"In late December 1831, white Jamaican planters slept restlessly in their beds. Rumours had long been circulating of disquiet among the enslaved Africans residing in plantations across the island. Before they knew it, the island would be set ablaze as tens of thousands armed themselves to fight for their freedom.
"As it became known, the Christmas Rebellion (or Baptist War, named so after the faith of many of its key conspirators) was the largest uprising of enslaved Africans in the history of the British West Indies, and directly influenced the abolition of slavery in 1833 and full emancipation in 1838.
"To understand the dynamics at play during the uprising, it’s vital to understand the social structure of nineteenth-century colonial Jamaica. Jamaica, like much of the West Indies, was what was known as a plantocracy. In this arrangement, a minority of white European settlers, human traffickers, and plantation owners dominated the majority of enslaved Africans on the island.
"Conscious of their minority (Africans outnumbered whites twelve to one), planters deployed ferocious violence to ‘discipline’ their slaves at home, and used their substantial wealth and influence to lobby against abolitionists in Parliament and the press. But despite their efforts, the sun was setting on slavery in the British Empire, and hopes of emancipation around the corner emboldened the enslaved population to take matters into their own hands.
"Samuel ‘Daddy’ Sharpe, a Black Baptist deacon, organised enslaved Africans to participate in a peaceful general strike on 25 December 1831, demanding wages and increased freedoms. While non-violence was intended, Sharpe was under no illusions that the infamously violent planter class would respond in kind.
"Enlisted to be his military commanders were fellow literate enslaved Africans spanning several different estates, illustrating the effectiveness of the vast communication network known colloquially as the slave ‘grapevine’. Also crucial was the limited degree of freedom given to Sharpe: as a Deacon, he had the ability to move around the island and secretly organise after prayer meetings.
"The initially peaceful demonstration soon became a violent uprising, and out of a population of 600,000, an estimated 60,000 took up arms to resist their oppression. Any pretense of a peaceful demonstration was lost when Kensington Estate was set ablaze by enslaved rebels, with the Rebellion taking place in earnest soon after."
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