The Montserrat slave rebellion of 1768 was an unsuccessful slave rebellion in the English colony of Montserrat in the Caribbean Sea that took place on 17 March 1768.
Background
Anglo-Irish planters began to settle Montserrat in the 1630s following tensions with the British in nearby St Kitts[1] and started importing African slaves in 1650 to work on the island's cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane plantations.[2] By the late 1760s, as a result of dwindling provisions, labour shortages, and increasingly strict oversight, slaves faced worsening living conditions.[3]
Uprising
By 1768, slaves outnumbered white colonialists by three to one,[1] and black and creole Montserratians, led by the slave Cudjoe, decided to stage an uprising against the plantation owners.[3] 17 March was chosen as the day of the uprising as the rebels knew that their masters would be drinking heavily for St Patrick's Day.[4]
The rebels planned for domestic slaves at Government House to seize any weapons held there[5] while other slaves would arm themselves with rocks, farm tools, clubs and homemade swords,[1] but the plot was disclosed by a female slave,[6] leading to a successful quashing of the rebellion.
Repercussions
Nine rebels, including Cudjoe, were hanged,[4] and his head placed on a silk-cotton tree as a warning to slaves considering another revolt.[5] Thirty other rebels were imprisoned and then sold to other islands.[5]
Cultural legacy
The uprising was forgotten until 1971 when Monserratian scholars discovered references to the rebellion and began to publicise it. In 1985, the Government of Montserrat declared 17 March a national holiday.[5] St Patrick's Day is now the centrepoint of a ten day festival honouring the rebellion and its members.[4]
In 2018, Montserratian playwright Chadd Cumberbatch wrote and directed a new play, 1768, as a theatrical re-imagining of the uprising to mark the 250th anniversary of the events.[7][8]
Bush, B. (1990) Slave Women in Caribbean Society 1650-1838, Heinemann Publishers: Kingston, Jamaica. ISBN 085255 058 8.
Fergus, H. (1996) Gallery Montserrat: Some Prominent People In Our History, Canoe Press, Montserrat. ISBN 976-8125-25-X.
Ryzewski, K. & Cherry, J. (2015) "Struggles of a Sugar Society: Surveying Plantation-Era Montserrat, 1650–1850", International Journal of Historical Archeology, 19 (2).
