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An Analysis of African Slave Resistance Movements: A Focus on the Creole Rebellion

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Introduction

There have been many instances of Africans resisting slavery, as well as all other threats

to their freedom. Many battles and rebellions were waged to ensure the continued freedom of the

people, with both peaceful and armed rebellions being waged to ensure their sustained

sovereignty and freedom. An example of such rebellions is the Creole Rebellion, so named due

to the involvement of the slave ship named Creole, in 1841. The Creole was one of many vessels

used to traffic people between American Cities. In this case, the ship has 135 people on board,

and they were travelling from Virginia to New Orleans. This was a voyage that many took at that

time, since international slave trade, particularly that involving the importation of slaves into the

United States from Africa, was banned in 1808. Therefore, the Creole’s voyage was a result of

the subsequent increase in forced migrations inside the United States, which caused a higher

incidence of slave trade into the American Southwest. Close to 650,000 slaves were transported

between 1820 and 1860 as part of the “domestic” slave trade. Furthermore, three tenths of a

million were privately transported by their owners during the same time frame, except those on

board the Creole, because there slaves on board the Creole conducted what is now termed the

most successful rebellion of its kind in history, fleeing to Nassau in the Bahamas aboard the

Creole. Given that Bahamas was a British territory, these slaves were freed due to Britain

abolishing slave trade in its territory in in 1834. This paper analyzes the effort that Africans

made to maintain their freedom on the Creole and beyond.

The Congressional Act of 1807, an act which occurred in tandem with the British Act of

1807 that ended the British involvement in the trade in Africa, prohibited the continued

importation of African slaves as of January 1, 1808, and was aimed towards drawing a line

between what would be called the “domestic” economy of American slavery from that point
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onwards, and the broader global economy involving the trafficking of human beings. Through

the institution of a distinction between “slave trading” and "slaveholding," the 1807

Congressional act targeted the alignment of the limits of "property" with its "humanity," its

slavery with its security, and the economy with its polity. The American flag became the flag of

convenience for slave traders across the globe since it provided protection to these trade actions

(Momodu, 2018). Therefore, the voyage of the Creole, as well as the contradictory slaveholding

and security imperatives on board the vessel, present the dramatic attempts of the said slaves on

the boat to acquire their freedom as well as transport means to a new home in Africa. These

efforts involved people from different families, different communities, and different parts of

Virginia, and these, in addition to black mercy aboard the vessel, inter-racial cooperation, and

moments of white collusion, all act as building blocks in the structure that is the story of slavery

within the nineteenth-century Atlantic.

The boat, called the Creole, was in the process of transporting 135 slaves from

Richmond, Virginia, towards New Orleans, where slave markets existed. However, the voyage

was not successful because 18 of the slaves aboard attacked the members of the crew, wounded

the ship's captain, Robert Ensor, on November 7, 1841, and killed one slave trader onboard.

(Williams, 2017), stated that "With great coolness and presence of mind," the slaves put together

the documents related to their enslavement and all the ship's weaponry.  They settled on the

British colony of the Bahamas as a destination after considerable debate about where they should

go with the vessel and forced one of the crew members to be their navigator.

Upon arrival in the Bahamas, the Bahamians considered most of the former slaves aboard

the ship free since slavery was outlawed within the British colonies. However, at the request of

the American consulate, some of the people on board who were involved in the commandeering
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of the ship were supposed to be detained and charged with mutiny. This request was made by the

Secretary of State at the time, Daniel Webster, who was upset and made a demand for the return

of the insurrectionists for 'mutiny and murder.' However, his hands were tied since the legislation

by Britain outlawing slavery within its colonies in 1834, according to (Johnson, 2008), in

addition to the fact that the United Kingdom and the United States did not have a treaty that

covered the potential navigation regarding whether or how they were to respond to each other's

laws, meaning that the people went free. One of these people was an enslaved cook who had

previously escaped to Canada, Madison Washington, who was caught after his exploits to

Canada and sold as a slave upon returning to Virginia to find Susan, his wife. According to

(Johnson, 2008), eighteen co-conspirators were arrested with Washington and charged with

mutiny. Other slaves on board were set free, with some opting to sail aboard the Creole back to

slavery in New Orleans, including a boy, a girl, and three women. Those arrested aboard the

Creole were, upon the decree of the Admiralty court in Nassau, freed on April 16, 1842.

Washington was among those freed as a part of this decree.

The essence of the revolt on the Creole is to highlight that Africans are never willing to

accept slavery, and their spirit will drive them to great lengths to secure their freedom.

(Williams, 2017) further states that, "The exploit of the slaves under the intrepid Madison

Washington is a guarantee of what can be done by colored Americans in a just cause and

foreshadows that a brighter day for slaves is at hand."

Most revolts around this period were similar, in that an increase in aspects of Creole

diversity led to more developments during this period, with many actions of resistance assuming

various shapes, ranging from such subtle acts as negotiation for rights, marronage, ‘day-to-day’

acts aimed at expressing the rejection of slavery, as well as undermining the efficiency of the
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slave system as opposed to overthrowing the slave system. These day-to-day efforts especially

involved enslaved women and the specific tactics that they employed. This led to drivers and

overseers observing what they considered a universal problem that they termed laziness; in that

field, women adopted the labor withdraw strategy Hilary Beckles. Therefore, the malingering

attitude that field women adopted was a crucial blow to the sugar industry since a low level of

productivity was not tolerated. Moreover, the labor withdraw method was exceptionally efficient

during harvesting time, where a massive difference in the profits realized could be determined by

a few hours’ delay Christopher W. Humber.

Enslaved Africans also resisted through committing infanticide since the birth of children

condemned them to a life of slavery, and this was one way that slave owners wanted to maintain

an enslaved labor force. Also, such acts as harming farm animals and taking their ability to

accomplish tasks as a means to lower productivity and conduct rebellions (Johnson-Odim &

Beckles, 1991). Therefore, when the period between 1807 and 1834 provided an opportunity by

marking the ending of slavery through steps like the abolition of slave trade in 1807 and further

sustained resistance from those Africans who remained slaves, the Africans took it. According to

Hilary Beckles, the period ranging from 1807 to 1834 was characterized by increased protests

amongst the slaves, especially amongst creoles, that were connected to the influence of the

increasing growing anti-slavery discussions inside the metropole (Johnson-Odim & Beckles,

1991).

It was therefore fitting that the voyage of the Creole led to a revolt since Creoles, who are

also referred to as “country-borns,” were involved heavily in the weakening of slavery and

achievement of emancipation for African slaves. This role was fulfilled through Creoles resisting

politically, fighting for rights for the enslaved via lobbying efforts within parliament, as well as
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the instigation of the continued unfair treatment of slaves. “It was not Africans who organized,

but creoles, which “were never known before to have been concerned in anything of this sort”

(Williams, 2017).

Conclusion

The revolts led by Africans were geared towards the abolishment of the slave trade, the

maintenance of African Freedom, and the rejection and collapse of the slave system in its

entirety. In the early days of the British slave trade, new world slavery had contributed

significant financial benefits to the nation that was a contributor to the primitive acquisition of

capital to facilitate the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom. However, resistance to

slavery saw Britain move toward investments with higher profits, while the pressure within the

parliaments rose, which led to the implementation of acts like the emancipation act of 1833.

There were also more violent acts of resistance, which were characterized by armed revolts and

rebellions, which represented the most violent and dramatic means of resistance which the slaves

applied to rebel against slave owners.

In many armed revolts, there were many bloody battles in which countless slaves lost their lives.

However, while the enslaved were aware that the military might of the slave owners was far

superior to theirs and that any military confrontation would be suicidal, they were still

determined to fight for their freedom at significant costs. This spirit saw such actions as the

organized slave rebellion led by Toussaint L. Ouverture, the first mass rebellion by slaves that

ended slavery in Saint Domingue and marked Haiti as the first black republic within the

Caribbean to achieve its freedom. The news of slave rebellion resulting in freedom for Haiti

quickly spread through the Caribbean, rendering the enslaved consciousness moot and leading to

widespread rebellion throughout the Caribbean. These revolts included the 1816 revolt in
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Barbados, the 1823 rebellion in modern-day Guyana (formerly known as Damara, the 1831/32

rebellion called the “Christmas rebellion in Jamaica,” and the much less widely known Creole

Rebellion. Such rebellions led to the failing of the slave owners’ methods of control, thus

rendering the emancipation of slaves inevitable. In 1833, Eric William stated that the alternatives

were outright emancipation from above or far less visible emancipation from ‘below,' of which

the Creole rebellion was a part.

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References

Humber. C. (2006). Caribbean History Section B: Resistance & Revolt. Teach Dip (Mico): Print.

Johnson, W. (2008). White lies: Human property and domestic slavery aboard the slave ship

Creole. Atlantic Studies, 5(2), 237–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/14788810802149733

Johnson-Odim, C., & Beckles, H. M. (1991). Natural Rebels: A Social History of Enslaved

Black Women in Barbados. Ethnohistory, 38(3), 347. https://doi.org/10.2307/482379

Momodu, S. (2018, August 5). The Creole Case (1841). Blackpast.org.

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/creole-case-1841/

Williams, M. P. (2017). Brig Creole slaves. Richmond Times-Dispatch.

https://richmond.com/special-section/black-history/brig-creole-slaves/article_11391522-

9222-5006-95eb-c1db7f61f9b4.html