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website, along with commentaries
and a site
map. One
of the most distressing and violent
aspects of American history was the
institution of slavery. For over two
hundred years, Africans were brought
against their will to Britain's American
colonies and to the new United States of
America. One historian (Herbert Aptheker),
calculated that over two hundred separate
slave revolts and conspiracies took place
from the 1600's to the end of the U.S.
Civil War in 1865. In
addition to the major rebellions listed
below, many slaves took part in acts of
individual opposition to their slave
status. These actions included purposely
damaging tools, working slowly, burning
down buildings and the occasional act of
violence against whites. Of course, an
effective way to gain personal freedom,
while also hurting their owner
economically, was to to attempt escape.
Prior to Florida's annexation by the
United States, many slaves escaped to that
area and set up free
communities. Gloucester
County, Virginia--Sept.
1663--This
was the first major conspiracy for a
possible slave rebellion. The plot by
black slaves and white indentured servants
was betrayed to the authorities. Several
plotters were beheaded. New
York City Slave
Rebellion--1712--25
slaves armed with guns and clubs burned
down houses on the northern edge of New
York City and killed nine whites. The
rebels were killed after soldiers arrived.
The repercussions of this rebellion
resulted in the tortuous execution of 18
participants in the rebellion. Cato's
Conspiracy/Stono
Rebellion--1739--Approximately
80 slaves armed themselves and attempted
to march toward Spanish Florida from their
home area of Stono, South Carolina. When
confronted by a group of white militia, a
battle ensued. Forty-four blacks and
twenty-one whites perished. New
York Conspiracy--March and April,
1741--
Thirty-one slaves and four whites were
executed as a result of rumors of a major
slave rebellion in New York City. It is
unknown whether these rumors were based on
fact or were part of a larger paranoia
which existed regarding slave
uprisings. Gabriel
Prosser's
Rebellion--1800--Gabriel
Prosser, a blacksmith, and his brother
Martin, a slave preacher, planned a major
rebellion in Virginia. They recruited at
least a thousand slaves to their cause and
built up a secret cache of weapons in
anticipation of marching on the state
capital of Richmond. When the day of the
revolt arrived though, a violent storm
washed out the roads and bridges leading
to Richmond. The rebels broke up and
Prosser was betrayed by one of his
followers. The state militia captured
Prosser and he and many of his followers
were hanged. Slave
rebellion in St. John the Baptist Parish
--Jan 8-10,
1811--
Slave rebellion in Louisiana in which 500
slaves took part and 100 were killed.
Louisiana had only recently joined the
United States after the Louisiana Purchase
of 1803. Fort
Blount--1816--Three
hundred fugitive slaves and Florida
Indians battled U.S. Army troops at
Apalachicola Bay in Florida. Denmark
Vesey's
Uprising--1822--Vesey,
a free black man living in South Carolina,
detested slavery and took great
inspiration from stories of Israelite
freedom from bondage in the Bible. He
began organizing for a major rebellion
which would take place in 1822 in the city
of Charleston. He and his followers
organized into small cells, independent of
each other. This way, of a single cell
were detected by the authorities, the
other rebel cells could survive.
His
plan was rather simple. Armed slaves would
position themselves outside the houses of
whites at night. Then, other slaves would
start a major fire in the city. When the
white men exited their homes to fight the
fire, the slaves would kill them.
Unfortunately
for Vesey and his followers, someone
betrayed them before they could launch the
attack. One of Vesey's companions, who
knew the whole plan, turned him in to the
authorities. Vesey and the other leaders
were hung, but the immensity and ingenuity
of the plot terrified southern slave
owners. Nat
Turner's Revolt--August,
1831--Nat
Turner's rebellion was the most successful
of all slave revolts. Turner, a slave
preacher, inspired fellow slaves with his
apocalyptic visions of white and black
angels fighting in heaven. He gathered up
his seven original followers and, without
the organization or planning of Prosser
and Vesey, launched his rebellion by
entering his owner's home and killing the
entire family, save for a small infant.
They moved from one farm to the next,
killing all slave-owning whites they
found. As they progressed through
Southampton county, other slaves joined in
the rebellion. The next day, Turner and
his eighty followers were intercepted by
the state militia. In the confrontation
that followed, Turner escaped and remained
free for nearly two months. In those two
months though, the militia and white
vigilantes instituted a reign of terror
over slaves in the region. Hundreds of
blacks were killed. White Virginians
panicked over fears of a larger slave
revolt and soon instituted more
restrictive laws regulating slave life.
Turner was eventually captured and
hung. Other,
smaller rebellions occurred throughout the
history of British America and the United
States. In the future, more of these
events will be added to this
page. Brittanica.com
article on Slave Rebellions African
Diaspora: Slave Rebellions Foner,
Eric, and John A. Garraty, ed. The
Reader's Companion to American
History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.,
1991. "The
History Guy" is a Registered Trademark. Contact
the webmaster Lee,
R. "The History Guy: Slave Rebellions and Uprisings
in the U.S." http://www.historyguy.com/slave_rebellions_usa.htm Pages
on American Military
History The
American Civil
War--New
section on the History Guy
website Site
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in progress
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Media; Last Modified: 07.27.06
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