Black Rebellion: Five Slave Revolts

by Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Black Rebellion, a fascinating account of five slave insurrections, among them the story of the Maroons, escaped slaves in the West Indies and South America who successfully resisted larger British armies while living an independent existence for generations in the mountains and jungles of Jamaica and Surinam; of Gabriel Prosser, who recruited about 1,000 fellow slaves in 1800 to launch a rebellion throughout Virginia; of Denmark Vesey, an ex-slave, seaman, and artisan, fluent in several languages, who conspired in 1822 to kill the white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, and take over the city; and of the revolutionary mystic Nat Turner, who in 1831 organized and led the most successful and dramatic slave revolt in North America. The author also describes how whites responded with panic, sweeping arrests, mass executions, and more repressive laws in a futile effort to crush the slaves' insatiable desire to be free.

Genres: History, African American

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

American writer and soldier Higginson, Thomas Wentworth Storrow led the first black regiment in the Army of the Union from 1862 to 1864; he wrote many biographies, including volumes on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier in 1902, and he edited the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...

Reviews

[Steve Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic wee book that encompasses slave revolts in Jamaica, Surinam, South Carolina, and Virginia. And it even has echoes of Malcolm from the opposite perspective. From a pro-slavery pamphlet in Charleston, SC: "'The celebration of the Fourth of July belongs exclusively to the white population of the United States. The American Revolution was a family-quarrel among equals. In this the negroes had no concern; their condition remained, and must remain, unchanged. They have no more to do with the celebration of that day than with the landing of the Pilgrims on the rock at Plymouth. It therefore seems to me improper to allow these people to be present on these occasions.'" An early example of the power structure (and their lackeys) fear of revolutionary IDEAS spreading to the people. Ideas are important folks.

[Asabagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read my review here: http://jazzuloo.blogspot.com/2011/09/...

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was okay. I really only enjoyed the last two stories.

[Liz Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got some good history in there.

[Justinian]

2016-01 - Black Rebellion: Five Slave Revolts. Thomas Wentworth Higginson (Author) 1889 (Original – Now Public Domain) 141 pages.

Much of what is in this book has largely been omitted from the normal history books. Some of this is because of Southern revisionism and some of it because it is uncomfortable and does not fit the narrative we want. I was familiar with the wars between the Maroons and the British in 18th century Jamaica. Epic bush war that deserves a larger audience. I was less familiar with the Dutch and Maroon Wars in Surinam … that was some really epic fighting … mostly against the environment which was a naturalists dream … the story of what environment, poor logistics, understanding, and disease can do to an army is something that is usually not told in the historical narratives, narratives that overly focuses on and glorifies the combat. The rest of the rebellions occur here in the United States and the author does discuss their suppression both in action and in memory. The latter is by far the greater suppression. They are part of our story … not just Black History but American History and exploration of the lengths the South was willing to go to protect and extend slavery.