How did african americans try to cope with thier lack of freedom and treament?

I guess we'll never know exactly how they coped, unless we could ask them. Mostly, they had no choice.

Inspirational music helped many African Americans to cope. Songs and dances from the African community were upllifting, and dancing served as a way for many people to come together in a joyous moment. Some ways that they tried to cope was that some joined the Union Army when the Civil War was going on. 

Before slavery was abolished, slaves had three available methods to resist slavery: they could rebel against slaveholders, they could run away, or they could perform small, daily acts of resistance, such as slowing down work.