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Transcript

An Introduction

Effects of the Rebellion

Planning

This uprising in Jamaica was the largest in the Caribbean in terms of the number of enslaved people involved, illustrating that slavery could not be sustained in Jamaica. There was a rumour among slaves in Jamaica that stated that British government’s abolition decrees were being ignored or undermined by the planters and the local government.

Samuel Sharpe a literate slave, had access to newspapers which supplied him with information which gave the details on the progress of the anti-slavery movement in Britain as well as in Jamaica.

He believed that freedom was being withheld from the slaves.Baptist deacon Samuel Sharpe was the main leader inasmuch as he stated the objectives of the struggle and was a field commander. As a deacon, he was able to move about freely in western Jamaica and had a reputation as an intelligent and spiritual man. At one of the final meetings before the uprising, Sharpe spoke of the 'manifold evils and injustices of slavery', and asserted the natural equality of all men with regard to freedom.

His plan was originally one of passive resistance, where the workers would refuse to work on Christmas Day unless they received pay and their grievances about working conditions were acknowledged. Edward Hylton, a known follower of Sam Sharpe, earlier recalled being summoned to a meeting on Retrieve Estate in St James where after a prayer meeting Sam Sharpe spoke of the injustice of slavery. He outlined the plan of operation.

One hundred and sixty estates of various kinds were destroyed by fire.

The slaves were defeated (400 slaves died) and another 100 were executed following the court martial.

About a dozen white were murdered.

The non-conformist missionaries were blamed for the revolt and were made to suffer their alleged guilt.

The persecution of the missionaries angered a large section of British religious public thus helped to win the support for the emancipation movement.

William Knibb and Thomas Burchell,missionaries who were threatened with trial for encouraging the rebellion returned to England after their acquittal and gave first hand accounts of what occurred in Jamaica. They told the people what would occur if slavery was to occur.

Organisation

Story of the Jamaican People

Page 216-220

Course of the Rebellion

The decisive episode in the overthrow of slavery in the British Caribbean was the great Jamaican revolt that began on Tuesday, 27 December 1831.

It was the last night of the three-day Christmas festival.

The signal for the strike to begin started with the firing of the sugar trash on the evening of the 27 on the Kensington Estate.

By midnight, sixteen other estates were burning.

It moved from the original aim of a strike quickly into a rebellion.

With little or no arms, The slaves knew that the only way to struck their oppression was by firing the estates.

The planters who were in the interior began to desert their estates.

The roads were then in the hands of the rebels. For eight days, there was hardly a single colonist to be seen in those areas. As well as in Montego Bay and Savanalamar.

Fifty thousand slaves fled to coastal towns and began to ramble about, plundering and burning at will.

By the first week of January 1832 the revolt was completely squashed by the martial law that was called in.

The hunt was then put in place to gather the slaves that had escaped to be placed before the court and have their fate handed down to them.

Sam Sharpe or Christmas Rebellion 1831

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