Enslaved Black people are mostly depicted as very docile and didn't fight back. However, this was not the case and there were numerous slaves rebellion. #BlackHistoryMonth
A THREAD!
The Stono Rebellion, the largest slave rebellion in South Carolina, 1739.
On September 9th 1739 Jemmy aka Cato and 20 core group of warriors, who had been stolen from Kongo region of Central Africa.
The group gathered near the Stono River in a region that is now Hollywood, SC about 20mins from Charleston. The rebellion was planned to take place on a Sunday due to most of the white men in the town being at church.
this coupled with a malaria outbreak which resulted in less white people on the streets, created the perfected conditions from a planned uprising. The goal was to fight their way to Spanish controlled Florida where enslaved folk were guaranteed freedom.
This was the region where Gullah Wars aka Seminole Wars were fought from 1817-1858. The Stono Rebellion was the 1st documented mass attempt of Gullah-Geechee people to push into the Florida territory.
The group marched down the main road of St.Paul's Parish killing slavers and their families as well as ransacking homes and businesses. They also recruited the further down the road they went.
Around 10 miles into the march the numbers swelled from about 20 to around 60-100 Africans fighting for their freedom.
Their march tallied up to 2 shopkeepers killed with ammo, guns, and provisions being expropriated, 6 plantations being burned down, and almost 30 whites dead.
The 1st half of a letter penned by then Lieutenant Governor William Bull detailed the damage he saw "I beg leave to lay before your Lordships an account of our Affairs, first in regard to the Desertion of our Negroes.... On the 9th of September last at Night a great Number of
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A sundown or sunset town was a town, city, or neighborhood in the US that excluded non-whites after dark.
The term sundown came from the signs that were posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown.
A THREAD!
In most cases, signs were placed at the town's borders which read: “Stranger/Negro, Don't Let the Sun Set On You Here." The exclusion was official town policy or through restrictive covenants agreed to by the real estate agents of the community.
The policy was usually enforced through intimidation. This intimidation could occur in a number of ways, including harassment by police officers or neighbors and in some circumstances violence.
On this day in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted, recognizing newly freed enslaved people as U.S. Citizens.
THREAD
The Amendment has 3 clauses:
-the Citizenship Clause
-the Due Process Clause
-the Equal Protection Clause
The Citizenship Clause overruled the previous Dred Scott v Sandford Supreme Court ruling which stated that African Americans could not be citizens of the United States.
Sarah Rector became a multi-millionare oil baron and the richest black child at just 12 years old.
She was so rich that Oklahoma legislature legally declared her to be a white person.
A THREAD!
Sarah Rector was born in 1902 in Oklahoma to Joseph Rector & Rose McQueen. They were African descendants of the Creek Nation Creek Indians before the Civil war which became part of the Creek Nation after the Treaty of 1866.
As such, they and their descendants were listed as freedmen thus entitled to land allotments under the Treaty of 1866 made by the United States with the Five Civilized Tribes.
On this day in 1947, Activist & member of the Black Panther Party Mark Clark was born.
He was assassinated together with Fred Hampton by Chicago police & FBI, both at 21 years Old.
William O'Neal, an FBI informant, infiltrated the Panthers & set up them up for $300
A THREAD
In Illinois, where Fred Hampton was born, Black communities faced relentless police harassment and systemic barriers to essential services like housing and education in predominantly Black areas.
The Black Panther party, a creation of Huey Newton and fellow student Bobby Seale, insisted on black nationalist response to racial discrimination. The party’s Illinois chapter was opened in 1967 and Hampton joined in 1968, aged just 20.
Vicente Guerrero, a black and indigenous mule driver, became a revolutionary leader, Mexico’s 2nd president and abolished but ultimately executed.
The first Black President of Mexico.
A THREAD
Born in 1782 in Tixtla, Guerrero’s Afro-Mexican father, Juan Pedro, and Indigenous mother, Guadalupe Saldaña, shaped his roots. He worked as a mule driver, spoke Nahuatl, and built deep ties with Indigenous communities.
In 1810, he joined the Mexican War of Independence under José María Morelos. Despite no formal education, Guerrero’s courage and tactics stood out, fighting Spanish colonial rule with the motto “La patria es primero” (My country comes first).
Aunt Polly Jackson, was an escaped slave who worked as an agent on the Underground Railroad helping others escape.
She was known for fighting off slave catchers with a butcher knife and a kettle of boiling water.
A THREAD!
Aunt Polly Jackson, a former enslaved person, was fed up with the harsh and inhumane treatment that was meted out to her even in her old age and decided to escape to freedom.
She decided to escape via the Underground Railroad. She escaped and ended up in the North settling in Ohio in a settlement known as Africa, a settlement of escaped African Americans who had been offered land to settle.