1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we 4 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: are headed to Jamaica, which, yeah, not a place who 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: talked that much about on the show even in the 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: past archive not a whole lot about Jamaica. So we're 7 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: headed to Jamaica to talk about a pair of wars 8 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: between the Jamaican Maroons and the British colonial government. For 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: listeners who are not familiar with that term, Maroons are 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: Africans and people of African ancestry who escaped enslavement and 11 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: established communities, usually in remote and hard to access parts 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: of the Caribbean and some of the America's, sometimes also 13 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: intermarrying with the local indigenous population. The term probably comes 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: from the Spanish cimarron for wild or untamed, or maybe 15 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: the French maha on which meant brown uh and although 16 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: particularly summern was initially used to describe wild animals and 17 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: escaped livestock, it's one that Maroon communities still in existence 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: today used to describe themselves. In Jamaica, specifically, the word 19 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,839 Speaker 1: maroon came into use around sixteen seventy. Some of the 20 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: Maroon communities during the days of the trans Atlantic slave 21 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: trade didn't survive very long due to disease and starvation 22 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: and the efforts of slave catchers and others to find 23 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: and capture and destroy. But places that had a combination 24 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: of an enslaved labor pool and remote inaccessible territory were 25 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: likely to become home to a marine settlement, and that 26 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: settlement was typically heavily influenced by the African and indigenous 27 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: cultures of the people living there. There were, and in 28 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: some cases still are Maroon communities all over the Caribbean, 29 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: as well as parts of North, Central and South America, 30 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: anywhere that the jane was difficult. So this included the 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, the Bayous 32 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: of the Deep South, uh Surinamas Jungles, and the mountains 33 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: and ravines of Jamaica, which is where we are talking 34 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: about today. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Jamaica was 35 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: inhabited by the Chino people, who were also called the 36 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: area Walkins. These indigenous people lived through a combination of 37 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: agriculture and fishing, and also inhabited other parts of the 38 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: Caribbean besides just Jamaica. We really don't have a thorough 39 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: sense of their history or culture in Jamaica. Though Christopher 40 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: Columbus arrived in Jamaica on May five, four during his 41 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,359 Speaker 1: second voyage to the West Indies, the first permanent Spanish 42 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:50,359 Speaker 1: settlement followed in Jamaica fifteen years later. The Spanish quickly 43 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: enslaved the Chino people, who did not survive long thanks 44 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: to smallpox and other introduced diseases, warfare, and essentially being 45 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: worked to death. Even as the Chino population was driven 46 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: to extinction, the Spanish population in Jamaica didn't grow particularly quickly. 47 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: By sixteen fifty five, there were about fifteen hundred Spanish 48 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: people living on Jamaica, and they had an enslaved workforce 49 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: of between five hundred and fifteen hundred people. The estimates 50 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: on that number vary, which is why it's so wide, 51 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: and about one hundred of those enslaved were Chinos, who 52 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: were by this point the last of their people, at 53 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: least the last of their people in Jamaican. They basically 54 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: were driven to extinction all over the Caribbean, but the 55 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: timing varies from one island to another. In addition to 56 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: the eradication of the indigenous population. Spain did not make 57 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: particularly good use of Jamaica. They had hoped to find 58 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: gold on the island, but didn't, and once they gave 59 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: up on the gold mine idea, they basically approached Jamaica 60 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: as something they were occupying so nobody else could have it, 61 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: not as an actual valuable resource to exploit. Consequently, that 62 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: same year, which was sixty five, when an English fleet 63 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: arrived off the coast of Spanish Town, the island had 64 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: very little in the way of defenses. The fleet, commanded 65 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: by Admiral Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, had 66 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,479 Speaker 1: been directed by Oliver Cromwell to uproot Spain's presence in 67 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: the Caribbean. Even though they had close to forty ships 68 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,479 Speaker 1: and eight thousand men, the fleet had just failed to 69 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: drive the Spanish out of San Domingo. Jamaica, still kind 70 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,359 Speaker 1: of cobbled together and poorly defended after almost a hundred 71 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: and fifty years of Spanish occupation, really seemed like a 72 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: much easier target, and it was. Spanish colonists. Many of 73 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: them immediately fled north to Cuba, leaving their enslaved workforce behind. 74 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: The Spanish colonists who stayed withdrew from Spanish Town and 75 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: other settlements that were under immediate threat from the English, 76 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: and they fled to more remote outposts, or in some 77 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: cases hid and less hospitable parts of the island's interior. 78 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: The enslaved people who had been left behind, Some of 79 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: them explicitly set free, but others essentially abandoned, armed themselves 80 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: and retreated deeper into Jamaica's interior, where they would form 81 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: the first permanent Maroon communities on the island. They hunted 82 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:15,599 Speaker 1: and began at least some crop cultivation, but they also 83 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: survived through harassing and raiding the English plantations and settlements. 84 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: The Maroons organized themselves in these earliest years into three bands, 85 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 1: one of them we really don't know much at all about, 86 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 1: but the other two each had their own leaders who 87 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: made their way into the historical record. There was Lubolo 88 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: a k A. Wand Lubol or sometimes Wanda Bulus. He 89 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: was the head of one faction, and then Wanda Sarah's 90 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,359 Speaker 1: was head of the other. Don Christopher A. Saucy, the 91 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: last Spanish governor in Jamaica, attempted to mount a resistance 92 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: to the English invasion, and he looked to the Maroons 93 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,720 Speaker 1: under Lobolo for aid. The Marions were at this point 94 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: a much bigger threat to the English than the Spanish were. 95 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: There were more of them, they were better armed, and 96 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: they were increasingly far more familiar with the island's more 97 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: mountainous territory, and they were becoming adept at guerrilla warfare. 98 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: While Lubolo's men were not at all willing to go 99 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: back to being enslaved, they did think that it would 100 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: be better if the Spanish retook control of Jamaica rather 101 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: than staying in the hands of the English, because, to 102 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: use the basic figure of speech, the Spanish where the 103 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: devil they knew. Over the next five years, Spain made 104 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: several attacks on British plantations and settlements. In all the 105 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: ones that have made their way into the historical record, 106 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: Maroons were present as well, and in addition to aiding 107 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: with the attacks on the British, the Maroons were also 108 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: acting as guides and guards to the Spanish in the 109 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: Jamaican back country, in some cases even supplying their food. 110 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: By sixteen fifty eight, English Governor Edward Doyley was fed 111 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: up with the perpetual skirmishes with the lingering Spanish presence 112 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,719 Speaker 1: in Jamaica, so he went to Lubolo himself, offering him 113 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,359 Speaker 1: and his people freedom and self governance if they switched sides. 114 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 1: The below, recognizing that the fighting was starting to jeopardize 115 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: the crops that had become the island's primary food source, 116 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: and really finding it appealing that he would officially have 117 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: self government, self governance, and liberty, agreed. Although the Spanish 118 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: presence in Jamaica ended by sixteen sixty after the English 119 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: and the Marines teamed up against them, the island would 120 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: not be formally ceded to English. To the English for 121 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: another decade, Lovolo and his people were given their promised 122 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: freedom and thirty acres of land a peace, with Lobolo 123 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: named magistrate and his fighting force becoming known as the 124 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: Black Militia. He worked with the English for roughly three years, 125 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: at which point someone possibly Wanda Sarah's, killed him, viewing 126 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: his shift of allegiance from Spain to England as a betrayal. Yeah, 127 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: I found one source that said definitely that's who it was, 128 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: and and I found another source that had all this 129 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: information about warrant to Siris and did made no mention 130 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: of it at all, which seems like a huge thing 131 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: to leave out if it's that's if that's how it 132 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: went down. The First Maroon War in Jamaica grew out 133 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: of England's efforts to establish its governance once it had 134 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: gotten rid of the Spanish, as well as shifts in 135 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: the island's use of enslaved labor, and we will talk 136 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:34,080 Speaker 1: about that. After a quick sponsor break in sixteen sixty two, 137 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: after Jamaica was free of the last of the Spanish 138 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: stragglers and England was attempting to establish a colonial government, 139 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 1: it was obvious that there needed to be some kind 140 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: of consideration of the Maroon population. They were certainly not 141 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: going to return to being enslaved, but their presence was 142 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:56,839 Speaker 1: also outside the bounds of English society. Eventually, instructions to 143 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: this newly created English government read quote of encouragements as 144 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: as securely you may to such Negroes, natives and others 145 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: as shall submit to live peaceable under His Majesty's obedience 146 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: and in due submission to the government of the island. 147 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: The peace between the English and the Maroons didn't last, though. 148 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: By sixteen seventy Wanda Sara's and his band had been 149 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: outlawed and placed under a thirty pound bounty apiece. And 150 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,439 Speaker 1: at the same time, England took a completely different approach 151 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: to the island than Spain had. It moved towards establishing 152 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: huge sugar plantations and importing enslaved Africans as labor. Yeah, 153 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,440 Speaker 1: there were lots and lots of enslaved people who were 154 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: imported into Jamaica as a result of this decision, which, uh, 155 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: basically England was like, man, we can grow so much 156 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: sugar here and makes so much money, whereas Spain had 157 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,079 Speaker 1: sort of been like, if we have this, no one 158 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: else can have it, and it would a lot at all. 159 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: For the next few decades, as these plantations grew and 160 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: their enslaved labor forces grew as well, Jamaica saw a 161 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: huge series of uprisings by the people who were enslaved 162 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 1: on the sugar plantations. In sixteen seventy three, two hundred 163 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: enslaved people rose up against a planter, killed him and 164 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:27,320 Speaker 1: several other white people, plundered surrounding plantations, and then retreated 165 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: into the mountains. More revolts followed in sixteen seventy eight, 166 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: sixteen eighty five, sixteen eighty six, sixteen ninety and sixteen 167 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: ninety six. It was basically an ongoing series of uprisings 168 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:45,680 Speaker 1: on the plantations Simultaneously. The Maroon population grew, both through 169 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: the survivors of successful revolts and people who just managed 170 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: to escape in the chaos, and it grew further in 171 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: sixteen sixty nine or sixteen seventy when a slave ship 172 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: wrecked off the coast of Jamaica, and the people whom 173 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 1: were able to make it to the shore mostly wound 174 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: up moving into the interior and taking refuge with the Maroons. 175 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: Soon Jamaica was home to two broad groups of Maroons, 176 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: the Windward Maroons, who lived on the eastern part of 177 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 1: the island, and the Leeward Maroons, who lived in the 178 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: northwest part of the island. In spite of malaria, tropical illness, heat, 179 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: a devastating earthquake and tsunami in sixte two, and being 180 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: constantly harassed by the French, the Maroons and pirates congregating 181 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:35,199 Speaker 1: in Port Royal. The English presence in Jamaica continued to grow. However, 182 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: the white population was progressively more outnumbered by its enslaved workforce. 183 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: By seventeen o three, there were about forty five thousand 184 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: enslaved Africans on Jamaica. Only about ten percent of the 185 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 1: people in Jamaica were white, and in some places the 186 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: ratio was twenty five to one. By seventeen two, English 187 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: sugar plantations had spread over most of the arable land 188 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: in Jamaica. They had started to cut off the scattered 189 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: Maroons settlements from one another, disrupting trade lines and lines 190 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 1: of communication. And because the British planters and slave owners 191 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: had become increasingly prosperous, most of them had started sending 192 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:17,840 Speaker 1: their children back to England to be educated, and then 193 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: they followed themselves. So Jamaica basically became a nation of 194 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: absentee landlords, with plantations that were run by agents and attorneys, 195 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: under the rule of a governor who was really the 196 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,559 Speaker 1: Crowns representative on the island, and a system of laws 197 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: that either ignored or disadvantaged the Maroon population. According to 198 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: Maroon oral history, the uprising skirmishes and raids on plantations 199 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: we've already talked about. We're all part of their first 200 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 1: war against England, which they waged for eighty years. But 201 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: from the British point of view, it was a lot narrower, 202 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 1: starting only in the late seventeen twenties when they started 203 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,720 Speaker 1: making a more orchestrated effort to find Maroons settlements and 204 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 1: conquer the people in them. This more orchestrated effort, the 205 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 1: British had a lot working against them because they were 206 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: so vastly outnumbered by their enslaved workforce, and they didn't 207 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: have like an official military support provided by the Crown 208 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: to help them in this effort. They had to train 209 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:21,719 Speaker 1: enslaved men as gunners and also used their enslaved workforce 210 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: as porters when searching and fighting against the Maroons. Unsurprisingly, 211 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: a lot of these men abandoned their posts, taking their 212 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 1: weapons and their to cargo with them to join the Maroons. 213 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: So there was like a lot of desertion that also 214 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: robbed the English of their supplies and weapons. In my head, 215 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 1: this plays out as such like a Benny Hill sort 216 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:50,160 Speaker 1: of confused, you know, just cannot get anything organized and 217 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: like to go according to planned situation. Yeah, there's a 218 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: they're One of the reasons that I wanted to do 219 00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: this episode is that there's kind of a perception that 220 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: that during slavery there was not a lot of resistance 221 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: against slave owners. This is an example of how that 222 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 1: was false, uh, and how the British were just continually 223 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: like constantly being rated and constantly losing. Uh. You know 224 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: that the people they had trained to be soldiers in 225 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: this context and like just being harassed and uh and 226 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: bothered continually by the Marion population. And another disadvantage that 227 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 1: they had was that by this point, the Maroons were 228 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: living in some of Jamaica's most inaccessible areas, and they 229 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: were deeply familiar with the terrain. They combined this knowledge 230 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 1: with guerrilla warfare techniques, including the use of camouflage, ambushes, 231 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: catching people in crossfire, communication through horns and drums, and 232 00:14:54,680 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: extensive espionage work, including among enslaved people on the plantations themselves. 233 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: One of the maroons key strategists was a woman known 234 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: as Nanny, also Queen Nanny or Granny Nanny. She was 235 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: from the Windward Maroons. Uh. Nanny described herself as Coramanti, 236 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: which was the English word for people from the Ashanti 237 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: Empire and what's now Ghana. Although there's not a lot 238 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: conclusively known about her biography, she's credited with having masterminded 239 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: the strategy for the Windward Maroons resistance during the First 240 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: Maroon War. In addition to her strategic work, Nanny was 241 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: also an obi a woman. Obia is a belief system 242 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: that involves the influence of spirits in daily life, as 243 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: well as medicine and healing, ritual and magic. Today, she 244 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 1: is the only female national hero of Jamaica and her 245 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: image is on the Jamaican five hundred dollar note. In 246 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: seventeen thirty two, the British took Nanny Town, which was named, 247 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: of course for Nanny. The Windward Maroons recaptured it in 248 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 1: seventeen thirty three, and the English can heard it once 249 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: again in seventeen thirty four after a massive five day battle. 250 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: Nanny herself was rumored to have been killed in seventeen 251 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 1: thirty three, but she was at this point actually still living. 252 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: She wasn't when it came to making negotiations with the 253 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: Windward Maroons UH. Those generally happened with um male captains 254 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: in the in the Maroon society, but Nanny was the 255 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: person that had like the absolute respect UH and influence 256 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: in terms of how they were doing the fighting. After 257 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: the fall of Nanny Town, the survivor split up about 258 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: three hundred of them, including children, made a one hundred 259 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: mile march to try to meet up with the Leeward 260 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: Maroons to a town under the leadership of a man 261 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: named Cudjoe. But the British tried to attack and disperse 262 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: the column before they reached that town, but they failed, 263 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: and they became worried of what would happen once they 264 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 1: had joined forces with the Leeward Maroons. However, the refugees 265 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: from Nanny Town weren't welcome in the Leeward settlement, partly 266 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 1: because there wasn't enough food to support that many newcomers. Additionally, 267 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: though cud Joe, while he had a reputation for being fierce, 268 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: also had a reputation of being somewhat ambivalent about the British. 269 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: He was definitely willing to raid British plantations when it 270 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,160 Speaker 1: suited him and to fight back against the British incursions 271 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: into his territory, but he was a little more pragmatic 272 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,359 Speaker 1: as far as thinking it was probably not going to 273 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: be possible to completely drive the British off of Jamaica, 274 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: which is what some of the Windward Maroons seemed to 275 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: really want to do. He was more interested in securing 276 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: freedom and autonomy for himself and his people, even if 277 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,400 Speaker 1: that meant that the British were still on the island, 278 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: so he didn't entirely agree with the Windward Maroons more 279 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:54,760 Speaker 1: aggressive and continual attacks on the British. As the Windward Maroons, 280 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 1: who hadn't fled to Cudjo's people regrouped and Cudjo's men 281 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,159 Speaker 1: took a cautious but aggressive stance, there was a brief 282 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: lull in fighting in seventeen thirty six. In seventeen thirty seven, 283 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,000 Speaker 1: the Windward refugees went back towards Nanny Town, feeling both 284 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: unwelcomed by the Leeward Maroons and anxious to return to 285 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,480 Speaker 1: the fight with the British. When the British tried to 286 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: put a stop to this conflict in seventeen thirty nine, they, 287 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: perhaps unsurprisingly given his previous behavior, started with Kujo and 288 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,040 Speaker 1: the Leeward Maroons, not with Nanny and her captains and 289 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 1: the Windward Maroons. We'll talk about how the first war 290 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: came to an end and then also wound up leading 291 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:44,639 Speaker 1: to the second one. After another quick sponsor break in 292 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: late March of seventeen thirty nine, Governor Edward Trelawnee commissioned 293 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: Colonel John Guthrie to negotiate a peace treaty to end 294 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: the Maroon War. Guthrie started with Captain's Cudjoe and Acampong 295 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: of the Leeward Maroons. Trelawney himself was eager enough to 296 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,159 Speaker 1: get this over with that instead of just staying in 297 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,960 Speaker 1: town to wait for a treaty to be brought to him, 298 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: he hiked out to a vantage point near the negotiations 299 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: so he could be on hand to sign the treaty 300 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 1: as soon as it was finalized. Cudjoe signed the fifteen 301 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: Point Treaty on March one of seventeen thirty nine. The 302 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,920 Speaker 1: treaty put an end to hostilities between the British and 303 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,360 Speaker 1: the Leeward Maroons, and it granted them freedom and liberty, 304 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: along with fifteen hundred acres of land in northwest Jamaica, 305 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,640 Speaker 1: stretching out from Trelawney Town, the main lyward settlement, through 306 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 1: what's known as Cockpit Country. The Leeward Maroons had the 307 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 1: right to hunt on the island as long as it 308 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,360 Speaker 1: was not within three miles of a white settlement. They 309 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: also had the right to plant crops and raise livestock 310 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,479 Speaker 1: and sell what they grew and raised at the market, 311 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: as long as they had a license to do it. 312 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: The treaty also offered the Leeward Maroons some legal protections 313 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: and assigned them some obligations. The Maroons had the right 314 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:04,080 Speaker 1: to petition officers and magistrates for justice in the event 315 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: that a white person did them harm. The Leeward Maroons 316 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 1: could also handle justice for crimes that their own people committed, 317 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: as long as those crimes were not severe enough to 318 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: warrant the death penalty, in which case that was supposed 319 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: to be handed over to the British court. They had 320 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: to have an annual meeting with Jamaica's Commander in chief, 321 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: who was British as and to white people, whose roles 322 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:30,200 Speaker 1: were not really defined in this treaty, were to live 323 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,400 Speaker 1: with the Maroons in Trelawney Town. I'm imagining that these 324 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,439 Speaker 1: were almost like ambassadors who were living but they did 325 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: it didn't really specify what they were supposed to be 326 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: doing in this treaty. It was also up to the 327 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: Leeward Maroons to maintain roads between their settlements and the 328 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: British towns. Some of the treaty's terms instantly earned the 329 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: Leeward Maroons a lot of enemies. They had to quote take, kill, suppress, 330 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: or destroy rebels on the island, which usually and other Maroons, 331 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: but more controversially quote if any Negroes shall hereafter run 332 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: away from their master or owners and fall into Captain 333 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,920 Speaker 1: Cudjo's hands, they shall immediately be sent back to the 334 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,879 Speaker 1: chief magistrate of the next parish where they are taken, 335 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 1: and those that bring them are to be satisfied for 336 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: their trouble, as legislatures shall appoint. In other words, following 337 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: the signing of this treaty, if people escaped enslavement and 338 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: made their way to Kujo and the Leeward Maroons, the 339 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: Maroons would send them back. This made Jamaica's enslaved population 340 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: incredibly angry, and this was the case for some of 341 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: Kujo's own people to one faction attempt at a last 342 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: minute coup to keep the treaty from going into effect, 343 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: but when Kjo heard about it, he arrested four of 344 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: the ringleaders and turned them over to the governor. Especially 345 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: considering how much maroons survival until this point had evolved 346 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: had involved rating, plantations and liberating people who were enslaved. 347 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 1: There people saw this as a huge betrayal, quite understandably, 348 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: and like that continues still today. The governor, recognizing that 349 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: the deep anger stemming from these provisions had the potential 350 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: to make the situation on the plantations worse instead of better, 351 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: sent troops to one of the plantations where descent had 352 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:27,439 Speaker 1: been the loudest, severely punished the people enslave there and 353 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: executed many of them. For the most part, the Windward 354 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 1: Maroons did not even know that these negotiations had happened 355 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,479 Speaker 1: once those treaties were signed, But once they learned about it, 356 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 1: they realized that between the British and the Leeward Maroons 357 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: they were vastly outnumbered. So under drest they signed their 358 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: own very similar treaty on December twenty three. The captain 359 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: from the Windward Maroons who I signed this was a 360 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: man named Kow. Things were relatively peaceful between the British 361 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: and the Maroons for more than fifty years, but the 362 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 1: British population on Jamaica as before, continued to grow, including 363 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: taking over land that was supposed to be allotted to 364 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: the Maroons. Uh skirmishes started to flare up again, and 365 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:18,159 Speaker 1: the Maroons stopped returning escape east from the plantations, and 366 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: they started raiding those plantations again. Then two Maroons were 367 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 1: convicted of stealing pigs and they were publicly flogged. This 368 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: punishment was carried out by the foreman of the prison 369 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,560 Speaker 1: in Montego Bay, who was black, and it was done 370 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: in front of some people who had escaped from enslavement, 371 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: who the Maroons had returned, and watching from the prison. 372 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,680 Speaker 1: These returned escape ease taunted and jeered the two men 373 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: as they were being punished. The Maroons anger over this 374 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,920 Speaker 1: incident was twofold. They felt number one under the terms 375 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 1: of the previous treaty they should have been able to 376 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,040 Speaker 1: handle dolling out their own punishments, and the way the 377 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: punishment had been carry it out was also particularly humiliating. 378 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 1: This time, the conflict was much shorter. It lasted only 379 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: about a year. Governor Alexander Lindsay ordered the Maroons to 380 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,879 Speaker 1: stand down by August twelfth se but nearly all of 381 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 1: them refused. He extended the deadline to December twenty one, 382 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:23,880 Speaker 1: and then to January one of the following year. Finally, 383 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,880 Speaker 1: it took the recruitment of additional forces and a shipment 384 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,120 Speaker 1: of hunting dogs brought in from Cuba to finally get 385 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: the Maroons to surrender. Yeah, that previous conflict had been 386 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: a lot, lot, lot longer, but this one was a 387 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 1: lot more vicious um and that surrender finally happened in 388 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: March of seventeen ninety six, although many of the Maroons 389 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,680 Speaker 1: didn't actually lay down their arms until a little later. 390 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,679 Speaker 1: Even when the fighting was over, Governor Lindsay considered the 391 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: situation way too precarious to allow the Maroons to return home. 392 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:03,400 Speaker 1: He was particularly worried about the ones from uh Trelawnee Town, 393 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: which was the largest Maroons settlement in Jamaica, so he 394 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: boarded five hundred Trelawney Town Maroons onto two transport vessels 395 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,200 Speaker 1: that were waiting in the harbor by Port Royal, with 396 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: the plan of deporting them in this he had no 397 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: destination in mind, no plan, and no authority from the 398 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:30,360 Speaker 1: British government or the Crown. Eventually he decided on Nova Scotia, 399 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: where after the Revolutionary War enslaved Africans who had fought 400 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,359 Speaker 1: for the British had been sent. The governor got a 401 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:41,359 Speaker 1: deportation law passed by Jamaica's House of Assembly on May one, 402 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,719 Speaker 1: of sevente Even though this plan sounds very bizarre in 403 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 1: a lot of ways, he was completely certain that the 404 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: government was going to be like, yeah, you do that, 405 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: because this is a bad situation. Meanwhile, the Trelawnee Town 406 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:59,679 Speaker 1: Maroons from the transport petitioned to be released under the 407 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: ground that they had laden down their arms under the 408 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: condition that they would not be deported. At first, they 409 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,359 Speaker 1: suggested that they be given some other territory besides Trelawney 410 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: Town that would be further removed from British settlements, such 411 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:16,160 Speaker 1: as deep into the Blue Mountains. When that failed, they 412 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: instead requested deportation to another Caribbean island Instead. The transports 413 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: set sail for Nova Scotia on May eighth. The Governor 414 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: wrote to Sir John Wentworth, Governor of Nova Scotia, on 415 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: June three, to inform him of the incoming five hundred deportees. 416 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:36,719 Speaker 1: The transports landed in Halifax on July twenty two and 417 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 1: twenty three. H Lindsay's letter to Wentworth arrived in August. 418 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,960 Speaker 1: Of course, having had no notice that any of this 419 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 1: was about to happen, there was not a lot that 420 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: Governor Wentworth could do about it. Once these two surprise 421 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: transports of Jamaican maroons arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and 422 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:01,119 Speaker 1: that first winter after their arrival and Halifax was particularly brutal. 423 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:06,880 Speaker 1: Even if it had not been particularly brutal, the the 424 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: comparison of winter in Halifax, Nova Scotia to literally any 425 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 1: season in Jamaica could almost not be more opposite. Yeah, 426 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: it would have been brutal to them, even if it 427 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: had been Nova Scotia's mildest winter on record. So they 428 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,719 Speaker 1: wound up petitioning to be relocated to somewhere with a 429 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,480 Speaker 1: more familiar climate, and those petitions were ongoing for three 430 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: and a half years. They were finally sent to Freetown, 431 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: Sierra Leone, which was by then home to many of 432 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:40,720 Speaker 1: the enslaved Africans that the British had freed during the 433 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 1: Revolutionary War, who had also previously been sent to Nova Scotia. 434 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 1: This whole Nova Scotia plan is so bizarre to me. Yes, 435 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: that's all I have, And Sierra Leone is a whole 436 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: other story in and of itself, so we're not gonna 437 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,679 Speaker 1: dig into that. But no, yeah, that's a whole tale 438 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: that could be its own episode or episodes. Yeah, this 439 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,679 Speaker 1: is one those things where we have to stop the 440 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 1: story somewhere. UH. Sierra Leone and its settlement by previously 441 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: enslaved people did become the model for later attempts to 442 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: settle Liberia UM. So there is some similar history elsewhere 443 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 1: in our archive about that. And as we noted at 444 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: the top of the show, there are still multiple marine 445 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,440 Speaker 1: settlements in Jamaica today and the people living there generally 446 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,439 Speaker 1: continue to observe a culture and traditions that have roots 447 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: in Africa, particularly the Acon people in what used to 448 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,840 Speaker 1: be known as the Gold Coast and is now Ghana, 449 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: And there are also influences from what's now Togo, Beneen, Nigeria, 450 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: and Madagascar. So, as we UH sort of referenced earlier 451 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,000 Speaker 1: in the show, this is an example of how uh 452 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: we don't hear about it as much in history classes. 453 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: But there was ongoing resistance to the institution of slavery 454 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: for a long time in places um that it was 455 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: practiced in the America's and the Caribbean UM, especially before 456 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: the signing of that treaty that so many people viewed 457 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: as a betrayal. I watched an interview as I was 458 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: preparing for this um with some of the Jamaican Maroons 459 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: living today, and I don't remember which African nation their 460 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 1: interviewer was from, but he asked very pointed questions about 461 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: that part of the treaty, um about like whether they 462 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:30,480 Speaker 1: agreed that having peace with the English was worth than 463 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 1: saying that they were going to return people who escaped 464 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: from the plantations, and then also whether if that were 465 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: happening today they would have made the same decisions. He 466 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: was very direct in his his questions about that. Do 467 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: you have a little bit of listener mailed to polish 468 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: this one off? Sure do. It is from Jade, and 469 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 1: it is about our recent episode on Ed Roberts and 470 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 1: the Independent Living movement. Jade says, Dear Tracy and Holly, 471 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: I recently listened to your podcast, Ed Roberts. I just 472 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: wanted to let you guys know that you do amazing 473 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:08,280 Speaker 1: work and make a difference for people, including myself. I'm 474 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: gonna skip a little bit of personal detail, but Jade 475 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: writes about being diagnosed with a fairly rare disorder that 476 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 1: causes a defect in collagen to continue. As a result 477 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 1: of this defect, I'm extremely flexible and prone to numerous injuries. 478 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,560 Speaker 1: I suffer from chronic pain every day and can't do 479 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: much of the things that a normal person would be 480 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: able to do. What makes this disorder so hard isn't 481 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: just the pain, because this is but because this is 482 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 1: an invisible illness. There's not any symptoms you can see 483 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,200 Speaker 1: from the outside. People can't see how much pain I feel. 484 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,800 Speaker 1: Since I've been diagnosed, my condition has only gotten worse. First, 485 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: I had to listen. First, I had to learn how 486 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 1: to use a cane than a wheelchair, which I'm still 487 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: getting used to. Coming to terms with my disability has 488 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: been extremely hard. Having people stare at me to be 489 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: rude or because I quote don't look like I'm just 490 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: sabled is something I struggle with daily. I thought Mr 491 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 1: roberts attitude about the staring was great and something I 492 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: should learn to copy. It's all too easy to be 493 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: anxious about it or get upset with someone. I wanted 494 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 1: to tell you that this episode was incredibly moving to me. 495 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: I never learned about Mr Roberts and any of my 496 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 1: history classes. Sometimes living with a disability feels very lonely. 497 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,240 Speaker 1: I can feel like you're the only one who You're 498 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: the only ones who have ever gone through what you have. 499 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: That's why what you ladies do is so important. You 500 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: give people like me someone to relate to. You make 501 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 1: us feel like we're not alone. Thank you for all 502 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: that you do. You guys are amazing and I am 503 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,280 Speaker 1: so thankful for people like you. You make the days 504 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: that I can't get out of bed so much more bearable. 505 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,360 Speaker 1: Please keep making podcasts like you are now. We need 506 00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: all the role models we can get. With love, Jade, 507 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Jade. This letter number one incredibly kind, 508 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 1: um and thoughtful and moved us both a whole lot 509 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:00,720 Speaker 1: when we got it, uh, and then number two like 510 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: this is one of the reasons that I want to 511 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: talk about disability history on the show so much. UM. 512 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: I feel like we get a lot of requests for 513 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 1: some of the worst parts of disability history. UH, but 514 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: I think it's also really important to give more visibility 515 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: to people whose lives were about living with a disability 516 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: uh and representing that aspect of it um. Because while yes, 517 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 1: there are a lot of parts of disability that are 518 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 1: or of disability history that are horrifying today, we also 519 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:44,160 Speaker 1: have a lot of stories um of basically people in 520 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:50,959 Speaker 1: history who were disabled or became disabled. Um that like, 521 00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 1: that's a part of their story and a a normal 522 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 1: part of the human experience. Um and not like a 523 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: sideshow of horror. Yeah, it's one of those things where 524 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: I I there's part of me that is the ninive 525 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: part of me wants to go. Of course, there have 526 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 1: always been disabled people. Why is this so weird? But 527 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:18,440 Speaker 1: I recognize that there has also been a lot of 528 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:23,720 Speaker 1: effort to not discuss any of those things. So I'm 529 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 1: so glad that Jade got something out of that. That 530 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: was Tracy's wonderful pick and her fabulous research so well 531 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: in a wonderful, wonderful suggestion from a listener I think 532 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: her name was Alyssa. She sent us a note to 533 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: remind after I was like, I didn't write that there 534 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,440 Speaker 1: on and I should have. Yeah, you and I have 535 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,640 Speaker 1: talked about wanting to It's a tricky balance to strike 536 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: on the show in terms of disability history, because we 537 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 1: really want to avoid stories that come off as being 538 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:57,320 Speaker 1: inspiration for non disabled people. Right. Uh. And while it 539 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 1: is important to talk about the how things have progressed 540 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 1: and how things used to be, in a lot of times, 541 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 1: the way things used to be, we're horrifying. UM. It's 542 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: also really important to have representation that disabled people have 543 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: always been here. If you would like to write to 544 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:16,360 Speaker 1: us about this or any other podcast or at history 545 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,000 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com. We're also on 546 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: Facebook at Facebook dot com slash miss in History and 547 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:24,280 Speaker 1: on Twitter at miss in History. Are tumbler is missing 548 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,719 Speaker 1: history dot tumbler dot com. We're also on Pinterest at 549 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: pinterest dot com, slash missed in History and our Instagram 550 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: as a miss in History. You can come to our 551 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,400 Speaker 1: parent company's website, which is how stuff works dot com 552 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:38,680 Speaker 1: and find information on just about anything your heart desires. 553 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:41,280 Speaker 1: And you can come to our website, which is missed 554 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,520 Speaker 1: in History dot com and find show notes for all 555 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: the episodes Holly and I have worked on in an 556 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 1: archive of every episode ever. You can do all that 557 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,440 Speaker 1: and a whole lot more at how stuff works dot 558 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:57,560 Speaker 1: com or missed in History dot com for more on 559 00:34:57,640 --> 00:34:59,920 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. Is it house to 560 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: of works dot com m m hm