overcame great odds, like Daniel and David. 9:01 And, although most slaves were forbidden to learn to read and write, many did anyway. And some became preachers. 9:07 Slave preachers were often very charismatic leaders, and they roused the suspicion of slave owners, and not without reason. 9:13 Two of the most important slave uprisings in the South were led by preachers. 9:16 Thanks, Thought Bubble. 9:17 Oh, it's time for the Mystery Document? Mystery Document 9:19 We're doing two set pieces in a row? All right. [buzzing noise] [music] 9:24 The rules here are simple. 9:26 I wanted to re-shoot that, but Stan said no. 9:29 I guess the author of the Mystery Document. 9:30 If I am wrong, I get shocked with the shock pen. 9:33 "Since I have been in the Queen's dominions I have been well contented, yes well contented for sure, man is as God intended he should be. 9:40 That is, all are born free and equal. 9:43 This is a wholesome law, not like the southern laws which puts man made in the image of God on level with brutes. 9:49 O, what will become of the people, and where will they stand in the day of judgment. 9:53 Would that the 5th verse of the 3rd chapter of Malachi were written as with a bar of iron, 9:59 and the point of a diamond upon every oppressor's heart that they might repent of this evil, and let the oppressed go free..." 10:06 All right, it's definitely a preacher, because only preachers have read Malachi. 10:10 Probably African American, probably not someone from the South. 10:13 I'm going to guess that it is Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church? 10:18 [buzzing noise] DAAAH, DANG IT! 10:19 It's Joseph Taper, and Stan just pointed out to me that I should have known it was Joseph Taper because it starts out, 10:24 "Since I have been in the Queen's dominions..." 10:27 He was in Canada. He escaped slavery to Canada. The Queen's dominions! 10:31 All right, Canadians, I blame you for this, although, thank you for abolishing slavery decades before we did. 10:36 [electric sounds] AHHH! How people resisted & escaped slavery 10:37 So, the Mystery Document shows one of the primary ways that slaves resisted their oppression: by running away. 10:42 Although some slaves like Joseph Taper escaped for good by running away to northern free states, 10:47 or even to Canada, where they wouldn't have to worry about fugitive slave laws, even more slaves ran away temporarily, hiding out in the woods or the swamps, and eventually returning. 10:55 No one knows exactly how many slaves escaped to freedom, but the best estimate is that a thousand or so a year made the journey northward. 11:01 Most fugitive slaves were young men, but the most famous runaway has been hanging out behind me all day long: Harriet Tubman. 11:07 Harriet Tubman escaped to Philadelphia at the age of 29, and over the course of her life, she made about 20 trips back to Maryland to help friends and relatives make the journey north on the Underground Railroad. 11:17 But a more dramatic form of resistance to slavery was actual, armed rebellion, which was attempted. 11:22 Now, individuals sometimes took matters into their own hands and beat or even killed their white overseers or masters. 11:27 Like Bob, the guy who received the arbitrary beating, responded to it by killing his overseer with a hoe. 11:33 But that said, large-scale slave uprisings were relatively rare. 11:36 The four most famous ones all took place in a 35-year period at the beginning of the 19th century. Slave rebellions 11:41 Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800 – which we've talked about before – was discovered before he was able to carry out his plot. 11:45 Then, in 1811, a group of slaves upriver from New Orleans seized cane, knives, and guns, and marched on the city before militia stopped them. 11:52 And in 1822, Denmark Vesey, a former slave who had purchased his freedom, may have organized a plot to destroy Charleston, South Carolina. 11:59 I say "may have" because the evidence against him is disputed and comes from a trial that was not fair. 12:05 But regardless, the end result of that trial was that he was executed, as were 34 slaves. Nat Turner's Rebellion 12:09 But the most successful slave rebellion, at least in the sense that they actually killed some people, was Nat Turner's in August 1831. 12:15 Turner was a preacher, and with a group of about 80 slaves, he marched from farm to farm in South Hampton County, Virginia, 12:21 killing the inhabitants, most of whom were women and children, because the men were attending a religious revival meeting in North Carolina. 12:27 Turner and 17 other rebels were captured and executed, but not before they struck terror into the hearts of whites all across the American South. 12:34 Virginia's response was to make slavery worse, passing even harsher laws that forbade slaves from preaching, and prohibited teaching them to read. 12:42 Other slave states followed Virginia's lead and, by the 1830s, slavery had grown, if anything, more harsh. 12:47 So, this shows that large-scaled armed resistance was – Django Unchained aside – not just suicidal, but also a threat to loved ones and, really, to all slaves. How enslaved people resisted their oppression & why it matters 12:55 But, it is hugely important to emphasize that slaves did resist their oppression. 12:59 Sometimes this meant taking up arms, but usually it meant more subtle forms of resistance, 13:03 like intentional work slowdowns or sabotaging equipment, or pretending not to understand instructions. 13:08 And, most importantly, in the face of systematic legal and cultural degradation, they re-affirmed their humanity through family and through faith. 13:16 Why is this so important? 13:17 Because too often in America, we still talk about slaves as if they failed to rise up, 13:21 when, in fact, rising up would not have made life better for them or for their families. 13:26 The truth is, sometimes carving out an identity as a human being in a social order that is constantly seeking to dehumanize you, is the most powerful form of resistance. 13:34 Refusing to become the chattel that their masters believed them to be is what made slavery untenable and the Civil War inevitable, so make no mistake, slaves fought back. 13:45 And in the end, they won. I'll see you next week. Credits 13:48 Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller. 13:50 The script supervisor is Meredith Danko. 13:52 Our associate producer is Danica Johnson. 13:54 The show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer and myself. 13:57 And our graphics team is Thought Cafe. 13:58 Every week, there's a new caption to the Libertage, but today's episode was so sad that we couldn't fit a Libertage in... 14:04 UNTIL NOW! [Libertage Rock Music] 14:08 Suggest Libertage caption in comments, where you can also ask questions about today's video that will be answered by our team of historians. 14:13 Thanks for watching Crash Course, and as we say in my home town, don't forget to be abolitionist.

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