What matters is that Southern slaves, at least on the....

“ What matters is that Southern slaves, at least on the larger plantations, created their own AfricanAmerican culture, which helped to preserve some of the more crucial areas of life and thought from white control or domination without significantlyreducing the productivity and profitability of slave labor. Living within this African American culture, sustained by strong community ties, many slaves were able to maintain a certain sense of apartness, of pride, and of independent identity. ”

David Brion Davis

From : Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World