#slave revolt

THE DUTCHESS OF DOOM ~ AKA

BLACK SNAKE: THE WHIP

CARNE CRUDA (RAW MEAT)

THE DEVILS MISTRESS

SERPENT NOIR

SLAVES

SWEET SUZY

The 1763 Berbice Slave Revolt was a rebellion that took place in the Dutch colony of Berbice, which is now part of Guyana: 

Who led the revolt: The revolt was led by Cuffy, a Coromantin man who was enslaved and trafficked from West Africa, and his deputy Akra. 

When did it happen: The revolt began on February 27, 1763 and lasted until 1764. 

What happened: The rebels set fire to plantations, killed Europeans, and took over food stores and households. The rebels gained control of the colony until the Dutch army arrived. 

What was the outcome: The Dutch regained the colony and executed 125 men and 3 women. 

What caused the revolt: The revolt was caused by extreme labor conditions, tropical diseases, food shortages, and planter brutality. 

What was the impact: The revolt had a significant impact in the Dutch Republic, where it was widely reported in the press. It also foreshadowed later insurrections, such as the Haitian slave rebellion. 

What is the legacy: The anniversary of the revolt, February 23, is Republic Day in Guyana, and Cuffy is a national hero. 

Twins Jo and Joy Banners purchased the home where their ancestors were enslaved, which was also the location of Ameria’s largest slave revolt.

Growing up in Louisiana, in the bayous of the Mississippi River, identical twins Jocynita "Jo" Banner and Joyceia "Joy" Banner always heard stories from their grandmother Grace, who would tell them about their enslaved ancestors and their history of fighting back at the very plantation the two women now own.

"I know that she is really proud," Jo Banner said, referring to her grandmother. "She just served as this vessel to connect us to an energy that is informing and providing us the sustenance of what we need now for this fight."

The Banner twins are the founders of The Descendants Project, a nonprofit that fights for historic and cultural preservation for descendants of enslaved people. It was through their nonprofit that they bought Woodland Plantation, the birthplace of the 1811 slave revolt.

Raised on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, the twins were steeped in the tales of their grandmother, who recounted the harrowing events of the 1811 revolt known as the 1811 German Coast Uprising.

Often overshadowed in historical narratives, the rebellion saw the brave resistance of Charles Deslondes, two other leaders known as Kook and Quamana, along with approximately 25 others who sought freedom amidst the brutal oppression of slavery. They attacked on Epiphany Sunday. After injuring Manuel Andry and killing his son Gilbert, they armed themselves with more weapons and military uniforms.

The revolters walked through plantations on the east bank of the Mississippi River, along the River Road, and down the German Coast—through what is now St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Jefferson parishes— in an attempt to conquer the city of New Orleans, gathering as many as 500 more freedom seekers along the way. It became America’s largest “slave revolt”. By the end of the January 1811 rebellion, the white planters had brutally beheaded more than 100 enslaved men, put the rebels’ heads on spikes, and displayed them for 40 miles along River Road, from the center of New Orleans deep into plantation country. (Watch this video from CrashCourse with host Clint Smith III)

According to Britannica, “Even though the government and whites tried to minimize the uprising, surviving rebels and others passed down the stories, and Deslondes, Kook, and Quamana became legends among the enslaved people and their descendants.

Some 213 years later, Jo and Joy Banner became the newest owners -- and first Black owners -- of the historic Woodland Plantation site. It's the second plantation they've bought through the Descendants Project, the first being the Many Waters Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana.

The sisters said they purchase these lands to preserve their history -- they call it defensive buying. But they're also fighting for the freedom and protection of the historic homelands of their enslaved ancestors from industrial companies they claim are polluting the area, compromising the health of the land and the local population, a predominantly Black community.

"In addition to preserving that culture and aiming to get more recognition for that culture, we also do our best to protect the descendant communities, which are our descendant communities who are also fighting against a lot of environmental injustice, a lot of environmental racism," Jo Banner said.

Woodland Plantation is located on an 85-mile stretch of land along the Mississippi known as "Cancer Alley." Running from north of Baton Rouge to south of New Orleans, the area is surrounded by almost 200 industrial facilities releasing emissions linked to cancer in the region. Woodland itself is located in the most concentrated stretch, known as the "chemical corridor." Residents in this area have a 95% higher risk of cancer due to air pollution compared to the rest of the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA announced last month that it was calling for the plants in this area to reduce toxic emissions linked to cancer.

In January, the international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch singled out the state of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, saying they had failed for decades to protect locals from industrial pollution and uphold federal safety standards, making the region the largest concentration of fossil fuel and petrochemical facilities in the western hemisphere.

About 20 minutes away from Woodland in Wallace, situated in St. John the Baptist Parish — and still in Cancer Alley — the Banner twins are also in a legal battle to stop a grain export facility from being built near their home and the Descendants Project headquarters. Read the full article here.

Source: ABC News, NOLA.com, The Drum Newspaper

Visit www.attawellsummer.com/forthosebefore to learn more about Black history.

Ah, the dream of self-determination in the Black Belt...

So if we're talking sometime close to the Civil War, what we're really talking about is the John Brown scenario, whereby a state for freedmen would be established in the hill country of Appalachia. I think the problem is that, even had John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry not gone awry so quickly (and had he had a more realistic number of soldiers), the speed at which a U.S military dominated by Southerners like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson as well as multiple state militias mobilized to suppress the revolt speaks to how well-developed the American system of repressing slave revolts had become in the 19th century.

If we're talking earlier, then I think you do have some historical examples in the form of maroon communities like the Black Seminoles in Florida or the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, although there you're talking about runaways rather than a slave revolt. The problem as I see it is that you're combining the practical difficulties of carrying off a slave revolt - which always, always, always faced massive state repression - with the difficulties of maintaining an independent state in the face of American imperialism.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Dr. Rebecca Hall