All of the following are ways in which slaves made a life for themselves in spite of their bondage, except:
a. they composed songs that expressed the trials and tribulations of slavery.
b. they informally married one another and set about creating families of their own.
c. they created a distinctive slave religion which was a combination of african folklore and christianity.
d. they openly accepted their bondage and strove to create close relationships with their owners.

D. They openly accepted their bondage and strove to create close relationships with their owners.

Explanation:

Two institutions in the life of slaves - the church and the family - became the objects of the most detailed critical analysis of historians. The vitality, worldview and hallmarks of the rite of religion of slaves pointed to the flexibility and vitality of the African cultural heritage and the extent to which blacks managed to resist the dehumanizing influence of the “special institution” of the South. Slaves rejected the interpretation of Christianity, which was professed by whites and which emphasized the need for humility and promised deliverance from suffering not on earth, but in the afterlife. On the contrary, they began to consider themselves as God's chosen people, like the children of Israel, and their slavish dependence and possible freedom in the future - as part of a predetermined divine plan.

Spirituals – songs of black American slaves - arose in the southern states and generalized African and Anglo-Celtic artistic traditions. They are mostly associated with biblical images, but biblical motifs are "reduced," combined with a narrative of everyday life.

Despite the targeted and coordinated prohibitions of slave owners, slaves managed to create their own communities and played an active role in the life of the region.

Гnder official law, marriages between slaves were recognized as invalid. But the black spouses themselves took them very seriously, creating strong monogamous families.