1733 slave insurrection on St. John
A slave insurrection started on Sankt Jan in the Danish West Indies on November 23, 1733, when 150 African slaves from Akwamu, in present-day Ghana, revolted against the owners and managers of the island's plantations. Led by Breffu, an enslaved woman from Ghana, and lasting several months into August 1734, the slave rebellion was one of the earliest and longest slave revolts in the Americas. The Akwamu slaves captured the fort in Coral Bay and took control of most of the island. They intended to resume crop production under their own control.
Later illustration of a plantation in the Danish West Indies
West Indies harbor
Cane knife from the Danish West Indies; knives like this one were used by rebelling slaves.
Freedom 100 years later
A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of slaves have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedom and the dream of successful rebellion is often the greatest object of song, art, and culture amongst the enslaved population. These events, however, are often violently opposed and suppressed by slaveholders.
Death of the gladiator Spartacus by Hermann Vogel, 1882
Tacky's War in Jamaica (1760)
Slaves force the retreat of European soldiers led by Lt Brady during Demerara rebellion of 1823