Were all slaves submissive, "a society of helpless dependents?" Explain.

Of course all slaves were not submissive.  This may have
been the view that scholars held in the early parts of the 20th century, but it is
certainly not a view that is held by any serious scholars
today.

Today, we emphasize that there was a great deal of
resistance on the part of the slaves.  There were the overt sorts of resistance like
running away, but this does not tell the whole story of slave resistance.  Scholars
today emphasize that the vast majority of slaves resisted their masters in more subtle
ways.  For example, it is commonly said that slaves worked slowly, broke tools, and
feigned sickness.  In these ways, slaves used whatever methods they could to resist
their masters.

We no longer speak of slaves as having been
helpless and submissive.  We now emphasize all the ways in which they fought back
against the oppressive system in which they were caught.