One
hundred and seventy-seven years ago today (November 7-2018,) on November 7-1841
a 22-year-old enslaved African man seized control of the slave ship “Creole”
which was transporting him and 134 other enslaved Africans from Virginia to be
sold in New Orleans. Madison Washington was the leader of this successful
uprising of enslaved Africans. Surprisingly five of the enslaved Africans chose
to return to enslavement in the United States. The incident of enslaved
Africans who rose up and seized their freedom on the “Creole” is regarded as the
most successful “slave revolt” in American history because 130 enslaved
Africans were freed due to this uprising.
Murphy
Browne © Monday, November 14, 2016
MADISON WASHINGTON AND THE SEIZING OF THE
CREOLE
On
the night of November 7, 1841, Madison Washington a 22-year-old enslaved
African man seized control of the slave ship “Creole” which was transporting
him and 134 other enslaved Africans from Virginia to be sold in New Orleans.
Washington led a group of 18 other enslaved Africans in seizing control from
the White captain and crew of the “Creole.” Washington first demanded that they
sail to Liberia then changed that plan to Nassau, Bahamas.
The
British had colonized the Bahamas in 1649 and made it a British Crown colony in
1718. Following the successful American rebellion against British rule
(1765-1783) some of the British Loyalists had fled to the Bahamas taking the
Africans they had enslaved in the USA. Britain abolished slavery on August 1,
1838 after a four year “apprenticeship” for the Africans from August 1, 1834.
On November 7, 1841 when the Africans on board the “Creole” seized control of
the vessel they first demanded to be taken to Liberia in West Africa. Liberia
had been developed as a colony in 1821 by the American Colonization Society to
settle formerly enslaved Africans. The American Colonization Society was a
group of White people who did not want to share space with Africans who were
not enslaved. They felt that all freed Africans should leave the USA and be
taken to Africa even though they were born in America as were their ancestors
for several generations. Liberia, West Africa was the first choice of
resettlement for Madison Washington after seizing control of the “Creole.” Some
of the other Africans on board wanted to try for the Bahamas which was much
closer. They had heard about the slave ship “Hermosa” which had been
shipwrecked in the Bahamas in 1840 and that the enslaved Africans onboard had
been set free. On October 22, 1840 the American slave ship “Hermosa” was towed
to Nassau, Bahamas with 38 enslaved Africans on board. The Africans were freed
once they landed in Nassau because slavery had been abolished by the British
six years before.
When
the “Creole” landed in Nassau, Washington and his 18 co-conspirators were
jailed because they were accused of killing a White man during their bid for
freedom on the “Creole.” Inexplicably, of the 135 enslaved Africans on the
“Creole” three women, a boy and a girl choose to remain onboard to return to
slavery in New Orleans. Several of the people from the “Creole” who escaped
slavery choose resettlement in Jamaica. Washington and the 18 people he led
during the uprising on the “Creole” were tried and found not guilty. The
Admiralty Court of Nassau held a special session in April 1842 to consider the
charges. The Court ruled that the men had been illegally held in slavery and
had the right to use force to gain their freedom. They were released on April
16, 1842 and disappeared into history.
Madison
Washington is said to have escaped slavery two years before the “Creole”
incident but was recaptured when he returned to the USA to rescue his wife. It
has also been said that Washington was reunited with his wife, who according to
legend was on the “Creole.” Perhaps Washington and his wife settled in the
Bahamas after he was released because there was a substantial free African
community in the Bahamas. This free African community had grown after the
British abolished the international slave trade in 1807. Thousands of Africans
liberated from slave ships by the British Royal Navy were resettled in New
Providence, Grand Bahama, Exuma, Abaco, Inagua and other islands in the
Bahamas.
The
incident of enslaved Africans who rose up and seized their freedom on the
“Creole” is regarded as one of the most successful “slave revolts” in American
history. Enslaved Africans resisted their enslavement by any means necessary
wherever they were enslaved. Africans were enslaved by Europeans in every
country in the Americas (Central, North and South) and on the Caribbean
islands. Their resistance included sabotage, such as breaking tools or setting
fire to buildings and/or crops. They sometimes pretended to be too sick to
work, worked as slowly as they could or pretended not to understand
instructions. Some enslaved Africans poisoned their enslavers. There were some
cases of enslaved Africans accused of poisoning their owners, who were tried
and executed. In 1755, a group of enslaved Africans were accused of killing their
owner. Phillis an enslaved African woman in Cambridge, Massachusetts was
accused of poisoning her owner and executed by being “burned at the stake.”
Mark an enslaved African man who was accused of conspiring with Phillis was
hanged and his body gibbeted (left on display.) An article published in the
September 25, 1755 issue of the “Boston News-Letter” described their execution:
"Thursday last were executed at Cambridge, pursuant to their sentences,
Mark and Phillis, two Negro Servants belonging to the late Captain John Codman
of Charlestown, for poysoning their said Master: They were both drawn from the
Prison to the Place of Execution, attended by the greatest Number of Spectators
ever known on such an Occasion; where the former was hanged by the Neck until
dead, after which the body was Gibbeted; and the latter was burned to
Death." In 1681, an enslaved African woman named Maria tried to kill her
owner by setting his house on fire. She was convicted of arson and burned at
the stake in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts. An enslaved African man named
Jack, convicted in a separate arson case, was hanged at a nearby gallows and
his body was thrown in the fire with Maria’s body as she was burned at the
stake.
Slavery
in Canada was abolished on August 1, 1834 as elsewhere in British colonized
countries at the time. There was no “apprenticeship” period to be served by the
emancipated Africans in Canada unlike in the Caribbean. Slavery in the USA was
abolished 31 years later in 1865. The history of enslaved Africans is rife with
examples of African resistance which led to the end of the practice of
enslaving Africans by Europeans. There are many stories naming White
abolitionists and hardly is credit given to the Africans who resisted in
various ways including armed struggle like the Africans on the “Creole.” The
African struggle to end their enslavement is often ignored, underestimated or
forgotten. African resistance was documented by Europeans only when there was
substantial damage to European interests such as uprisings on slave ships and
arson.
The
African resistance movement included fleeing plantations and establishing
maroon communities (Brazil, Jamaica, Suriname etc.,) from where war was often
waged against the Europeans. In Europe, African abolitionists launched or
participated in civic movements to end enslavement of Africans. They delivered
speeches, provided information, wrote newspaper articles and books. Using
various means Africans in Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe were
consistently involved in the struggle to end the slave trade and slavery. The
abolition of slavery was very much the result of African resistance and
incidents such as the uprising on the “Creole” hastened the end of slavery.
The
descendants of those enslaved Africans continue to struggle against the White
supremacist cultures in the Americas and Europe. Racial profiling exists in
workplaces, educational institutions, housing, policing etc. The Ontario Human
Rights Commission (OHRC) has recognized that: “As racial stereotyping and
discrimination exists in society, it also exists in institutions such as law
enforcement agencies, the education system, the criminal justice system etc.,
which are a microcosm of broader society.” Madison Washington and the other
freedom fighters from the “Creole” are lost in history, seldom remembered.
There are names of our freedom fighters (including Charles Roach, Dudley Laws,
Sherona Hall) that must not be lost, who we must never forget as we continue
the struggle.
Murphy
Browne © Monday, November 14, 2016
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