There is a lingering myth among some circles that Enslaved Africans were happy to be in bondage. So much so that in 1998 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill proposed a course that enslaved Africans in America were happy on the plantation. It only took a few days of national publicity to force the University to cancel this course when the NAACP threatened protest actions.

To the contrary enslaved Africans were always looking for ways to rebel against their conditions so as to gain freedom. Case in point is the the story of the Maroons endurance and ability to hold off the British troops for almost eighty years is one that has never been repeated in history.

What saw the Maroons through to freedom were their unfailing courage and determination. Their resistance to slavery drew on the strength of their memory of Africa and its culture. Their African culture and identity instilled in them great confidence and self esteem. So much so, that this diluted the stigma of inferiority imposed by the plantocracy. Therefore, the resistance against slavery by the Maroons was a defense of their culture and identity, their spiritual and political values and preservation of African civilization.