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Stono: Documenting and Interpreting a Southern Slave Revolt
A sourcebook for understanding an uprising that continues to incite historical debate
In the fall of 1739, as many as one hundred enslaved African and African Americans living within twenty miles of Charleston joined forces to strike down their white owners and march en masse toward Spanish Florida and freedom. More than sixty whites and thirty slaves died in the violence that followed. Among the most important slave revolts in colonial America, the Stono Rebellion also ranks as South Carolina's largest slave insurrection and one of the bloodiest uprisings in American history. Significant for the fear it cast among lowcountry slaveholders and for the repressive slave laws enacted in its wake, Stono continues to attract scholarly attention as a historical event worthy of study and reinterpretation.
Edited by Mark M. Smith, Documenting and Interpreting a Southern Slave Revolt introduces readers to the documents needed to understand both the revolt and the ongoing discussion among scholars about the legacy of the insurrection. Smith has assembled a compendium of materials necessary for an informed examination of the revolt. Primary documents-including some works previously unpublished and largely unknown even to specialists-offer accounts of the violence, discussions of Stono's impact on white sensibilities, and public records relating incidents of the uprising. To these primary sources Smith adds three divergent interpretations that expand on Peter H. Wood's pioneering study Black Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion . Excerpts from works by John K. Thornton, Edward A. Pearson, and Smith himself reveal how historians have used some of the same documents to construct radically different interpretations of the revolt's causes, meaning, and effects.
In the fall of 1739, as many as one hundred enslaved African and African Americans living within twenty miles of Charleston joined forces to strike down their white owners and march en masse toward Spanish Florida and freedom. More than sixty whites and thirty slaves died in the violence that followed. Among the most important slave revolts in colonial America, the Stono Rebellion also ranks as South Carolina's largest slave insurrection and one of the bloodiest uprisings in American history. Significant for the fear it cast among lowcountry slaveholders and for the repressive slave laws enacted in its wake, Stono continues to attract scholarly attention as a historical event worthy of study and reinterpretation.
Edited by Mark M. Smith, Documenting and Interpreting a Southern Slave Revolt introduces readers to the documents needed to understand both the revolt and the ongoing discussion among scholars about the legacy of the insurrection. Smith has assembled a compendium of materials necessary for an informed examination of the revolt. Primary documents-including some works previously unpublished and largely unknown even to specialists-offer accounts of the violence, discussions of Stono's impact on white sensibilities, and public records relating incidents of the uprising. To these primary sources Smith adds three divergent interpretations that expand on Peter H. Wood's pioneering study Black Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion . Excerpts from works by John K. Thornton, Edward A. Pearson, and Smith himself reveal how historians have used some of the same documents to construct radically different interpretations of the revolt's causes, meaning, and effects.
152 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 18, 2019
"Documenting"-4 stars: Kudos to the editor in assembling the complete historical texts in one place with good introductions and applications for each.
"Interpreting"-2 stars: Sadly, the editor's own concluding essay was the worst of all of them. Drums and white cloth meant veneration of the Virgin Mary? It couldn't just be drums for marching and assembling and a banner? This all seems too forced. I much prefer Peter Charles Hoffer's take on the causes/timing of the rebellion in "Cry Liberty."
Final score-3 stars
"Interpreting"-2 stars: Sadly, the editor's own concluding essay was the worst of all of them. Drums and white cloth meant veneration of the Virgin Mary? It couldn't just be drums for marching and assembling and a banner? This all seems too forced. I much prefer Peter Charles Hoffer's take on the causes/timing of the rebellion in "Cry Liberty."
Final score-3 stars
November 7, 2024
sighhhhhhhhh
October 7, 2025
A sufficient collection of both primary and secondary sources regarding the Stono rebellion. Offers a wide array of perspectives surrounding the root cause of the rebellion, and explanations as to why things happened the way they did. Towards the end it introduces some contemporary essays about Stono, some of which are more compelling than others (to say the least) ((looking at you "they did it because they didn't want to be emasculated" essay..))
November 25, 2022
Great collection of contemporaneous and historical takes on an under-appreciated moment in American history. Wonderful assembly of materials.
August 13, 2012
What is the overall relevance anyway of studying American slave revolts??
The fact is that nations, cultural groups, and ethnic groups have a collective
consciousness and a collective memory.
Historical events that have a strong impact on the collective consciousness can vitally influence events or attitudes decades or centuries later.
The Stono slave rebellion, which occurred in South Carolina in September of 1739, had a profound impact on the perceived threat level that slaves constituted.
The South Carolina state legislature had already passed a law in 1739, the Security Act, mandating that all white men had to carry firearms with them when they went to church on Sunday, precisely to guard against this type of revolt.
Colonies like Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia had regulated slave patrols mandated by law, and by the mid 18th century the patrols had become the responsibility of the militia.
So, The Stono slave revolt and other slave rebellions had a crucial impact in the formation of the United States constitution, such as the 2nd amendment.
The 2nd Amendment to The United States Constitution relates to the ability to bear arms in the individual states. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."
The fundamental motivation behind the adoption of the 2nd amendment was the fear that the South would be left defenseless against slave insurrections.
The South did not want the federal government to have the power to disarm the state militias and leave the slave holding states vulnerable to slave revolts.
Very seldom will you hear 2nd amendment advocates acknowledge the true historical roots of the amendment's unstated purpose.
So, understanding the impact and frequency of slave revolts is a vital step in comprehending the subsequent developments in American history.
The Stono revolt was not well documented (only 1 first hand account and that by an anonymous source).
This book collects all the first hand and second hand accounts of the rebellion including one oral history account by a distant descendant of one of the revolting slaves.
That documentary section is followed by interpretive essays by four scholars each with a distinctive emphasis. "African Dimensions", by the scholar, John K. Thornton, draws on English and Portuguese sources to establish the connections between events at Stono in 1739 and the history of West Africa. A very enlightening essay.
All of the scholars acknowledge the likely provocative contributions of Spain to slave revolt activity.
The final essay, "Time, Religion, Rebellion, by Mark M. Smith suggests a very complex set of factors underlying the timing and tactics of the revolts participants.
Once you finish this book it is suggested you read Herbert Aptheker's "American Negro Slave Revolts" in order to get a comprehensive and true picture of the very deep impact slave revolts and conspiracies had on the American psyche and reactive behavior.
The fact is that nations, cultural groups, and ethnic groups have a collective
consciousness and a collective memory.
Historical events that have a strong impact on the collective consciousness can vitally influence events or attitudes decades or centuries later.
The Stono slave rebellion, which occurred in South Carolina in September of 1739, had a profound impact on the perceived threat level that slaves constituted.
The South Carolina state legislature had already passed a law in 1739, the Security Act, mandating that all white men had to carry firearms with them when they went to church on Sunday, precisely to guard against this type of revolt.
Colonies like Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia had regulated slave patrols mandated by law, and by the mid 18th century the patrols had become the responsibility of the militia.
So, The Stono slave revolt and other slave rebellions had a crucial impact in the formation of the United States constitution, such as the 2nd amendment.
The 2nd Amendment to The United States Constitution relates to the ability to bear arms in the individual states. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."
The fundamental motivation behind the adoption of the 2nd amendment was the fear that the South would be left defenseless against slave insurrections.
The South did not want the federal government to have the power to disarm the state militias and leave the slave holding states vulnerable to slave revolts.
Very seldom will you hear 2nd amendment advocates acknowledge the true historical roots of the amendment's unstated purpose.
So, understanding the impact and frequency of slave revolts is a vital step in comprehending the subsequent developments in American history.
The Stono revolt was not well documented (only 1 first hand account and that by an anonymous source).
This book collects all the first hand and second hand accounts of the rebellion including one oral history account by a distant descendant of one of the revolting slaves.
That documentary section is followed by interpretive essays by four scholars each with a distinctive emphasis. "African Dimensions", by the scholar, John K. Thornton, draws on English and Portuguese sources to establish the connections between events at Stono in 1739 and the history of West Africa. A very enlightening essay.
All of the scholars acknowledge the likely provocative contributions of Spain to slave revolt activity.
The final essay, "Time, Religion, Rebellion, by Mark M. Smith suggests a very complex set of factors underlying the timing and tactics of the revolts participants.
Once you finish this book it is suggested you read Herbert Aptheker's "American Negro Slave Revolts" in order to get a comprehensive and true picture of the very deep impact slave revolts and conspiracies had on the American psyche and reactive behavior.
February 5, 2016
Half of this book consists of actual historical sources, contemporary or otherwise, that describe the Stono Rebellion. There are surprisingly few sources that address the event, and not all of them agree on certain details. The other half of this book is comprised of essays by historians seeking to shed light on various aspects of the Rebellion, namely African and Catholic influences. A fascinating and very short book about one of the most well-known slave rebellions in early American history.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews