Enslaved African Rebellions in Virginia

Abstract

Throughout the history of enslavement in colonial America, rebellions or conspiracies for revolts were not uncommon, particularly in the antebellum South where there was alarge concentration of Africans. In fact, well over 250 incidents of uprisings and plots were recorded in the South (Aptheker, 1974, p. 162). Many historians and legal scholars (Aptheker, 1971, 1974; Carroll, 1938; Chambers, 1968; Cheek, 1970; Cobb, 1858/1969; Coffin, 1860; Mullin, 1972; Nelson, 1966) have attempted to answer the intriguing question of why enslaved Africans continued to revolt in general, and in Virginia in particular, given that the odds against a successful revolt were so high. The purpose of this article is to offer an assessment of African rebellions in Virginia, a hotbed of revolts, throughout the history of American enslavement. As Morgan (1975) put it, If it is possible to understand the American paradox, the marriage of slavery and freedom, Virginiais surely theplaceto begin (p. 6). Thetime frame for analysis stretches from the colonial period to the Civil War (1700-1865). Two of the three widely publicized rebellions chronicled in American history took place in Virginia. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Gabriel, enslaved to Mr. Prosser, launched an unsuccessful rebellious attemptin Richmond (Rose, 1976, pp. 107114). More than a quarter of a century later, Nat Turner led a massive revolt in Southampton County (Johnson, 1966).1