The defiance shown by Mary Prince and the trading activities of Equiano are just two examples of their resistance to their status as slaves. Mary Prince also recounts other examples of her day-to day resistance, for example refusing to undertake certain types of work and, on one occasion, running away. However, the resistance of the enslaved could take many forms from feigning injury or illness to gain better treatment to infanticide and open rebellion. Slaves also engaged in sabotage and temporary absenteeism, while some, as Equiano relates, preferred to take their own lives rather than remain as slaves. There were also many forms of cultural resistance by Africans who retained elements of their traditional cultures, who developed new cultural forms, music for instance, which provided them with a means to retain their humanity in opposition to a slave system that attempted to treat human beings as animals. Many slaves ran away, probably about 10% of all the enslaved absented themselves even if only temporarily at some stage in their lives. Some slaves in the Americas permanently ran away and formed new African communities and are known as Maroons. Maroon communities existed in the Caribbean, especially in mountainous islands such as Jamaica and even in Africa. The most famous Maroon settlement was the so-called republic of Palmares in Brazil. It lasted for nearly a century and had a population of around 100,000. Many other enslaved people staged rebellions of various kinds, the most famous of which is the revolution which took place in the largest French colony in the Caribbean, St Dominque, in 1791. There 500,000 African slaves rose up and, after defeating the French army, defeated those of Spain and Britain too. In 1804 they declared the most modern independent African republic, which they named Haiti.

Some of those Africans who were enslaved were able to escape from slavery by running away, or through rebellion, while some were lucky enough to be free when their owners died. Many did not escape however, and were forced to remain enslaved until they died or until slavery was legally abolished. In the 19th century Britain and the other European colonial powers, gradually took measures to abolish slavery in the Caribbean, while in the United States slavery was abolished as a consequence of the Civil War. In all these cases there were economic and political reasons for such abolition and the resistance of enslaved Africans themselves played an important role. In countries such as Cuba and Brazil, slavery continued until almost the end of the 19th century. Even in Britain’s colonies in Africa, some slavery still existed in the 1920s.