As we saw last month, the slavery story was not static. Nor were the victims passive. They pressed every advantage they could. However, this was not enough. The miniscule freedoms granted did not offer much of an escape from the drudgery they faced. This was especially true of many of the new arrivals, who saw the horrors of slavery in the English colonies and were quick to protest.

This episode, I will be covering three slave revolts and their aftermath in detail. One along the Stono River in South Carolina, and two others in New York City. These revolts played off the threat of war with the Spanish, and a general mistrust between rivals, and, of course, the ever-present fear among the European settlers of slave revolt.

The reaction often far outpaced the actual revolt, and for one of them, conspiracies were alleged implicating every corner of society.

The notes do not touch on these revolts much, so grab your weapon of choice—or your gavel, if you’d prefer—and let’s fill in these missing pages…

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Music

Intro: Fractured Timeline - Sémø

Outro: Smoke - Michael Witt

Sources

Stono - ed. Mark M. Smith

New York Burning - Jill Lepore

When I Die, I Shall Return to My Own Land - Ben Hughes

Many Thousand Gone - Ira Berlin

Gotham - Edwin G. Burrows, Mike Wallace

American Colonies - Alan Taylor

Before the Revolution - Daniel K. Richter

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