On September 09, 1739 a group of twenty plus slaves travelled along the banks of the Stono River chanting the sweet words of liberty. Led by an Angolian named Jemmy, he and several other slaves organized a rebellion that would lead to the death of sixty individuals. Commonly called The Stono Rebellion or Cato’s Rebellion was the largest slave insurrection in British North America. The Stono Rebellion did not just come about; there were several characteristics that led up to the uprising. The revolt also caused a significant aftermath. The Stono Rebellion was the first largest slave revolt of this time. Cato’s Rebellion acted as a tribute to the revolts that would occur afterwards, in which the slaves would finally earn their beloved …show more content…
They first arrived at a store and warehouse known to have weapons and ammunition. The slaves killed two people and took the materials to arm themselves. They then marched to a planation owners house by the name of Mr. Godfrey. They killed him and his two children and burned down his house. By dawn that day they had arrived to Mr. Wallace’s Tavern where they decided to spare the owner for his kindness to his slaves. They continued to march to six other plantations, killing the owners and recruiting more and more slaves for the rebellion. By 11am they had 50 rebels standing strong. Some slaves hid their masters to keep them safe such as the slaves of Thomas Rose. They were later rewarded after the rebellion had ended. By that afternoon, the slaves had chased and killed any whites that they had encountered. Soon word got out about the rebellion that was going on that day by Lieutenant Governor Bull. They had killed abruptly twenty to twenty five whites, burned seven plantations and marched ten miles before reaching the Edisto River before they decided to stop at a nearby field. This is where at 4pm one hundred whites surrounded the group. By dusk thirty slaves were pronounced dead, and the rest had escaped. Twenty white men were killed on the field of conflict. Over the next six months most of the slaves had been …show more content…
The Stono Rebellion “was probably the most notable day when slave relations in the South changed forever”. After the events that occurred of September 9th 1739 new laws were put in place such as the Slave Codes of 1740. The Slave Codes were put in place to “protect the white citizens, control daily movement of the slaves, as well as, protect the slaves from undue brutal treatment by whites. These laws restricted movement of the slaves, in that they had to be accompanied by a white person and/or have the explicit permission of their owner to be out and about”. The new laws were put in place in hopes of keeping the slaves from conversing with one another to keep the talks of any future rebellion down. Many laws would even imprison or fine whites who did not follow the laws completely. Laws were also written about making sure that slaves did not wear “decent” clothing to ensure that they did not look like a free man. The government felt like these laws were extremely important for society to ensure that the white population felt safe. After all, the African population definitely out weighed the white population at this time. The government made every restriction possible for slaves putting them on an even tighter rein. The slaves had fought for hope of an eventual freedom with tighter reins only more rebellion would be soon to come. In the years after the Stono Rebellion had taken
The following weeks and months involved tracking down the slaves that escaped. Some ended up being executed, including the ones that went back to their plantations hoping their absence hadn’t been noticed. Others were awarded for defending their masters during the night of
Aspects of the law were applying to slaves, those who owned slaves, all white people who either do or do not own slaves, and servants. It shows how all different groups of people in the society have to do their part in order to maintain the economic system. In the Slave Code of South Carolina, it begins stating rules of slaves paying off debts to their owners by saving and paying off with money or goods, or being sold and their profit being given to the original owner. It continues to talk about runaway slaves and the process in which someone must go through if they find one. The document states “ no person whatsoever, except the sheriff or gaoler, shall keep any runaway slave or slaves above four days… employ any of them, or suffer him, or her in custody”, this shows the idea of ownership of slaves in the fact that they must be returned quickly, having done no work for the capturer, and there is a small reward upon return.
History Paper The book, The Fires of Jubilee written by Stephen Oates talks about the issue of slavery throughout the 1800’s. This book discusses the brutal truths of the slaves’ lives, and the how slavery was viewed at the time. The book is mostly based on one slave in particular named Nathaniel Turner.
The south attacked the fort at around 4:00 pm. They overran the fort before dusk. More than 300 African Americans were killed. Some believed that they were helpless after surrendering and some believe that they were running. This had big effects on the war because the north thought that killing prisoners of war was wrong but the south thought it was law abiding.
This rebellion occurred on the Stono River and was given the name The Stono Rebellion. A slave, by the named Jemmy, led twenty other slaves in revolt in an effort to show slave owners the Africans desire for freedom. This revolt could not have been planned at any better time because at this point in history the colonist had an outbreak of yellow-fever as well as the war between England and Spain had reach the land of South Carolina. Of these twenty fighting slaves many were soldiers from their previous home in Africa, the village of Angola. Slaves were often trained to use weapons for fighting when they were capture and sold by white colonist.
For example, the Virginia slave codes state that the status of a child will be determined by the status of their mother (Virginia Slave Codes). As a result of this, many slave owners would abuse their slaves sexually in order to gain more slaves oppose to buying more. In addition to this, the slave codes helped solidify the condition of slavery on slaves through laws that only gave freed slaves 6 months to leave the state of South Carolina or else they would once again face enslavement (South Carolina Slave Codes). Moreover, the codes of South Carolina and Virginia also attempted to solidify the position of slaves by clearly laying out the consequences for slaves that ran away likely as a means of intimidation. In brief, the slave codes that there were created in places such as South Carolina and Virginia also came with intent of better defining slavery, as well as the goal to prohibit slaves from being
In this article “African Dimensions Of The Stono Rebellion”, John Thornton a professor of history and African American studies, who wrote about the African slaves in the Americas, and specifically the servants in South Carolina during the early eighteenth century. In his writing, the author describes the personality of Africans and their desire to escape from slavery, going through obstacles on their path to freedom. John Thornton is primarily an Africanist, with a specialty in the history of West Central Africa before 1800. His work has also carried him into the study of the African Diaspora, and from there to the history of the Atlantic Basin as a whole, also in the period before the early nineteenth century. Thornton also serves as a consultant
Slavery had a tremendous impact on all aspects of Virginia. It helped keep Virginia afloat and at the same time slowly helped its downfall. It affected the economy, social, and class system. By having the slaves work the plantations, it let the owners keep the money which in a way made slavery the mainstay of the economy. When the cotton gin was created it became the core of the social and political aspects of
On October 16, 1859, John Brown along with twenty-one men (five blacks and sixteen white) are going to capture the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, the reason was all in the name of abolishing slavery. The idea was that once the town was captures, slaves would come and join the up rise. This guerilla war started with two men cutting the town’s telegraph lines. Two men to remain behind for supplies and to arm the slaves. “The others seized a rifle works, the armory, and three hostages, including a local planter descended from the Washington Family” (Davidson & Lytle, p. 150).
For years, laws have justified white supremacy in America, and the oppression of black people as well. Before there were Jim Crow laws, there were black codes. Before there were black codes, there were slave codes. These three things were all used to provide white people with a sense of supremacy and protection, while subjugating and oppressing black people. Slave codes began in 1705 to validate the treatment of black slaves and to divide and conquer.
The Stono Rebellion was one of the largest slave revolts in United States colonial history. This significant event took place near the Stono River in South Carolina in early September 1739, led by a group of enslaved Africans who sought to gain their freedom through an armed rebellion. The rebellion lasted several days but was eventually put down by white militia and resulted in the deaths of around 20 white colonists and 40 enslaved Africans. At the time, many colonists perceived the Stono Rebellion as a criminal act. Many white settlers were startled by the event, believing it signified a threat to their power and control.
After the abolition of slavery, Southern states enforced laws known as "black codes. " The black codes were designed to restrict the freedom of black people who had been freed from slavery. These codes worked to ensure
These codes varied based on the states, but included aspects such as denying African Americans the right to vote, serve on juries, testify in court against southern whites, own property, attend public schools, and also included a mandate where they were forced to work low income, non-desirable jobs. This was not at all a more desirable situation for the freedmen in the south than they had when they were enslaved, so they had to turn again to the Northern leadership for help. At a convention in Alexandria, Virginia, a group of black men urged the North to help because they stood side by side with each other and fought for the same things in the war, and that nothing but military protection would protect the freedmen from falling back into what southern whites believed to be “their rightful
To start with, slavery was growing at a rapid rate. New laws made it legal for owners to own enslaved people for their entire lives. They had little or no chance for freedom. Slaves were legally considered property, not people. Slaves were also restricted by a set of laws called Slave Codes; these laws were their rights and rules for living.
Cry Liberty: The Great Stono-River Slave Rebellion of 1739 was written by Professor Peter C. Hoffer, who taught as a historian at the University of Georgia. This novel is a brief, yet very informative piece of work that provides a re-examination of a series of incidents that occurred during the Stono Rebellion (which transpired on September 9, 1739). This rebellion manifested once a group of about 20 slaves had broken into a store alongside the Stono River, nearby Charles Town, which is now known as Charleston, South Carolina. The author did an excellent job recreating events in this book and developing the question of whether or not it was actually a rebellion.