An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted on 01/08/2025
(marking the 214th anniversary of the German Coast Uprising)
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Over the holiday weeks I have spent a great deal of time studying and learning about the German Coast Uprising of 1811. If you haven't heard of this transformative event, that's unsurprising as apparently an awful lot of effort has gone into downplaying it. This immersive subject definitely took some time to internalize, and it goes well beyond the scope of this mere trading card entry and its simple illustration*. But I thought it important to at least provide you an on-ramp.
Some scene-setting: 1811 was a time of uncomfortable reckoning for the still-new United States. The Haitian Revolution of 1804 was still fresh in the minds of many, to say nothing of its implications and its massive economic impact --among other things it had prompted Napoleon Bonaparte to cut his losses and sell off the entire Louisiana territory to then-President Thomas Jefferson; doubling the size of the nation for about $.04 an acre. (Jefferson had originally expressed an interest in only purchasing New Orleans!) Sugar had by now assumed dominance of the entire Caribbean market and played a core role in every political decision. But perhaps most discomfiting of all was the reality of Louisiana itself --at this stage only a U.S. territory and not a full state-- as home to not only more than 3,100 gen de couleur libres (free people of colour); but also a Black population that outnumbered the white population by more than 3 to 1, so fugitive slave enforcement was at its barest minimum. Since the revolution, Haitians had been steadily migrating into the newly-acquired Orleans Territory, bringing not only their own culture but the displaced African cultures that had managed to endure, and the inspirational stories about a free Black nation liberated by its own enslaved population had spread across every plantation in the South. Enslaved people didn't have to idly wonder about what a free life might look like; they could see it for themselves.
Enter Charles Deslondes, an unassuming and easily-overlooked slave overseer on the plantation of one Col. Manuel André. Deslondes's own origins are murky --he may have himself originally immigrated from Sante-Domingue, but other sources suggest that he may have been a Louisiana-born slave. But whatever his circumstance, his relatively light "mulatto" complexion, intelligence, and affable nature afforded him the status of Driver, and the surrounding culture permitted him to move about and socialize generally without limits, and over the years he cultivated the acquaintance of many: including veteran Haitians and a fair number of Africans who were well-versed in military tactics. On January 8 --what might be described as his own personal Feast Of The Epiphany-- following months of covert planning, Deslondes and his 15 co-conspirators attacked (but did not kill) André, though they did kill his grown son Gilbert. They quickly rallied more than 80 additional compatriots to strip the plantation's useable weapons, tools, and supplies, and with Deslondes having donned one of André's uniforms, initiated a march along the East coast of the Mississippi River from (what is now) St. John the Baptist Parish to St. Charles Parish. Their stated goal was no less than the total liberation of Orleans and the establishment of a independent free Black state. They even had a slogan all picked out: "Vivre Libre ou Mourir" (which my fellow New Hampshirians should certainly be able to appreciate).
Extremely short and harrowing version: the uprising lasted 3 days, damaged or destroyed 5 plantations and recruited up to 125 liberated slaves, and eventually included anywhere between 300 and 500 participants... but was ultimately stopped in Cannes-Brûlées by the intervention of several territorial militia (including one led by André) on January 11. Deslondes was himself executed on January 15, along with 44 other co-conspirators, without any sort of formal trial, with their heads and hands stuck onto pikestaffs as a public warning against further insurrection. The final casualty count stood at 95 dead Black rebels but only two dead whites (counting Gilbert André). The immediate aftermath of the uprising led territorial governor William C. C. Claiborne to petition for Louisiana statehood (and with it, far stronger military defensive measures), not to mention an almost immediate spike in far harsher slave policing ordinances and codes --also incidentally banning reading and literacy among Blacks, and nearly all forms of public assembly. (It may even be argued that the underlying reason for the U.S.'s decisive victory in the Battle Of New Orleans exactly four years later, was simply because the entire port had by then been turned into an armed camp in anticipation of the next slave uprising.) But as measured by sheer numbers, the German Coast Uprising is, without exaggeration, the largest slave revolt in U.S. history --larger in scope or scale than even the more well-known Stono Rebellion or Nat Turner's rebellion. And yet there is scant mention of this tumultuous event in most American histories.
View the German Coast Uprising memorial at the Whitney Plantation (warning: deeply moving but still disturbing depiction) - https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2023/02/08/the-slave-revolt-you-didnt-learn-in-history-class/
Listen to more about this oft-omitted chapter in American History at: https://www.wwno.org/show/louisiana-considered/2024-01-22/hear-the-story-of-the-deslondes-rebellion-the-largest-revolt-of-enslaved-people-in-u-s-history
View an engaging summary video by author and historian Clint Smith, III in an episode of "Crash Course:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYOA_sS5q-A
* - As is so often the case with these tales, absolutely no visual representation of Deslondes exists from which I could create an illustration; I therefore resorted to what can only be described as a "stock graphic" by an anonymous artist, as depicted in an 1820 newspaper article describing slave uprisings in general --this early-edition WordPerfect ClipArt must have been popular as it found its way into many other periodicals over the years, presumably designed to gin up outrage by its forbidding depiction of an armed, muscular Black man.
Next lesson - Lesson 170: Alberta Williams King