The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York

by Mat Johnson

Book by Johnson, Mat

Genres: History, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 23, 2007

About the author

Mat Johnson is an American writer of literary fiction who works in both prose and the comics format. In 2007, he was named the first USA James Baldwin Fellow by United States Artists.

Johnson was born and raised in the Germantown and Mount Airy communities in Philadelphia.

His mother is African American and his father is Irish Catholic. He attended Greene Street Friends School, West Chester University, University of Wales, Swansea, and ultimately received his B.A. from Earlham College. In 1993 he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Johnson received his M.F.A. from Columbia University School of the Arts (1999).

Johnson has taught at Rutgers University, Columbia University, Bard College, and The Callaloo Journal Writers Retreat. He is now a permanent faculty member at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. Johnson lives in Houston.

Reviews

[Phyllis | Mocha Drop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mat Johnson delves into an embryonic era of Colonial American history with his latest offering, The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York. The non-fictional title implies a stoic tome, but surprisingly the author infuses a fresh voice and contemporary observations into the telling of fateful events that occurred some 266 years ago.

The recipe for this 1741 episode of madness is a combination of several ill-timed events: a rumor of arson among townsfolk based on the frequency and strategic pattern of "random" fires erupting throughout the city; a recently discovered thievery ring headed by a none-too-swift white tavern owner, John Hughson, who is "knowingly friendly" with slaves; and a haunting memory of a 1712 Slave Revolt where slaves used burning buildings as bait to lure the Caucasian members of the fire brigade into a fatal ambush. When Hughson is arrested, his imaginative teen-aged "spinster" housemaid, Mary Burton, becomes witness for the prosecution.

Fueled by both an unjust, flawed legal system and racist paranoia, Burton's testimony is heavily tainted by the prosecution and seals the fate of many innocent people, the overwhelming majority who were slaves. The "trial" was huge. Likened in popularity to the modern-day O.J. Simpson murder case, it lasted for months energized by the anticipated public executions (which also served as a form of entertainment) held expeditiously after sentencing. The madness finally subdues when Mary Burton misses her cue and implies that members of New York's elite society were involved. Coincidentally, it is about the same time that white slave owners grew weary of their most prized and expensive possessions (slaves) being withheld from work and destroyed at the expense of their purse, shrinking profit-margins, and public amusement. In the end, 154 slaves and freedmen were jailed, 14 burned alive, 18 hanged and 100 disappeared. Of the whites involved, 24 were imprisoned and four were executed; Hughson, his wife, a known prostitute (who also was "knowingly friendly" with slaves), and an estranged newcomer.

Using actual court documents and the court recorder diaries, Johnson reconstructs a detailed time line against a realistic backdrop cleverly inserting the social mores, political climate, customs, traditions and mindset of the day. It was eye-opening to learn how largely uneducated the masses were and how slaves during this period of time were highly skilled craftsman as opposed to unskilled manual laborers. At opportune moments, the author blends history with modern events, an example being the 1991 discovery of the African Burial ground in Manhattan, and points out where history has indeed repeated itself in years following 1741. Although it is quite obvious how things would end, Johnson's storytelling nonetheless kept me turning pages. History buffs will enjoy this read.

[Carol Storm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-meaning but badly written, full of cheap shots and anachronisms. Mat Johnson simply will not confront the past on its own terms. He has no interest in understanding it or bringing it back to life. He's just looking for another outlet for his indignation. What's most disappointing is that the account of the plot gleaned from court records suggests very strongly that Mary Burton, (the indentured white servant girl who snitched), had been physically and sexually abused by her employers (and de facto owners) for years. Her life was a sad story, but Mat Johnson doesn't care. To him she's Abigail in THE CRUCIBLE, not Kit in THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND.

[RK Byers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Burton was the 17th Century New York Black Man's Joe McCarthy.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

A disappointment. Johnson read some wonderful sources to write this, including several primary sources, but the book is neither historical fiction (which I had hoped) nor is it really a historical analysis. He retells the events with minimal context and 21st century commentary. The best thing about this book is the list of sources Johnson consulted, which I would love to read!

[ohradiogirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed Johnson's previous novels. "The Great Negro Plot" is historical fiction. Not quite the summer read that my reading group had hoped for, but Johnson's sarcasm sneaks in quite a bit to break up the monotony of the continual witch hunt that took place in New York in the 18th century.

[Sisters of the Desert Sun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mat Johnson is great! This account of the New York conspiracy was well researched and delivered in a highly engaging manner. This is a very quick read but leaves you with a wealth of information. The Great Negro Plot was quite informative. Definitely a must read recommendation on my list.

[Karen Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

how to make a nonfiction book to read as literary fiction.

[mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's sympathies are in clear display in his telling of the story of a purported plot by enslaved African-Americans in New York City in 1741. While other writers of this history have found reason to think that there was indeed some setting of fires by slaves, this author doubts there was any such activity at all. Rather, he consigns the accusations to racism and a climate of fear and suspicion, exacerbated by a large slave population (20% of total population of 10,000 of NYC at the time), tensions with Spain due to the War of Jenkin's Ear, and an economic downturn of the city. Nonetheless, this book is an interesting read and disentangling truth from fiction in these distant events, of which contemporaneous accounts are few, is clearly a difficult, if not impossible, task. What is quite clear, however, is that how white Americans viewed Blacks at that time must have contributed extraordinarily to the ease of convicting and executing them for their supposed crimes. Here is a short quote from the trial proceedings which highlights have severe those views were: "They [enslaved Blacks] are really more happy in this place than in the midst of the continual plunder, cruelty, and rapine of their native countries. But notwithstanding of all the kindness and tenderness with which they have been treated amongst us, yet this is the second attempt [referring to the small slave uprising of 1712 in NYC] of the same kind, that this brutish and bloody species of mankind have made within one age." A bit amazing, eh?

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone interested in the injustice that comes out of the hysteria of common people will want to read Mat Johnson’s retelling of Daniel Horsmanden’s 1741 account of the New York Conspiracy. If you love Sarah Vowell’s satirical histories, you will love Johnson’s insights into this tragedy that acts like the Star Trek Genesis device to give rebirth to the voices of the 154 jailed black New Yorkers. 14 of which were burned alive while 18 were hanged. This is to say nothing of those that simply disappeared. Johnson reimagine’s Horsmandan’s account from the point of view of a cross-examining defense attorney. I was easily carried away to the rough-hewn 1741 New York which was a starting point for the slave trade in the new world. Johnson introduces us to the tensions of the time with the 1712 slave revolt and its ugly retribution. Then builds a segregated, stratified, view of a city and its people. I’m not surprised yet swept along to the brutal conclusion. Cruelty always finds the least of us to nest within and flourish. This history made me wonder if the Central Park Five was just another iteration of a lesson we can’t seem to learn.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short interesting book on a little known aspect of Colonial New York. Much of what we hear about regarding slavery is centered on plantation slavery in the south. This book centers on the plight of urban black slaves in the north through the trial of blacks involved in the Great Negro Plot to destroy New York through arson and murder in 1741. The author draws interesting parallels to the Salem witch trials nearly a century before. Although it is not mentioned in the book, I am also struck at how the Colonial justice system in North America appears to be very similar to the Soviet era show trials of the 1930s through 1950s under Josef Stalin.

Although I would have liked to have seen the book fleshed out with a little more background on colonial New York and the colonial officials, the author clearly states that he is focusing on those on trial and their immediate accusers. It is well worth a look by anyone interested in slavery or Black History in Colonial North America.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's pretty well written and very interesting, although Johnson's taste for sentence fragments sometimes irks me.

[Matthew Buletti · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched retelling of a horrific event in New York City’s history, Johnson captivates with prose and rich detail.

[Orville Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at an Arlington Public Library annual sale in September 2016. It is the story about a series of events involving a supposed conspiracy of arson and rebellion by slaves and free Africans in New York Colony in the 1700s. The author provides a good social and political analysis of the colony and the times in the British colonies of that early era.

The ad hoc and prejudicial character of the rudimentary judicial system is a focal point in the events of that century in the relationship between the colonists, Dutch and English, and their slaves and the indentured servants, both white and black, and the free Africans who were in the colony.

Johnson walks us through the twists of the trial and the ever-growing names suggested as invovled in the plot. By the time the fearful and beleaguered accused finished making up names to add to their concocted stories, a whole host of slave and free, black and white, English, Spanish and Dutch were in custody, and a host convicted of death of a pure myth. It is amazing that this was a self-righteous and arrogant society that considered themselves enlightened, the cream of God's creation.

Paranoid fear, unbelievable ignorance and credulity, deep prejudice and frantic fear drove a conspiracy of the establishment and the supposed justice system to badger, pressure, and torture accused until they would make up stories to "confess" what the court wanted to hear, producing a creative body of false stories to satisfy the need.

This story out of the true history of the British colonies ranks with the Salem witch trials to present a picture of ignorant and paranoid brutality and incredible lack of thought in a cruel and brutish system. Among the punishments were roasting alive, and a festival of hanging under the haranguing pressure of a blood-thirsty public.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick account of an interesting event in America's and New York's history.

[Kay Wert · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about a fascinating topic, but the author's poor writing didn't do it justice.