"Masters encouraged marriage among believing made the men less rebellious "(Out of Many pp.306). .

             Whatever dreams that slaves had; most that they would never escape; this also greatly reduced African-American resistance in the south. White Southerners were determined to prevent Black resistances. They mostly used slave patrols to stop and prevent blacks from escaping. "Slave patrols were a common sight on southern roads. Any Black person without a pass from his or her master was captured and returned home to certain punishment"(Out of Many pp.308). .

             There were three very big revolts that occurred in the United States by Black resistance. One was Gabriel Posser, who was literate and a blacksmith. He rallied over one thousand blacks with hopes of assaulting Richmond, VA. However, he was hung at the last minute. His group's slogan was "Death of Liberty" which put fear into white slave owners across the United States. .

             Another was Denmark Vassey, a free, literate, seaman. He wanted to steal weapons from the Charleston arsenal and try to free all the black house slaves in Charleston, who would then murder their owners. However, whites found out about the plan before it could commence and hung Denmark Vassey and thirty-four of his co-conspirators. This again instilled fear into the minds of whites. That their slaves could be so intelligent, this shocked him.

             Nat Turner orchestrated the last of the three resistance attempts and the most successful. Nat was an African-American, literate, lay preacher. On August 20, 1831 he was able to kill his master. Nat then started moving plantation to plantation, trying to kill more white slave owners. In all, he and his followers had killed fifty-five whites. Eventually Nat Turner and his followers were all murdered but not without instilling fear into Southern white slave owners.

             The greatest attribute that all three of these African-American men shared was that they were all literate.