Social Studies Programs - Americans through History
Economic Change, Colonial: Jemmy and the Stono Rebellion
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Similar content addressed in SOLs: VS.1a-i; USI.1a-h; USI.5c, USI.5d
*Slave rebellions were an important aspect of slavery from the arrival of the first Africans in America in the 1600s.*
One such rebellion occurred in 1739, along the Stono River in South Carolina. There, a slave named Jemmy organized a rebellion against the plantation owners. Jemmy and the others hoped to create an armed movement of slaves southward to Florida in an attempt to gain freedom (slaves believed that moving to the Spanish-controlled Florida territory would give them freedom from their English-owned plantations). The group of twenty slaves which started the rebellion grew into a group of a few hundred as they progressed southward from the River, stopping to fight against plantation owners and state government officials. Though a militia of plantation owners eventually defeated the uprising before the rebels could achieve their freedom, the Stono rebellion nonetheless showed that slaves would actively seek their freedom and organize in groups to achieve their goals by any way the believed would work.
This abolitionist text from the 1860s describes various slave rebellions in the 1730s, including the one along the Stono. The text shows that slave rebellions were quite common, and despite their low rate of success, they remained a defining aspect of the slave experience.
After identifying the leader of the Stono rebellion, Jemmy, the South Carolina authorities sought to increase their control over slavery. Because Jemmy was African-born, slaveowners believed they needed a population of American-born African slaves. This led them to ban the slave trade from Africa for a short time in the mid-18th century. However, the economic necessity of the plantation economy prompted the slave trade to resume throughout South Carolina and the United States. This newspaper advertisement from the 1780s announces the arrival of a new shipment of enslaved Africans into South Carolina.
As slavery continued, so too did rebellions against it. Though the slave rebellions from the 1600s and 1700s failed to upset the social order in America, they did inspire future generations to continue the struggle for freedom. Seen in this image, slave-led insurrections continued throughout the 1800s and were frequently sensationalized in the press. Slaves' attempts at rebellion were met with strong opposition and led to extreme forms of punishment, with slaveowners often executing rebellious slaves.
