Slave revolt on St Croix

Pat,

Queen Mary did not lead a slave revolt. Slaves in the Danish West Indies had been emancipated since 1848. In 1849 the Danish Government created Labor Acts that forced free slaves to remain on the plantations. In 1878 there was a revolt against the Labor Acts, Queen Mary was the heroine of the Labor Revolt. And after the rebellion the Labor Acts were removed.

The slave revolt of 1848 was led by Buddhoe.

I don't know of any sites that give information on the labor revolts of 1878 and Queen Mary. There are several books on the subject of slave and labor revolts

Highfield, Arnold R. Slavery in the Danish West Indies: A Bibliography. St. Croix: The Virgin Islands Humanities Council, 1994.

The Danish West Indian Slave Trade: Virgin Islands Perspectives. St. Croix, V.I.: Virgin Islands Humanities Council, 1994.

Hall, N. A. T. Slave Society in the Danish West Indies: St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. Johns Hopkins studies in Atlantic history and culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

Olwig, Karen Fog. Cultural Adaptation and Resistance on St. John: Three Centuries of Afro-Caribbean life. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1985.

Paiewonsky, Isidor. Eyewitness Accounts of Slavery in the Danish West Indies: Also Graphic Tales of other Slave Happenings on Ships and Plantations. [St. Thomas, V.I., USA: I. Paiewonsky, 1987.

--Islander

The Discovery Channel had a special on last night at 9:00pm about the slaves of St. John and their revolt. As usual, Discovery did a nice job on the production but I was wondering if all the facts were true or not. It all rang true but one never knows when looking at history. Regardless, it was very sad to see how humans treated one another during that period of time.

Rick: There is a great fictionalized version of the story called "Night of the Silent Drums" by John Lorenzo Anderson. While he manufactures dialog etc in order to make it interesting, he did do a great deal of research. The author does state that he fills things in with his imagination, but it still has historical roots.