Slave Revolts in the 1800’s

Slave Revolts in the 1800’s

Early in the 1800’s, many slaves were afraid to revolt because this always resulted in slave captivities and them being tortured and killed. The Amistad Mutiny, occurred in 1839, where Ruiz and Montes kidnapped 53 African Americans from Eastern Africa. They were then taken and sold to what is known as the Spanish slave trade. They were taken aboard the ship and headed towards Havana Cuba. The slaves were receiving harsh treatments. One of the slaves named Joseph Cinqué freed himself and other slaves revolted killing most of the crew members on the Amistad. Ruiz and Montes were spared and were forced by the Africans to return the ship to Africa. Instead they sailed the ship to the United states where they knew  a U.S Navy ship would be. Ruiz and Montes were set free and the remaining Africans were imprisoned. When the Spanish embassy tried to have the slaves returned, the judge ruled the slaves were illegally brought to the United States and were let free.

While Joseph Cinqué was not the only slave who revolted in the 1800’s so did a Slave named Nat Turner. He was an enslaved man who was a preacher, he saw visions and heard voices telling him to rise up and he led a rebellion on August 21,1831. He enlisted about 75 other enslaved people and about 65 white people were killed. Afterwards Turner went into hiding and was eventually captured and killed. His revolt set off a massacre of 200 black slaves being killed and legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of enslaved people.

These two slave revolts tie into the plot of Benito Cereno because Babo was a slave on the San Dominick. When the ship was taken over by Benito Cereno and his friend Alexander Aranda, Babo and slaves revolted and took over. When they killed Alexander Aranda, Babo took control and was trying to get the captain to take them back to their home country. In the 1800’s revolts were common because slaves wanted to be freed. They faced harsh treatments, were sold, taken away from their families, tortured and killed. It took over 250 slavery revolts before America finally realized inhumanity of slavery and abolished it.