hi i'm clint smith and this is crash
course black american history
as we mentioned before enslaved people
resisted their condition
in a range of different ways oftentimes
those ways were small
and personal slowing down the pace of
work
pretending to be sick purposefully
misplacing your tools
things that might slow down the
efficiency of the system and give back
to the enslave
some small sense of agency there were
also times
when that resistance took on larger more
dramatic forms
like with slave uprisings and rebellions
we should note that
notions of what constitute as a
successful versus an unsuccessful
rebellion
are often subjective unhelpful gendered
and can really obfuscate the
significance of the fact that
such a rebellion took place at all still
some of these uprisings have taken on
notable historical significance
and today we're going to talk about one
of those and that's the stono rebellion
[Music]
large plantations where black people
outnumbered the white people who
enslaved them
were not at all uncommon to slavery in
the americas this was especially true in
south carolina
where the colony was built on the
demands of cash crop production
raising cash crops like tobacco and rice
gave rise to plantations that were
designed to grow as much of that
valuable crop as possible
and what those plantations needed more
than anything
was labor the heavy reliance on slavery
in the southern colonial economy
resulted in a vast expansion of the
practice in south carolina
the high demand for enslaved labor led
to a black majority in the colony
and by the year 1740 slavery in the
colonies was no longer characterized
only by african captives
but had grown to include black people
who were born on american soil
the population of black people in south
carolina had risen to approximately 40
000 compared to 20 000 white people
making black people
about two-thirds of the colony's entire
population moreover
ships were still bringing large numbers
of african captives into south carolina
adding to the growing enslaved
population there and as demographics of
the colony continued to change
why planters began to worry about being
so outnumbered
and about the potential of violent
resistance but instead of
i don't know deciding that slavery was
an unethical and morally unsustainable
enterprise
they just decided to fight potential
fire with fire
in response to growing numbers of
enslaved black people in the colony
in august of 1739 south carolina passed
the security act
requiring all white men to carry
firearms to church
each sunday before this act it wasn't
customary for white men in south
carolina to take their weapons to church
and also on sundays black people
regularly worked unsupervised
but these planters wanted to be ready at
a moment's notice
anywhere they went to protect themselves
from the enslaved people who they were
worried
might turn on them but notably this act
was passed before the stone rebellion
took place
and it wouldn't go into effect for
another few weeks the stone rebellion
took place in that interim period also
heightening the generalized sense of
white fear in south carolina
was the spanish threat brewing in nearby
spanish-controlled florida
and although they also practiced slavery
the spanish were intent on disrupting
colonial life
in the english territory so the spanish
further disrupted the racial dynamics in
the english colony
by issuing a proclamation that with only
a few stipulations including converting
to catholicism
spain would grant freedom to any black
person who could make it to saint
augustine florida
many captives coming to charlestown
which is present-day charleston
came from areas in west central africa
where the portuguese had spread their
language and religious beliefs
and many of them would have been aware
of the 1733 offer
a growing black population including
some african natives not yet fully
accustomed to plantation culture
in combination with the spanish offer
created the perfect storm for the stono
rebellion to take place
this insurrection would become the
largest the colony would ever face
and one of the bloodiest in the united
states history
let's go to the thought bubble the stone
rebellion which erupted on sunday
september 9 1739
was led by an enslaved man named jemmy
jemmy
and those who fought alongside him chose
sunday to revolt because
they believed that it presented the best
conditions to actually pull this thing
off
given that all the planters and their
families were at church
and the enslave were working largely
unsupervised we don't know too much
about jemmy
historical records suggest that he was
from what is now angola
and many enslaved africans who came to
carolina from angola
were in fact trained soldiers who had
fought in the region's civil war
and who had experience with guns and
jimmy
may have been able to read portuguese
and spanish which increases the
likelihood that he would have heard of
the 1733 spanish proclamation starting
with just 20 enslaved people
jimmy and the group acquired guns and
ammunition by raiding a warehouse
and marched up the stono riverbanks
carrying banners that plainly read
liberty as they marched south others
seeing what was happening dropped their
tools and joined the group
by nightfall the crowd swelled to nearly
100 black people
willing to risk it all for their freedom
the rebels hoped to make their way to
saint augustine to gain their freedom
but just 10 miles later when they
reached the odesto river
white colonists overtook them killing an
estimated 30 rebels
while some initially escaped many were
ultimately captured
and executed others were sold and
shipped off to the caribbean
as for gemmy historians aren't really
sure what happened to him
he's lost to the missing pages of
history thanks thoughtbubble
these attacks weren't haphazard or
indiscriminate
many of the rebels had specific ideas of
who they wanted to attack
and who they didn't as a result some
white people were spared along the way
a local tavern owner for example known
to be
relatively kind to his laborers was
intentionally left alone
some of the enslaved even protected
their enslavers from the violence
one group shielded a quaker man named
thomas elliott
by hiding him from the rebels as they
approached the stone rebellion
was a moment of clarity for south
carolina authorities and they wanted to
make sure
that something like this would never
happen again but again
it's telling that they did not come to
the conclusion that maybe slavery
and the idea of holding large groups of
people in intergenerational chattel
bondage
was actually the real problem instead
they blame the enslaved
and they blame the spanish the south
carolina government
claimed that the negroes would not have
made this insurrection
had they not depended on saint augustine
for a place of reception afterwards
following the rebellion south carolina's
house of assembly passed a law called
an act for the better ordering and
governing of negroes
and other slaves in this province and if
this sounds like the slave codes we
mentioned previously
you're right it does the legislation
enacted by the south carolina house of
assembly
became another legal avenue to block
africans from obtaining any rights
or liberties among the new statutes and
limitations
was a policy that made it illegal for
enslaved people to learn how to read
and write throughout the era of slavery
planters wanted to prevent enslaved
people from learning to read and write
for a range of different reasons in this
case
jemmy and his compatriots proud display
of their liberty banner
as well as their knowledge of the
spanish policy proved that
there were dangerous consequences for
white planters who allowed their
laborers to become literate
this idea would remain relevant more
than a hundred years later
in his 1845 memoir frederick douglass
the formerly enslaved writer order and
abolitionist
quoted his own enslaver on the subject
of literacy and enslaved people
if you teach him how to read there will
be no keeping him
it would forever unfit him to be a slave
he would at once become unmanageable
and of no value to his master this was
an existential fear for the planters
who feared that literacy would allow
enslaved people to recognize
words written clues and directions that
could help them develop plans to escape
they even worried that the enslave might
forge freedom papers
which were official documents that free
black people needed to prove their free
status
as they could be stopped and questioned
by suspecting whites at any time
white enslavers also enforced illiteracy
to ensure that enslaved people
couldn't form their own interpretations
of biblical texts
because many whites used the idea of
evangelism and bringing christianity to
enslave people
as justification for their enslavement
many laborers
were required to attend church services
and listen to sermons that interpreted
scripture
to mean that god intended for africans
to be enslaved to europeans
and that obedience to one's enslaver was
necessary for them to get into heaven
so the thinking was if enslaved people
learn how to read and write
they might come to understand these
preachings that they had heard from
their enslavers were actually being
manipulated to serve their own
ideological ends
and to put the cherry on top schools
were established in south carolina to
indoctrinate enslave people with this
ideologically infused interpretation of
christianity these schools
taught black people to believe that the
institution of slavery was
ordained by god and should not be
challenged
this message was disseminated in hopes
of discouraging
any further violent rebellion
authorities in south carolina
also created new policies that they hope
might shift the demographics of the
state
according to historian peter wood after
the stono rebellion
slave importations were cut by nearly 90
during the 1740s
and policies were put in place to
encourage immigration from europe
with the goal of increasing the white
population in the colony
there were also some half-hearted
attempts to improve
if you can even call it that the
treatment of enslaved people
planters could be penalized for
especially cruel punishment and for
imposing excessive work
legislators hope that the improved
conditions might reduce the chances of
another rebellion
but the phrase is cruel punishment
and excessive work should be understood
in context
treating enslaved people with less
cruelty
but continuing to keep them enslaved
isn't really an act of benevolence
therefore we should be careful to note
that these stipulations did not make
slavery more humane in south carolina
slavery is still slavery the record of
the stone rebellion
highlights the courage and bravery of
enslaved black people
who are willing to go to extreme lengths
to gain their freedom
and i guess when you put it that way
it's not so different from the stories
we've long been told of americans
who are willing to sacrifice their lives
for the prospect of liberty
those who led and participated in the
stono rebellion were not the first to
rebel violently against slavery in the
colonies
and would certainly not be the last and
remember
trying to determine whether a rebellion
was successful or not
kind of misses the point the stoner
rebellion
isn't important because of its relative
success or failure
it's important because it is emblematic
of a resistance that will echo
throughout the history of slavery
i hope you'll keep this in mind as we
continue to celebrate the myriad forms
of resistance
that black americans have exhibited over
time
thanks for watching i'll see you next
time
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