African background
Jemmy, the leader of the revolt, was a literate slave described in an eyewitness account as "
Angolan". Historian John K. Thornton has noted that, because of patterns of trade, he was more likely from the Kingdom of Kongo in west
Central Africa, which had long had relations with Portuguese traders.
[4] His cohort of 20 slaves were also called "Angolan", and likely also Kongolese. The slaves were described as Catholic, and some spoke
Portuguese, learned from the traders operating in the Kongo Empire at the time. The patterns of trade and the fact that the Kongo was a Catholic nation point to their origin there. The Kingdom of Kongo had voluntarily converted to
Catholicism in 1491; by the 18th century, the religion was a fundamental part of its citizens' identity. The nation had independent relations with Rome.
[4]
Portuguese was the language of trade as well as the one of the languages of educated people in Kongo. The Portuguese-speaking slaves in South Carolina were more likely to learn about offers of freedom by Spanish agents. They would also have been attracted to the Catholicism of
Spanish Florida. Because Kongo had been undergoing civil wars, more people had been captured and sold into slavery in recent years, among them trained soldiers. It is likely that Jemmy and his rebel cohort were such military men, as they fought hard against the militia when they were caught, and were able to kill 20 men.
[4]
The events of the revolt
On Sunday, 9 September 1739, Jemmy gathered 20 enslaved Africans near the
Stono River, 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Charleston. This date was important to them as the Catholic celebration of the
Virgin Mary's nativity; like the religious symbols they used, taking action on this date connected their Catholic past with present purpose.
[5] The Africans marched down the roadway with a banner that read "Liberty!", and chanted the same word in unison. They attacked Hutchenson's store at the
Stono River Bridge, killing two storekeepers and seizing weapons and ammunition.
Raising a flag, the slaves proceeded south toward
Spanish Florida, a well-known refuge for escapees. On the way, they gathered more recruits, sometimes reluctant ones, for a total of 80. They burned seven plantations and killed 20–25 whites along the way. South Carolina's
Lieutenant Governor William Bull and four of his friends came across the group while on horseback. They left to warn other slaveholders. Rallying a
militia of planters and slaveholders, the colonists traveled to confront Jemmy and his followers.
The next day, the well-armed and mounted militia, numbering 20–100 men,[
citation needed] caught up with the group of 80 slaves at the
Edisto River. In the ensuing confrontation, 20 whites and 44 slaves were killed. While the slaves lost, they killed proportionately more whites than was the case in later rebellions. The colonists mounted the severed heads of the rebels on stakes along major roadways to serve as warning for other slaves who might consider revolt.
[6] The lieutenant governor hired
Chickasaw and
Catawba Indians and other slaves to track down and capture the slaves who had escaped from the battle.
[7] A group of the slaves who escaped fought a pitched battle with a militia a week later approximately 30 miles (50 km) from the site of the first conflict.
[4] The colonists executed most of the rebellious slaves; they sold other slaves off to the markets of the
West Indies.
Aftermath
Over the next two years, slave uprisings occurred independently in Georgia and South Carolina, perhaps inspired, as colonial officials believed, by the Stono Rebellion. Conditions of slavery were sufficient cause. Planters decided they had to develop a slave population who were native-born, believing they were more content if they grew up enslaved. Attributing the rebellion to the recently imported Africans, planters decided to cut off the supply and enacted a 10-year moratorium on slave importation through Charleston. After they opened it up to international trade again, they imported slaves from areas other than the Congo-Angolan region.
[8]
In addition, the legislature passed the
Negro Act of 1740 to tighten controls: it required a ratio of one white to ten blacks on any plantation. It prohibited slaves from growing their own food, assembling in groups, earning money, or learning to read. In the uncertain world of the colony, several of the law's provisions were based on the assumption that whites could effectively judge black character; for instance, whites were empowered to examine blacks who were traveling outside a plantation without passes, and to take action.
[9] The legislature also worked to improve conditions in slavery; it established penalties for masters who demanded excessive work or who brutally punished slaves (these provisions were difficult to enforce, as the law did not allow slave testimony against whites.) They also started a school to teach slaves Christian doctrine.
[10] At the same time, the legislature tried to prevent slaves from being manumitted, as the representatives thought that the presence of
free blacks in the colony made slaves restless. It required slaveholders to apply to the legislature for permission for each case of
manumission, which had formerly been arranged privately. South Carolina kept these restrictions against manumission until slavery was abolished after the
American Civil War.
The legislature's action related to manumissions likely reduced the chances that planters would free the
mixed-race children born of their (or their sons') liaisons with enslaved women, as they did not want to subject their sexual lives to public scrutiny.
[11] Such relationships continued, as documented in numerous sources. For instance, by 1860 the 200 students at
Wilberforce University in Ohio, established for blacks, were mostly mixed-race children of wealthy southern planter fathers.
[12]
Now named the
Stono River Slave Rebellion Site, the Hutchinson's warehouse site where the revolt began was declared a
National Historic Landmark in 1974.
[13] A South Carolina Historical Marker has also been erected at the site.
