Black resistance to enslavement took multiple forms. Some slaves deliberately broke tools to delay their work. Others would set fires or pretend to be sick. Denmark Vesey, for instance, faked epileptic seizures so effectively that the white man who bought him returned Vesey to the slave trader who sold him. Enslaved blacks feigned mental slowness to make their enslavers think they were less capable than they really were. They sometimes stole food or other items as compensation for their years of unpaid labor. Even learning to read was a form of resistance.
