The Very First Time Black People Revolted Against Enslavement

haitian revolution fight
Leslie Grover-Taylor
December 17, 2024

It was Christmas, 1521. Everyone on the sugar plantation – owned by Christopher Columbus’ son – was preparing for the season. But our people, who’d been enslaved for nearly 30 years at this point, were planning something far from sweet.

Across Africa, those in servitude were rarely dehumanized or violated. Instead, their servitude was typically temporary, and used to serve the expansion of family ties for those in power. But once white colonizers came into the picture, everything changed for the worse.

So when Africans were enslaved, sent across the ocean, and forced to work sugar plantations for colonizers like Columbus’ son – for LIFE – of course they decided to fight back. In 1521, they banded together and marched along the road, killing every enslaver they saw and freeing every enslaved Black person.

Colonizers, terrified and enraged, called in the army and fought back. They murdered the leaders of the revolt and punished everyone else. But this first revolt sent the message that we would never just lay down and take their abuse! We’ve been battling with white people for control of our bodies ever since.

There’s a lie that the enslaved meekly accepted exploitation by whites. But the first slave revolt in the Americas took place only 30 years after enslavement began! Liberation is worth fighting for – and we have ALWAYS been fighters!

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