SMALL PROJECTS:

I have done a few research based assignments in classes past, but from my goldfish like memory I can’t remember doing a proper research paper. When it comes to collage level work, I have done projects for both a ENC1101 and Spanish 1 and 2 at Seminole state during dual enrollment classes. For the Spanish classes I did multiple presentations based of research done on place and media related to Hispanic culture. During my ENC1101 I did do writings bast of research, but I wouldn’t call them research papers all thought I could be miss remembering. I would say depending on the topic I greatly enjoy the research part of any paper or project, but the writing is another story entirely.
An important activity that happens in my research site of choice is playing the tabletop game Warhammer 40k. The Warhammer community is built around playing, preparing to play, and speculating about the tabletop game that brought everyone into the community. The goal of playing Warhammer for most is having fun, whether that is by winning or just being around others who share a similar hobby. Just like any board game, 40k’s rules, models, and methods of distribution have changed over time, but through that one thing has stayed the same, the community's passion and the core feeling people get from building, painting, and playing, and showing off the armies they put so much of their selves into. The core tools used to play and enjoy the game are models, dice, the roles, and most importantly, your fellow nerds. As I said before, well the roles change and the models ger more detailed, the community has stayed the passionate bedrock of the game Warhammer.
In my research assignment, I want to focus on the Warhammer 40k community. To do so, I will mostly be looking at Reddit groups like r/warhammer40k alongside more army-specific groups like r/necrontry and r/TheAstraMilitarum. Along with online sources, I will use local groups at hobby stores I play at to get a more personal angle. I want to do this because I am deeply a part of these communities and think that they have a wide variety of thoughts and ideas on something I care about. If you have never heard of it, Warhammer 40k is a tabletop war game that pits two armies of typically plastic minatures against each other. The property has a large collection of books, video games, and other forms of media that expand on the setting and lore, all of which and more are discussed in groups like those I want to research. When it comes to how I will conduct this research, it will mostly involve observing how people interact in these groups and what topics are most commonly discussed, and how that discussion plays out. For the in-person part, I will do what I already do best, talk to those around me. Well, doing this, I plan on paying key focus on what types of rhetoric are most commonly used in large groups, like those found in many Warhammer communities.
For my research site, I have chosen to use the framework of activity theory as shown by Donna Kain and Elizabeth Wardle. In Kain and Wardle's article on the subject, they explain activity theory as a tool to aid us in finding understanding the many factors that change influence how the tool of writing is in used in a specific context. By using activity theory as my framework i want to show this factors for the Warhammer community.
As previously stated, the community i wish to give a closer look at is the Warhammer 40k community which I believe is a great candidate for the use of activity theory. the 40k community has a large number of factors that lead to the communities overall goal, which is enjoying the world of the 41st millennium. by using activity theory i which to illuminate these factors in a way that with help me, you, and anyone else understand the fandom that is 40k. "You can use the basic tenets of activity theory and the activity theory triangle to help you better understand not only how texts function but also why texts used within a particular system of activity contain certain content and specific conventions, such as formatting, style, and organization."(pg.6.) Along with understanding the factors that drive the group I have a goal of better understanding which factors play the biggest role, I wish that by using the activity triangle i can do just so.
I have been doing ok at keeping up with my well-being during these first few weeks of classes at UCF. For the past month or so, I have gotten at least 6 hours of sleep every day and have not felt overly tired while working on school assignments. Some may say that 6 hours is not enough, but for me, that is perfectly acceptable. Besides sleep, if you have been eating at least two meals a day, typically equaling between 800 and 1200 calories in total. Finally, when it comes to exercise, well, I don’t have a workout regimen. I walk at least 2 miles a day on weekdays and have consistently done some form of bodyweight exercise, such as push-ups. Other than sleep and food, trying to get a go mix of work and fun doses affects my schoolwork a lot. In conclusion, I believe that my well-being has not been significantly affected by the stresses of school, and the social environment of the campus has helped me.
Throughout this semester, we have been working on an e-Portfolio. In this Portfolio, we have included most of them are small works like these assignments, and all are larger projects. This helps demonstrate to others are ability to write and how that ability has grown over time. I personally like my smaller works because they show my writing a lot more truthfully.
When it comes to the student learning outcomes, I feel most confident about my ability to have Information Literacy because, through this course, I have learned a lot about getting the information I need out of what I read. I can demonstrate my knowledge and provide evidence of this outcome in my portfolio by having my writing become more information-dense through the semester. On the other hand, out of all the learning outcomes, I feel the least confident about research genre production because it is something that I have a lot to learn about, and I do not think I have time to learn what I truly need.
Finally, let's talk about reflection. In the sample text, the writer helps the reader and explains why they included the artifacts they did by showing the process they used to get those artifacts. They summarize and discuss the artifacts by using metaphors and other methods of contextualizing info. The writer demonstrates their learnig and engagement with the learning outcomes by giving specific examples from their works. They also use multiple artifacts for each student's learning outcomes to better show their understanding. Finally, there are things they could do to better show their understanding, but I cannot see anything.
The article “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case” is about the “brand community” that surrounds the Warhammer 40k brand. The article defines a brand community as a “concept that believes that the meaning of the brand transcends national boundaries.” (Cova, Pace, and Park 313). The text’s goal is to bring light to the homogeneity and heterogeneity that exist within the brand’s meaning across the countries used, in this case, the USA and France. The text begins by explaining the history and core concepts behind the ideas of “brand community,” “sub-cultures of consumption,” and “consumer tribes.” From there, it moves to displaying the concepts in action. One example it gives is the Star Trak community. From there, the journey moves to showcasing the methodologies used and the results of their use in the world of the Warhammer brand community.
I can use this article to help give me prospectives on the community in areas I cannot research. Along with this the article gives me a perspective on my selected community in the past, so I can contrast it with how it is today. Finally, the section on methodologies gives me an example of methodologies that I can use to conduct my own research at my local game stores.
Sources for annotation: Cova, Bernard, et al. “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case.” International Marketing Review, vol. 24, no. 3, 5 June 2007, pp. 313–329, https://doi.org/10.1108/02651330710755311Links to an external site..
In her article on the cosplay community, Claure uses the concepts of intertextuality and community of practice to analyze the data she has collected. She does this by going in depth on how the shared practice of the community is; in these cases, cosplay is the driving factor that brings them together. She used intertextuality by showing that cosplay is naturally intertextual because those in the community are pulling from already existing sources. The pieces of evidence used are both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources include videos and social media posts. She also uses secondary sources such as articles from Hansen and Rosenburg & Letamend to show how her findings are similar to those by other people. In conclusion, she finishes by calling for more research and for people to get invalid in the community to better understand it.
The main claim in my article will be that the Warhammer 40k is a diverse and welcoming community brought together by the activities in the hobby”. In my article I will show how the tabletop aspect of the Warhammer IP and the community around it is brought together and ways they communicate and come together online. Additionally, I will show what motivates the community to do what they look like and the factors that keep the community running. To support this claim, I will combine my primary and secondary sources to show how the tabletop game and its community works and why it is brought together through the shared love of the 40k universe. The claim that “Warhammer 40k is a diverse and welcoming community brought together by the activities in the hobby” will answer my research question by using Activity Theory to analysis what those activities are and how they relate to the hobby. Three main points I would like to make in this article are that. Painting is a critical part of the hobby, physically playing the tabletop game is not the only way to enjoy the minis and game itself, and creativity is key to the hobby's existences.
In this course I have written in an essay style. In this style of writing in this style the expectation is to epress your ideas in full sentances that lead to each other nicely. Because of this I haven’t used things like bolt points of long numbered lists. What I have been able to do in this style is effectively use quotes and paraphrasing that naturally fit into my writing and help the concepts flow into each other.
As said before, the essay genre has an expectation of well-crafted sentences. This has let me create works that let the information being shared flow and be exposed in ways that aren’t jarring to those who might be learning about them for the first time. Chooses on where to end sentences and paragraphs can effectively help convey knowledge to others. Other things like the effective use of quotes, metaphors, and paraphrasing can demonstrate knowledge
When picking a genre, audience knowledge is a principal factor. If an intended audience is deeply knowledgeable in a subject, then more informational genres can be used. If the audience is new to a topic, then a genre that can ease them is required. Knowing this, I can apply this to new and different writing situations by always considering the intended audience even if I on not writing in a research style.

medium projects:

1. For a long time, I have been a part of the Warhammer community. Ever since that faithful day when my cousin to me to the local Games Workshop and let me paint my first Space Marine, I have been hooked. For those who do not know, Warhammer is a tabletop war game where players build, paint, and play with an army made up of highly detailed and personally customized miniatures. For this essay, I want to work on looking at the community that has formed on online platforms like Reedit. I would love to include the local game store and the like; however, each one is its own microcosm, and exploring all of them would become a mess faster than a Genestealer can rip your face off. So, what moves the community? Why do we do the things we do? That is what I am going to help illuminate using activity theory.

If you don’t know, activity theory is a tool that aids us in finding and understanding the many factors, such as tools, subject, and rules, that influence why a group does a thing and the outcome they are looking for. This principle of how people interact will be key to understanding the chaos-filled mess that can be the 40k Community. So, before a new edition comes out and makes everything in the community screwier, let us begin.

For this essay, I will go through the Activity system triangle in counterclockwise order, starting with tools to better understand how writing is used in the community. I will go through the Triangle, giving examples of what would be in the section and showing how they either use writing or aid in the goals of the community. That will make up the bulk of the essay, and after that I will state what I and others in the community think the overall goal is and how all the points help that.

You may ask, how will you get your sources if you are using Reedit, and I am glad you asked. I have four ideas on how I will do primary research. My first idea is to just scroll subreddits like R/warhammer40k and R/necrontyr for threads that may help. This with show me the general ways in which people use writing to communicate in these groups. My next idea is to post about a topic I am looking to cover; this will let me see how community members respond to specific things like understanding game rules and lore. My third thought was to use GW’s own words to aid me in looking at their property's community. This will help me better understand the role Games Workshop plays in the community that sorrowed their game. My last idea is to talk to some community members close to me, like those at my game store. This will give me a more personal look at a small-scale community to better understand what I see. So that is what I am going to do, so let us hope it works out, unlike Abaddon's first 12 black crusades.

Work Cited:

Kain, Donna and Elizabeth Wardle. “Activity Theory: An Introduction for the Writing Classroom.” Writing about Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 395-406.

“Start Warhammer | How to Get Started in the Hobby.” Start-Warhammer.com, 2024, start-warhammer.com/.

Large projects:

Introduction
Warhammer is a game that has many parts to its whole. For the last few weeks, I have been researching one of these parts (the online Warhammer 40k community) and its concessions to activity theory. In this introduction to my bibliography, I will be showing how my sources connect to each other and my main topic. To complete my goal of better understanding Activity theory and its connection to the Warhammer community, I have looked at multiple secondary sources relating to activity theory, tabletop wargames, and Warhammer 40k. The online Warhammer community has many parts to it, from chatting about new models to game recaps and rules lawyering; many things happen in communities like the ones I’m talking about. To help achieve this I have four main secondary sources, “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case.” a paper on how parts of the brands identity changes internationally,
“An Activity Theory-Based Model for Serious Games Analysis and Conceptual Design” which talks about a method of analyzing games using activity theory, “Activity Theory: An Introduction to the Writing Classroom.” which introduces the concept of activity theory, and finally, “Hobby Wargames: A Preliminary Survey.” which goes through a survey on different mechanics and aspects of hobby wargaming.
The focus of my research is to understand how the principles of activity theory relate to the online Warhammer 40k community. These sources will help me do that by combining answering questions and guiding my research, which is the key to the project. When I come to Warhammer and tabletop wargames in general, not much has been done to analyze them using activity theory. What has been done is research on similar forms or activities, such as video games and conventional board games. Two of my sources, “An Activity Theory-Based Model for Serious Games Analysis and Conceptual Design” and “Activity Theory: An Introduction to the Writing Classroom.” I have to do with activity theory use, and they will work together to help me fill in the Warhammer-shaped gap. The main idea in both of these articles is the use of activity theory to analyze a topic. They differ in what that topic is, and, in some ways, the exact methods used to do so. Similarly, the article, “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case.” This gives me further process in which to complete and better understand my research. The article discusses the use of “brand community” to show how the communities in the USA and France compare and contrast from a business lens. However, instead of focusing on my main methodology, this article gives me a way to further answer why and not just how. This article has parts that relate to my final recourses, the article, “Hobby Wargames: A Preliminary Survey.” both articles discuss wargames in some way, additionally “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case.” dose mention the way and in some ways the how, “Hobby Wargames: A Preliminary Survey.” is all about the how for multiple game systems, including Warhammer 40k. For similar reasons, I can use both the article and hobby wargaming and the article on using activity theory to analyze games to help analyze Warhammer 40k and its community.
I have explained why I chose these articles and how they work together, but what can I add to their conversation? What I can add is the prospect of an active participant and observer of the Warhammer game and its community online. Additionally, I can add the use of activity theory to analyze the Warhammer hobby, the conversations about activity theory and its use. Well activity theory has been studied from many angles; I have yet to see it used in the context of miniature wargaming, let alone its online community. That is the main reason I chose my research topic of activity theory in the online Warhammer community.

Primary sources
Citation 1: “R/ Necrontyr” Reddit.com, 2025, www.reddit.com/r/Necrontyr/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
Annotation
This subreddit is a space designed to give those who play the Necron faction in the tabletop board game Warhammer 40k. People in this group typically post about things such as the models they have painted, armies they have planned or just finished, and the ever-ongoing announcement of new models and rule updates. I have personally posted a lot on this subreddit; I mostly post photos of my freshly painted model and occasionally army ideas. Looking at the comments, most of them are consistently positive, with the occasional rude post reacting to a paint job they do not like. To conclude, the group is a focused place for those who play or are interested in Necrons to chat and share.
I am going to use this subreddit as an example of an online Warhammer group. I want to use R/Necronyr because I play Necrons on the tabletop and in any game, they are in. The community around the faction is one I know well and that lets me quickly explain how it can connect back to my research topic. Additionally, this subreddit gives me a way to explain a specific faction intricates with community examples of conversations and stand along posts

This subreddit is a space desighn
Citation 2: “R/Warhammer40k.” Reddit, www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/. Accessed 23 Sep. 2025.
Annotation
R/Warhammer40kis is a subreddit that gives players and those interested in the world of 40k a place to chat and post about the hobby they love. In the subreddit, people post mostly about the newly painted models, non-model art pieces, and the Warhammer news of the week. Unlike some of the more faction-specific Reddit threads, I have not posted on R/warhammer40k. Another difference between this group and the others I am looking at is the general nature of it. R/Warhammer40k is about the hobby as a whole, which is especially useful for me.
I am going to use this subreddit as my main example of an online Warhammer community, and many of my observations will come from here and be elaborated using faction-specific groups like R/Necrontyr. My main way of using this resource will be to go on it every day to see what type of interactions are occurring. Additionally, I will check things such as the most popular past and least and most like posts to see what the community was like in the past and the present. The final way R/Warhammer40k will be useful is as a hub to find other groups. Often, people will repost things from other Warhammer-related communities and give links to the original. This will aid me in broadening the information I have at my disposal

Citation 3: “Start Warhammer | How to Get Started in the Hobby.” Start-Warhammer.com, 2024, start-warhammer.com/. Accessed 14 Sep. 2025.
Annotation
On the official Warhammer community website, there is a page on getting started in the Warhammer hobby. This page is designed to help inexperienced players and those who are just getting interested in any part of the hobby to understand and navigate the sometimes-complicated world of Warhammer. The page has sections on the buying, painting, playing, and reading parts of the hobby. It additionally has links to further resources about the two main Warhammer games, Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar. This page, and the Warhammer community website as a whole, is a wonderful place for new and expected players alike to get news and information about this great hobby that many people share
I am planning on using this resource as a way to give quotes and cited information about what the hobby is. Well, I can explain it in my own words, and I likely will, through the paper. Having a site like this is particularly important to me. Additionally, the section on the reading side of the hobby gives me something to jump off because, well, I have read one or two Warhammer novels in the past, I am not as familiarized with it compared to the gaming and painting parts.

Citation 4: “r/TheAstraMilitarum.” Reddit.com, 2019, www.reddit.com/r/TheAstraMilitarum/. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.
Annotation
R/TheAstraMilitarum is a subreddit made so that those who play or are interested in the Astra Militarum faction in the tabletop war game Warhammer 40k have a place to share and chat about their side of the hobby. Like many other Warhammer-related subreddits, r/TheAstraMilitarum contains people showing off their newly painted miniatures or whole armies and chatting about new announcements and old memories. One thing that this Reddit page seems to have more compared to other ones I have looked at is pictures of interesting kit bashes. Well, it is not exclusive out of the 4 or 5 faction-based subreddits I have looked at, r/TheAstraMilitarum has the most.
I am planning on using r/TheAstraMilitarum in an equivalent way to most of the other subreddits I have looked at. This Reddit page will be an online space for me to observe and to better understand how the Warhammer community works in the context of a discourse community. Additionally, I will use it as a way to understand the specific faction of the Astra Militarum, because it is one of the two factions I am interested in observing in this study and playing outside of it. The final reason r//TheAstraMilitarum is useful as it can help elaborate on things observed in the main r/Warhammer40k page when they relate to this faction.
Secondary sources
Citation 1:
Cova, Bernard, et al. “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case.” International Marketing Review, vol. 24, no. 3, 5 June 2007, pp. 313–329, https://doi.org/10.1108/02651330710755311.

Annotation
The article “Global Brand Communities across Borders: The Warhammer Case” is about the “brand community” that surrounds the Warhammer 40k brand. The article defines a brand community as a “concept that believes that the meaning of the brand transcends national boundaries.” (Cova, Pace, and Park 313). The text’s goal is to bring light to the homogeneity and heterogeneity that exist within the brand’s meaning across the countries used, in this case, the USA and France. The text begins by explaining the history and core concepts behind the ideas of “brand community,” “sub-cultures of consumption,” and “consumer tribes.” From there, it moves to displaying the concepts in action. One example it gives is the Star Trak community. From there, the journey moves to highlighting the methodologies used and the results of their use in the world of the Warhammer brand community.
I can use this article to help give me prospectives on the community in areas I cannot research. Along with this, the article gives me a perspective on my selected community in the past, so I can contrast it with how it is today. Finally, the section on methodologies gives me an example of methodologies that I can use to conduct my own research at my local game stores.
Citation 2:
Carvalho, Maira B., et al. “An Activity Theory-Based Model for Serious Games Analysis and Conceptual Design.” Computers and Education, vol. 87, 2015, pp. 166–81, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.03.023.

Annotation
This article is about using activity theory to create a methodology for analyzing “serious games.” The methodology devised is called the Activity Theory-based Model of Serious Games (ATMSG). In this case, serious games are games made for educational purposes; however, I can use the methodology as a basis to analyze my topic of Warhammer 40k and its community. To come up with the methodology used, the authors analyzed five different games that help teach different learning disciplines and have unique styles, which allows them to “understand the context of use of educational serious games, by identifying the relevant network of activities.” (Carvalho, Maira B., et al 169). The authors give multiple processes of how to apply the methodology to analyze a work. These steps are: Describe the activities using Table 10 on page 174, Represent the game sequence, identify actions, tools, and goals using Table 11, and Description of the implementation. The article concludes that “The ATMSG model provides a comprehensive way to investigate, in detail, how a serious game is structured, using activity theory as the theoretical background.” (Carvalho, Maira B., et al 180).
This article is useful to me because it gives me a methodology to build my research around. Well, the ATMSG methodology may not one hundred presents apply to me research topic of Warhammer 40k, this Resorces will help give me a stronger skeleton to build my project around.
Citation 3:
Kain, Donna, and Elizabeth Wardle. “Activity Theory: An Introduction to the Writing Classroom.” Writing about Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2017, pp. 395-406
Annotation
“Activity Theory: An Introduction to the Writing Classroom” is an informative writing piece that introduces the core concepts behind Activity Theory. The article argues that activity theory "gives us a helpful lens for understanding how people in different communities carry out their activities” (Kain and Wardle 1). The article uses many terms, such as activity systems, conditioned, historically, object-directed, tool-mediated, and more, to give us the vocabulary needed to understand its concepts. The main conclusion of the article is that Activity Theory helps researchers better understand the relationship between social forces in an activity shape and the people it shapes.

This article is useful to my work because it helps me understand the concept of activity theory and how it shapes the group I am discussing. Having a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between the players of Warhammer 40k and the rules, tools, and more that shape the game will let me direct my research in the right direction. In addition, the article gives me the tools needed to explain these key systems to my readers in a way that I could not do without it.

Citation 4:
Polimeno, Edoardo, et al. “Hobby Wargames: A Preliminary Survey.” Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 84, no. 20, 2025, pp. 23085–110, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-024-19408-0.

Annotation
“Hobby Wargames: A Preliminary Survey” is an article that aims to “study the current trends of hobby Wargaming, focusing on prevalent game mechanics, their design, the distinctions between them, and their potential exploration in a hybrid context.” (Polimeno, Catalano, Scalera 1). The writers do this by identifying 56 game mechanics in 30 wargames using the Boardgame Geek database as a primary source. The article concludes with a rundown of the information found in the survey, such as what game mechanics are most common and uncommon.
This article is useful to me because it lets me understand where Warhammer 40k is in comparison to similar hobbies out there. I can use this info to help illustrate how mechanics in the game, tool, history, etc., affect the overall player base by using examples of other properties. In addition, this piece gives me a more in-depth understanding of hobby wargaming instead of just my chosen love, Warhammer 40k and Kill Team.
How the Revolution Effected Black Americans
The American Revolution affected every group in and around the fledgling nation of the United States. During this important period in history, one group tried their best to pick themselves up through the revolutionary spirit. In this essay, I want to discuss how African Americans tried to use the words and rhetoric of the revolution to pull themselves out of slavery and into a better future. To do this, I will refer to multiple documents created by slaves or created due to their petition.
For many of the 13 colonies during the era of the revolution slaves knowing how to read and write was a no go, yet they still did learn. Weather due to a master who wanted their laborers to be more knowledgeable or by the slaves own will, may African American learned to read and understand the words of those who kept them in chains. Some of those who learned to write began to compose poetry. Many of these poets struggled to understand their condition in the context of their Christian beliefs and the contrasting revolutionary spirit (Holton 4). In some of their works, such as the Phillis Wheatly poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” the writer seems content in their enslavement, even thankful. However, some of this might have been their masters influence on their writings, and their true thoughts are often imposable to truly know for certain (Holton 4) However, in the case of Wheatly’s poem we are given a clue, she ends is by saying, “Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join the’ angelic train.” (Wheatly 50) which interpreted as implying that thought she and her fellow blacks may be enslaved now, they will as join God in the someplace as equals.
Another example of Phillis Wheatly’s writing is a letter Samson Occom, a “Mohegan Indian who had become a Presbyterian minister and missionary” (Holton 50). This letter, which was published in a dozen newspapers and was never intended to be a private statement in any way, contains a condemnation of slavery more powerful than any of her other poems. (Holton 50). In the letter, Wheatly refers to the Israelites, of which God freed from Egyptian Slavery as told in the bible. She continuous by say that “ ...in every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance; and by the leave of our modern Egyptians1 I will assert, that the same Principle lives in us.” (Wheatly 51). What Wheatly is saying in this letter is that just like the Israelites, and anyone else who believes in good, the those in slavery have the right to freedom given to the by their holy father, and God while given it in time. Yet, she states she “This I desire not for their Hurt, but to convince them of the strange Absurdity of their Conduct whose Words and Actions are so diametrically opposite.” (Wheatly 51), meaning she does not wish violence as a solution she wishes they see their hypocrisy themselves.
Moving away from poetry, another way that African Americans of the revolutionary period used the word and tools of the time was to petition for their freedom of the abolishment of slavery. An example of this was a 1773 Petition to the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives of Massachusetts signed by just Felix. Felix is considered to be Felix Holbrook by many historians and was an African American who signed a late antislavery letter to the Massachusetts legislature (Holton 42). In this petition Felix asks the Governor, Council, and Representatives if they “would be pleased to take their unhappy State and Condition under your wise and just Consideration.” (Felix 42) They attempt to persuade the Massachusetts legislature by appealing to their religion and humanity. They do this by pointing out many injustices and falsehoods that hold up slavery. An example of this is that it says “Although some of the Negroes are vicious, (who doubtless may be punished and restrained by the same Laws which are in Force against other of the King’s Subjects) there are many others of a quite different Character, and who, if made free, would soon be able as well as willing to bear a Part in the Public Charges” (Felix 43). Additionally, the author notes well the freedom of the slaves would do no good to their owners however uses the analogy that it would “but to us will be as Life from the dead.” (Felix 43).
A further example of a slave petition is the Aforementioned document signed by Felix Holbrook in April 1773. This document is another petition that uses both religious and natural rights arguments in an attempt to persuade revolutionaries in the colonel legislature of Massachusetts to add in granting them their freedom. A key part to note in this document is the fact that the writer Peter Bestes and those signed wish to return to their homeland of Africa (Holton 46). This wish is stated in the letter, “WE are willing to submit to such regulations and laws, as may be made relative to us, until we leave the province, which we determine to do as soon as we can from our joynt labours procure money to transport ourselves to some part of the coast of Africa, where we propose a settlement.” (Bestes 47). Another thing the authors note is that the only thing slaves owe to their master is the money they spend in purchasing them and in many other people, such as the Spanish, who “... have not those sublime ideas of freedom that English men have,” (Bestes 47) let their slave work for themselves one day a week and buy out of slavery if they are demanded to have done enough (Bestes 47). The caparison between the Spanish mindset towards African slave and to that of the British, and the aspect revolutionary hypocrisy it shows in addition to the wish to go bad to their homeland makes this document different compared to the other petition I looked at.
The most extreme example of an African slave petition to colonial authority was those sent to Lord Dunmore, the governor of Virgina. Soon after hostilities broke out in the colonies many African slaves in Virgina send letters to Dunmore interested in aiding British forces against the rebels in return for their freedom (Holton 53). Well Dunmore initially denied these requests, being as slave owner himself, however as the period of hostility drew own Donmore eventually relented and drafted a proclamation that “offered freedom to any Patriot’s slave who would fight for the king.” (Holton 53) This proclamation let African slaves join in on a key piece of revolutionary rhetoric, fighting for your freedom. In the document it is stated “And I do hereby further declare all indented Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY’s Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY’s Crown and Dignity.” (Dunmore 55). Well, this document was not drafted by an African American slave like the others I have looked at, this part of the proclamation (which also declared martial law and pauses taxes) was added do the petition and protest of those who were enslaved.
In the end, the revolution left most black slaves in the sum, if not worse, situation as before. However, what the revolution did do as give them the tools and spirit to whittle away at the institution of slavery that held them for so long. From poetry to armed uprising, the words and rhetoric of the revolution effect more than just the white folks who started it. The vision that the founding fathers had trickled down into every walk of life, from rich landowning Southerns to the slaves they made work their fields, and hopefully one day every can truly equally share in the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness