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CULTURAL AND POLITICAL RESISTANCE AMONG BLACKS IN ST. CROlX

Professor Gregory Freeland Department of Political Science California Lutheran University

Thousand Oaks, California

XXlV Annual Meeting Caribbean Studies Association

May 24 - 29, 1999 Panama City, Panama

Cultural and Political Resistance Among Blacks in St. Croix

In July 1848 black slaves on St. Croix staged a revolt in order to obtain their freedom. The

revolt was not the only one that occurred in St. Croix or in other areas in the Caribbean where

there were slave populations. For example, in 1733 on St. John, fifty slaves were implicated in a

revolt; in Antigua in 1736 forty-eight blacks were executed for participation in a plot to overthrow

the planters; and in 1763 in Berbii an estimated 2,000 rose up and killed 200 of the colony's

346 whites1 During the eighteenth century over 300 slave revolts took place in Venezuela, and

during the first hatf of the nineteenth century in Cuba there were slave uprisings involving

hundreds of slaves in each revolt. Jamaica in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries recorded

numerous revolts with approximately 400 participants. During the decade from 1 730 to 1 740,

there was one revolt every year in Jamaica. By the nineteenth century the frequency of slave

revolts affected economics, such as, crop loss and decreased returns on investments, enough to

heighten the abolition movement in England and influence the movement for a ban on slave

trading in Denmark. In 181 6 about 60 plantations were sacked and burned in Barbados. Two Akan

conspirators, Sam Hector and George Foot, banished from Antigua after the 1736 eruption,

10rlando Patterson, "Slavery and Slave Revolts: A Sociohistorical Analysis of the First Maroon War." Social and Economic Studies, v. 19, n. 3, (1 970). pp. 289-325. Barry Gaspar, "The Antigua Slave Conspiracy of 1736: A Case Study of the Origins of Collective Resistance." William and Mary Quartedy, v . 35, n. 2 (1978), pp. 308-324. J. J. Hartsinck, "The Story of the Slave Rebellion in Berbice," translated by W. E. Ruth. Journal of Brib'sh Guiana Museum and Zoo, 20-27 (1 958). Hilary McD. Beckles, "Caribbean Anti-Slavery: The Self- Liberation Ethos of Enslaved Blacks." Journal of Caribbean History, v. 22, nos. 1-2 (1 988), pp. 1-1 9.

ended up in St. Croix where they were linked to a 1759 revolt there.* The most successful

uprising was the Haitian Revolution of 1804.

Although the period from the late eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth

century was marked by revotts, rebellions and revolutions in the Latin AmericalCaribbean region,

much of the resistance to slavery and to the discrimination that followed its demise was carried out

subtly within everyday cultural practices and did not involve violence or the use of arms. Because

repression by the state and plantations was effective, a common view during the period of slavery

in the region was that black slaves were politically apathetic.3 But this view of course was based

only on the fact that there were not overt physical acts of resistance on a daily basis. Specifically,

this view fails to take into account the fact that black p o l i l awareness at the time was primarily

predicated on the desire of the slave population to retain their own cultural formations. The nature

of this retention of cultural forms varied from country to country and from situation to situation. St.

Croix's blacks for example, while in the midst of repressive sanctions designed to keep them

peacefully at work, carried out pdiical resistance as a part of their every day activities. Resistance

by the blacks on St. Croix took place at work, at play and during worship, and whatever the goal -

be it stealing from their masters or gaining more time off from work - their actions were political. This

form of resistance that played a pivotal role in the final acts of resistance that ended on July 3,

1848 with the Governor General of the Virgin Islands dedaring to a gathering throng of black slave

resisters that blacks were emancipated from that point on.

In order to understand more fuHy what transpired in St. Croix, it is necessary to interrogate

the influence that Africa and Europe had on the island and how this influence translated into

cultural resistance by blacks. Because Denmark could not attract Danish settlers to St. Croix, the

2~chuler, Monica, "Akan Slave Rebellions in the British Caribbean," Savacou, v. 1, n. 1, p. 25.

3~i lary McD. Beckles points out that historians have taken a step forward in recognizing a slave ideology of struggle, but have moved two steps backwards in implying that it was a depoliticized peasant world, dialectically opposed to plantation hegemony, which rebel slaves pursued in Taribbean Anti-Slavery: The Self-Liberation Ethos of Enslaved Blacks' in Journal of Caribbean History, V. 22, N. 1-2, 1988, p. 16. Richard Sheridan's position in Sugar and Slavery: An Economic History of the British West Indies, 1625- 1775. Bridgetown, 1974, who found that slaves revolted when they were underfed and overworked, is pointed to as a typical example of historians view of slaves as apolitical.

cultural influences on the island were even more diverse than in other Caribbean colonies. The

Danish ruled the country and official business was conducted in Danish; Dutch, whereby Dutch

and Dutch-Creole were the most widely spoken languages4 In addition, there were German

missionaries; Sephardic Jewish and French traders and craftsmen; English and Irish plantation

owners; Scots-Irish overseers; and blacks from numerous cultures in Africa, especially Guinea.

The intermingling of these cultures was complex. The numerical superiority of slaves, along with

their quick adjustment to Christianity, led to more widespread use of the slaves' language by

Europeans. Creole originated because of the need for a common medium of communication

between the Dutch colonizers and the multiple language slave c~mmunity.~ After slave trading

was banned, slaves drew away from many Africanisrns and adopted Creole forms with a heavier

emphasis on a mixture of European and African cultures. However, the African cultural matrix still

was a major force in the resistance to slavery. The study of the formation of cultural identity and

resistance on St. Croix, therefore, requires an analysis of this interaction between cultures and

because St. Crok was a Danish colony whose plantation system was administered largely by the

English and Irish, the history of the island differs appreciably from that of the other Caribbean

countries. For another example, it was the Moravians, Catholics, and the Dutch Reformed Church

not the Danish Lutherans, who had the greatest influence with converting the slaves to

Christianity, which is in contrast to much of w h l has been found in Catholic colonization practices

in countries where Catholicism is the dominant religion.

The period between the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century was a

period of rapid political, economic, and social changes for St. Croix. Between 1745 and 1755

there was an economic boom for St. Croix cotton planters, and by 1767 there were 95 cotton

4~u tch merchants provided the model and inspiration for the first Danish colonial efforts and Dutchmen were present in large numbers in the first Danish colonies. Arnold Highfield, "Toward a Language History of the Danish West lndies and the United States Virgin Islands," in Svend Holsoe and John McCollum, eds., The Danish Presence and Legacy in the Virgin Islands. Frederiksted, St. Croix Landmarks Society, 1993, p. 129.

=~egro Dutch Creole was spoken by both blacks and Europeans, but since it was primarily the language of the blacks, it was called Negro Dutch Creole, and since it was Dutch in origin, it was called Negro Dutch Creole. Negro Dutch Creole shares many characteristics with other Creole dialects, such as, French and Spanish Creole. Jens Larsen, Virgin Islands Story. Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1950, p. 103.

estates on the is~and.~ During the latter half of the eighteenth century an increased population in

the plantation system was triggered by an increase in the international demand for sugar, which

led to a shift in mop emphasis and an increased importation of slaves, mostly from Guinea and the

Gold Coast of Africa. Denmark had conducted consistent trade on the Guinea coast since 1658,

after conquering Sweden's Fort Carolusborg. Once the demand for sugar and slaves began to

soar, Denmark passed an edict in 1755 that said the slave trade had to be conducted by Danish

registered ships and that blacks bought in Danish Guinea had to be taken to the Danish West

Indies, which included St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. A 1777 edict prohibited the imp~rt of

slaves into the Danish West lndies aboard foreign ships and ordered that sugar exports from the

Danish West lndies be sent to Copenhagen. Both public and private individuals and companies

became wealthy on the money and sugar bought back to Denmark on the third leg of the

triangular trade route. After 1802 there was a steady decline in the black population, mainly

because of the Danish abolition of the slave trade in 1803, and by 1846 the slave population had

dropped to 17,000. For Denmark, St. Croix was a critical link in what is known as the triangular

trade in which Danish goods were loaded on ships bound for Guinea, and goods were exchanged

for slaves who were loaded on board for the transatlantic trip7

Among the myriad of settlers on St. Croix, it was, however, members of the Dutch

Reformed Church and the Moravians who were crucial in establishing a close relationship

between religion and capitalism in the slave p0~ulation.8 The wealth flowing out of St. Croix

6 ~ e o r ~ e Tyson, "on the Periphery of the Peripheries: The Cotton Plantations of St. Crok, Danish West Indies, 1735-1 81 5." The Journal of Caribbean History, v. 26, n, 1 (1 992), p. 4.

7 ~ r i c Williams identifies the black slave trade as one of the most important business enterprises of the seventeenth century and its organization was entrusted to a company which was given the sole right by a particular nation to trade in slaves on the coast of West Africa. The Danish West India Company, for example, was chartered in 1671 and allowed in 1674 to extend its activities to Guinea. Williams, Eric. Fmm Columbus lo Caslro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492-1969. London, 1970, p. 137.

8 ~ h e Moravians are rooted in the fifthteenth century Czech particularism and nationalism that created confrontation with Roman Catholic domination. Forced to go underground they resurfaced in Germany in the 1720s and soon after they moved out to become missionaries in Africa and the West Indies. Theologically, the Moravians focused on man's natural depravity and his concomitant disposition to sin and in order to attain salvation, one needs to become aware of the grace provided by Jesus Christ's sacrifice and then accept it freely. Therefore, the work of the missionary was to make the non-believer aware of this state and convert and attain salvation. Arnold Highfield, "Patterns of Accommodation and Resistance: The Moravian W i e s s to Slavery in the Danish West Indies." The Journal of Caribbean History, v. 28, n2 (1994), pp. 138-

required a population of black slaves softened to varying degrees by messages of hope,

obedience, and devotion to a higher spiritual power. The Moravians were critical in the

development of the settlement, because of their sustained efforts in converting and educating

blacks. The Lutheran Church, the official religious institution in Denmark, provided spiritual

guidance mostly to the Danish residents. Slaves did, however, benefii from the Lutheran

presence. For example, a typical St. Croix Sunday was for the feast of the Lutheran Church.

Danish royal birthdays were also celebrated with a day off. These days were like free days for

slaves because work was suspended. A significant portion of a work-free Sunday was spent on

religious activities not related to the Lutheran Church. By 1835 ninety-nine percent of slaves on

St. Croix had been baptiied. In 1788 an observer desaibed seeing as many as 200 slaves from

the same estate on their way to church, and his description makes it appear that going to church

was an opportunity for social interacti~n.~

Atthough by 1788 slaves had the freedom to go to church en masse, the status of the first

blacks and the majorii of those who followed was still that of perpetual bondage. Equal and/or

natural rights did not apply to slaves. For example, in 1735 a planter was acquitted without

question after he shot one of his slaves. There were also a significant amount of free blacks (by

the end of the 1790s, free blacks outnumbered the white population) who were prevented from

planting cotton unless they owned the land, and they were required to carry papers indicating

their free status at all time. While the St. Croix planters urged the increased importation of slaves,

the legal system tried to develop methods of containing the growing black population.lO

Waldemar Westergaard found that on the Danish Islands the severity of punishments to slaves

139. Moravian missionaries viewed slavery as a system that was imposed by God and shouM be abolished by God.

90f the total slave population on St. Croix in 1805,66.1 percent were baptized and by 1835,99 percent. Neville A. T. Hall, Slaves' Use of Their 'Free' Time in the Danish Virgin Islands in the Later Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century." Journal of Caribbean History, V. 13 (1 980). pp. 23-24.

1°~oveia, Elas, The West Indian Slave Laws of the Eighteenth Century," in Laura Foner and Eugene Genovese (eds.), Slavery in lhe New World: A Reader in Comparative History New Jersey, 1969. Hall, Neville A. T., Maritime Maroons: Grand Marronage from the Danish West Indies," in William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd, Sents, v. XLII. October 1985. pp. 476-497 and "Slave Laws of the Danish Virgin Islands in the Later Eighteenth Century,' in Rubin, Vera and Arthur Tudin (eds.). Cornparafive Perspectives on Slavery in New World Plantation Societies. New York, London, 1979. pp. 174-1 86.

increased with the increase in the importation of s1aves.l One ordinance in 1733 provided

punishments for slave crimes ranging from pinching and branding with hot irons to flogging and

hanging. Any black found guilty of raising a fist against whites was punished severely. Slaves and

free blacks had to wear distinguishing clothing when out in the public sphere; they were forced to

observe a curfew; dancing was forbidden except with permission; and free blacks had to live in

residences of specific dimensions in a particular part of town.' With political, social, and

economic rights taken away blacks, were compelled to focus on what they did have. Conditions

got better for free blacks (referred to as coloreds), who were beneficiaries of a plan by the

Governor General Peter von Scholten's 1830 plan that contained statements, such as, "where

free persons of color assimilate in color, mind and good conduct to whites they deserve to equal

footing with the white inhabitants and differences based on color should cease."l By the 1840s

soda1 barriers to free blacks had began to evaporate. However, Mack slaves on St. Crobc couM

exercise some freedom only within religion and education, and much of black cultural resistance in

St. Croix grew out of these two social structures.

Resistance

Blacks on St. Croix created several forms of resistance designed to help them survive or

attenuate the oppression, as well as to build confidence and sustain hope. Numerous forms of

everyday resistance, such as, stealing from the master, work slowdowns, arson, escaping, and

various acts of insolence toward masters and overseers, were utilized by black slaves. Many of

these forms occurred during downtime or leisure time, when the daily tasks of the slave were

suspended because it was a Sunday or a holiday, or because crops were harvested or the

~estergaard, Waldemar, The Danish West lndies under Company Rule. 1671-1754. New York. Macmillan Company. 191 7. pp. 157-1 61.

2~evil le A. T. Hall, "Anna Heefaard-Enigma." Caribbean Quarterly, n. 22 (1 976), p. 63.

lhev i l le A. T. Hall, The Victor Vanquished: Emancipation in St. Croix; Its Antecedents and Immediate Aftermath." Nieuwe West-lndische Gids, v. 58, nos. 1 -2, (1 984), p. 3.

weather was bad. Slaves who practiced a trade or worked on the docks, on ships or in warehouses

had free time as part of their workday. During their free time slaves sang and danced or

participated in superstitious or religious activities. These practices provided the cultural context for

resistance. These activities, along with the aforementioned secular forms of resistance, gave

blacks immunrty from absolute control by the slave masters and by whites in general. The

enclosed system of slavery also promoted group identification among the blacks, who primarily

came from Guinea, but also from along the coast of West Africa from Guinea to ~ngo1a.l

Whatever and whenever leisure time was available to Macks, the free time activities provided the

opportunity to develop and sustain culture. Unless some activities aroused suspicion among the

planters, they appeared to take littie interest in what slaves did during their time off.

Despite the success European Christians had with bringing Christianity to the slaves,

magic was a primary form of resistance. On St. Croix the magical was known as Obeah, and it

survived despite attempts by overseers, Christian missionaries and slave masters to temper, or

eliminate the use of magic by the slaves.' Practitioners of Obeah could call up spells for better

treatment from the masters, for more strength and courage, and for the will to resist nunerous

demands placed on them by their masters. A constant Row of blacks from Guinea up to 1803

helped sustain African customs, superstitions, omens and proverbs.l Not only was magic used

to influence relations between master and slave, but also for a social control and power within the

black community. Witches, for example, were feared and one belief was that if a witch glanced into

the eyes of a newborn baby it could possibly take the baby's breath away.l These beliefs waned

somewhat after the official halt to slave trading in 1803. From 1803 up to the revolt of 1848 the -

l 4~uinea was St. Crobt's primary source of slaves, but a number of slaves came from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, GoM coast, Togo. Dahomey, Nigeria, and Congo. Erik Lawaetz, St. Cmix: 500 Years, Pre- Columbus m 1990,2nd ed., v. 1. Herning, Denmark, Poul Kristensen, 1993. Also, Philip Cum, The Allantic Slave Trade: A Census. Madison, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Press. 1969.

50beah is a form of sorcery and all African societies have believed that sorcery is basically anti-social and tended to attribute most forms of mkfonune to it and, therefore, are afraid of sorcerers. Mbiti, John, Afn'can Religion and Philosophy. New York, pp. 261 -263.

16~aldemar Westergaard, The Danish West lndks Under Company Rule, 1671-1 754. New York, The MacMillan Company, 191 7, p. 158.

slave population had evolved from predominately African born to Creole and St. Croix blacks

belief in magical powers decreased, but Obeah was never completely eliminated from practice

among a portion of blacks on St. Croix.

Western religion also played a role in forms of resistance. Here again leisure time provided

on Sunday provided not only an escape from the hardships of daily life, but a social outlet where

slaves could discuss more than their spiritual life. The white missionaries, who preached

obedience, succeeded in teaching aspects of Christianity to St. Croix blacks. Blacks acquired

fundamental aspects of Christianity from missionaries, often converting these ideas into

inspiration for survival and resistance. To foster movement into Western religious practices, the

missionaries sought without success to eliminate the music and dance that contained African

elements and also desires for freedom imbedded in the lyrics of Christian songs. Among the

several religious groups engaged in teaching Christianity to St. Croix blacks, the Moravians were

the most effective; howwer, the Moravians themselves were surprised at the will that slaves had

in maintaining some African behavioral patterns.

The first Moravian missionaries arrived in the Virgin Islands in 1732, and Denmark did not

establish a Lutheran mission on the islands until two decades later. There was planter opposition

to the Moravian missionaries until it appeared that the missionaries were encouraging slaves to

work harder and obey their masters. In addition, religious faith tempered and sometimes overcame

black slaves' fear of their master by reserving their ultimate fear for the powers emanating from

heaven. St. Croix blacks paid a cultural price for religious conversions, because as time passed, it

become harder for them to maintain African customs as their behavioral patterns began to have a

mixture of African and European cultures. Arnold Highfield describes a technique where Moravian

religious leaders elevated slaves to a new status when they were baptized by ascribing an aura of

prestige to the baptism and the subsequent membership in the Moravian congregation.la Once

this status is attained any disposition by converted slaves to practice African music, dance or

religion could be met with exclusion from the congregation. Slaves enjoyed the festive religious

18~rnold Highfield, 'Patterns of Accommodation," op. cit., p. 143.

days surrounding church service and baptisms and became reluctant to jeopardize them.

However, the goal of complete Europeanization and Christianization that the European planters

and religious leaders desired for blacks was not achieved, because blacks developed a tendency

to hide Africanisms from the Moravian brethren and the slave masters.

The Moravians also influenced the development of black forms of resistance because

they played such as active role in their education. Moravian religious texts were translated into the

Dutch-Creole, the dominant language of black slaves. Many of the influential blacks, both free and

nonfree, were trained in the Moravian faith. For example, a well known Moravian black slave named

Mingo, was a leader in the black community. Danish Lutherans did make some attempts to convert

among the free blacks although the overall impact was small. In 1835, there were 2,120 free and

1,904 nonfree black Lutherans on St. Croix, making it the only major religion with more free

members than n0nfree.l The grafting of African religion onto Christianrty was not as much factor

on St. Croix as it was in the maprity of Caribbean islands, which is most likely due to intense

infusion of the doctrine by Moravians.

Secular education and literacy proved to be another structure in the black slave's life on

St. Croix that facilitated resistance. The overall education of the Mack population was also left to

the Moravian missionaries. The Danes made minuscule efforts to establish educational facilities for

blacks. They were not interested in establishing Danish culture in the Virgin Islands nor were they

interested in teaching the Danish language. This was primarily due to the fact that there were very

few white Danish children on St. Croix, and the Danes in general were absentee landlords. Dutch

was the preferred language, which is a testament to the large number of Dutch planters on the

island. Neither the German speaking Moravians, nor the Danish speaking Lutherans attempted to

teach their respective languages to the blacks. Blacks had created their own version of a Creole

language, so the Europeans simply allowed this language to merge with the Dutch, which

resulted in Dutch-Creole being the language of choice. The first Lutheran missionary in the Virgin

9~a l l , Neville A. T., "Slaves' Use of Their 'Free" Time in the Danish Virgin Islands in the Later Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century," in Journal of Caribbean History, v. 13, (1 980), p. 24.

Islands, J. C. Kingo, published a Creole ABC book and translated Danish books into Creole to be

used for reading lessons in an effort to satisfy a 1755 regulation which stated that slaves needed

to know how to read to obtain access to the Holy

Dutch Creole also contained idiomatic expressions from Africa combined with Danish,

French, Spanish, and German. The English planters, overseers, and drivers, who by the late

eighteenth century achieved a large presence on the island and maintained thousands of slaves,

did not take part in attempting to adjust English to fi Dutch Creole, choosing instead to

concentrate on speaking their language with as r i le external influences as possible. English

eventually became the dominant language on St. Croix after Lutheran and Moravian missionaries

began to use English, which the blacks had come to understand but not speak. The English

influence increased when the British invaded and occupied St. Croix from 1801 -1 802 and from

1807 to 181 5, after which the English planters made a concerted effort to Anglicize the island.

Once English spread from the cities to the countryside the Moravians officially substituted English

for Creole in 1839 and the Danish government officially replaced Creole with English in 1841. The

Governor General, Peter von Scholten, introduced a school system for slaves in 1838, with

English as the official medium of instr~ct ion.~~ In St. Croix black chi ien were said, primarily

through reports from missionaries, to be attentive and responsive. This type of positive evaluation

of the slaves encouraged authorities to increase leisure time to include Saturdays in order to get

in a half day of instruction. Plantation routines also had to be adjusted. Older children were taught

three hours during the morning of the free day Saturday in 1843. The declaration of the free day

in 1843 also introduced a market day that was rescheduled from Sunday. The markets provided

an important opportunity for slaves from different plantations to socially interact. The added free

day and increased education influenced events of July, 1848.

20~srgen Bjertegaard, "The Danish School System in the Former Danish West lndies from 1702-1 91 7," in Svend Holsoe and John McCollum, eds., The Danish Presence and Legacy in the Virgin Islands, Frederiksted. St Croix Landmarks Society, 1993, p. 59.

211bid., p. 61.

The largest market day was held in Frederiksted, a port town which along with

Christiansted, the other mapr port town, attracted almost all of the slave population at one time or

another. In this larger urban area, blacks were not monitored as strictly and there was a wider

variety of activities they could engage in other than going to church. Leisure time in the rural areas

was more controllable, while in the urban areas there were ways to relax other than cleaning living

quarters and going to church. As a result, much time could be spent communicating with slaves

from other plantations and occupations, as well as, expressing ideas about freedom and

conspiracies. Slaves and free blacks docking for long and short periods of time had stories to

share about their particular situations. Urban conditions had a direct influence on the

destabilization of St. Croix's slave system.

By the midnineteenth century, perhaps as a result of widespread

religious conversion, planters began to change their views of blacks and envisioned them as

members of extended plantation communities. However, the quality of life differed from plantation

to plantation. Blacks working on certain plantations were likely to be better fed, for example, than

others. Erik Lawaetz, a historian and planter in St. Croix recalls that St. Croix had a reputation for

having the healthiest slaves, which to him signified a type of humane slavery, thus, when blacks

resisted, planters and Danish officials would criticize their actions as a demonstration of

ungratefu~ness.~~ This attitude was not uncommon and is part of what Highfield refers to as the

myth of Virgin Island hist0ry.~3 Planters consistently felt that resistance among their slaves

amounted to ungratefulness, but the reality is that Danish masters did not consider denying

freedom to St. Croix blacks as a moral problem. When slaves overtly resisted by running away or

committing arson, the planters supposed concern for the workers' well being turned into concern

for exacting punishment.

221nterview with Erik Lawaetz in St. Croix, June 30, 1997. Jens Larsen, a Lutheran missionary, in Virgin Islands Story, Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1950, points out that many historians find that slaves in the Danish West lndies were treated better than elsewhere. Waldemar Westergaard in The Danish West lndies under Company Rule, New York, MacMillan Company, 191 7, found that the planters' economic self interest compelled them to well treat their slaves.

23~ighfield, Arnold, "Myths and Realities in Virgin Islands History." The Isaac Dookhan Memorial Lecture, University of the Virgin Islands, November 14 and 15, 1996.

Sugar and cotton cultivation in St. Croix provided slaves with greater autonomy and the

chance to incorporate more African practices, such as singing and language, into their work

routine. The slaves took advantage of whatever opportunities for personal independence came

their way, accommodating themselves to the demands of the dominant culture while preserving

and insurrections, such as the ones in 1746 and 1759, which resulted in more repressive rules,

but also more planter efforts in securing slaves more leisure time. Also in 1755, in an effort to

improve the conditions of slaves, the Danish government issued a code requiring planters to

provide a set amount of food and clothing for slaves.

The 1833 emancipation by Parliament of slaves in the British colonies was an important

turning point for the history of slavery in the Danish West Indies. Since the Danish government

could or wwM not compensate the slave owners for their slaves, the status of slaves had to be

changed some other way. Under the leadership of Governor General Peter von Scholten, the

process of easing the laws concerning the strict separation and control of free blacks was created.

Although distinctions were to continue, free blacks were allowed to integrate more fully with the

white population. Also, attention was directed to the condition of slaves. Marriages and the

purchase of freedom by slaves were permitted, although it was very difficult for a slave to obtain

money. Additionally, by January 1842 there were eight public schools in St. Croix that were given

the mission of educating all blacks.24 This did not prevent St. Croix blacks from organizing and

staging a revolt in 1848.

The 1848 revolt in St. Croix is notable for its success in bringing about cultural and political

restructuring on St. Croix. Since the Haitian Revolution in 1804, there had been numerous

revolts, conspiracies, and rebellions in the Caribbean, but they did not result in the end of

s1aver~.~5 All the forms of resistance, the African retentions, and the adaptations made to the

24~eville A. T. Hall, "Slaves' Use of Their 'Free' Time. op. cit. see also Hall's "Establishing a Public Elementary School System for Slaves in the Danish Virgin Islands 1732-1 846." Caribbean Journal of Education (January 1 979).

Danish and planter responses to forms of slave resistance formed the will and readiness of St.

Croix blacks to seize the moment and carry out this successful revolt. For example, final planning

for the revolt took place during a leisure day, Sunday, July 2. On Sunday night, fires were lit and

conch shells blown from the estates on western St. Croix to signal the movement of over 8,000

slaves to converge on the fort at Frederiksted to demand their freedom.

Two of the main organizers of the revolt, Moses Robert, who was a skilled mason and

cooper, and Martin William, who was a carpenter and mason, worked jobs where they had

discretionary time, as well as the leisure time provided by the state, so they had more time to plan

and discuss this revolL26 During market day the Saturday before the revolt, emancipation was a

popular topic of discussion among the vendors and shoppers. Lateral communication among the

slaves was efficient, because the planters had set up a communication network between house

slaves and craftsmen slaves to enhance production.27 The slaves utilized this network to

coordinate events on July 2 and 3. Unlike the Haitian Revolution and numerous unsuccessful

revolts, the St. Croix revolt was bloodless primarily because the Governor General, after 16 hours

of yells and screams for freedom, announced to the crowd that they were free and hereby

emancipated.28

Conclusion

As the plantation owners and operators implemented their strategy for keeping blacks

under control, blacks were responding to this strategy with strategy of their own. As this

-

25~obert Dirks found references in the literature to seventy slave uprisings between 1649 and 1833 in the British Islands alone. He found large scale uprisings that spread throughout the colony, as well as, small scale disruptions localized to individual estates. The Black Saturnalia: Conflict and its Ritual Expression on British West Indian Slave Plantations. Gainesville, University of Florida. 1987.

26~vend Holsoe, "The Beginning of the 1848 Emancipation Rebellion on St Croix," in Svend Holsoe and John McCollum, eds., The Danish Presence and Legacy in the Virgin Islands, Frederiksted, St. Croix Landmarks Society, 1993, pp. 76 and 78.

27~h is system allowed slaves who heard the new of the forced-freedom of slaves in neighboring islands, they rapidly communicated to slaves on other estates throughout St. Croix. Richard Schrader, "Discussion on the 1848 Emancipation Rebellion," in Svend Holsoe and John McCollum, eds. The Danish Presence and Legacy in the Virgin Islands, Frederiksted, St. Croix Landmarks Society, 1993, p. 87.

28~eville A. T. Hall, "The Victor Vanquished: Emancipation in St. Croix; Its Antecedents and Immediate Aftermath." Nieuwe West-lndische Gids, v. 58, nos. 1-2, (1 984), p. 3.

relationship evolved oftentimes black resistance achieved the upper hand. The most obvious

resistance was the revols. The more subtle forms of resistance worked to maintain an

environment and create conditions where a revolt would be possible. When the plantation owners

and operators responded to overt black resistance, their strategy became one in which a certain

that would allow for the continuation of economic operations. In other words, the give and take

relationships between the blacks and whites on St. Croix did not result in a breakdown of St. Croix

as a po l i t i i entity. Blacks were ultimately able to secure political and social portions of power, but

the economic power remained and continued to be elusive.

Religion, while teaching obedience and acceptance of capitalism, also provided the locus

for resistance. This duality meant that at times blacks were able to maintain their cultural heritage,

but also lost it at times. On the whole, the Moravian strategy underestimated the depth and

permanence of black aspirations. The African cultural heritage survived and provided inspiration to

resist and survive Western missionary efforts to eliminate it, however, largely due to aeoliation

after 1803, Moravian, and to a lesser extent Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Dutch Reformism,

efforts were effective in converting enough blacks to prevent collective resistance before 1848.

Black accommodation to Christianity and plantation rules did not translate into

contentment with Europeanization and blacks did not expect in their interactions with white

planters and missionaries to receive a sense of justice without some agitation on their part. The

black slave strategy of cultural resistance and agitation had risks in a repressive society where

Europeans controlled the means of power, but whatever St. Croix' black slaves' demeanor in the

presence of planters and missionaries, they found ways to sunrive the repression. This was

demonstrated in the modes of expression they chose and in the ways they chose to confront the

mechanisms of the slave system. When they could no longer contain their anger rebellions and

revolts were the result. With the disruptions caused by the revolts and rebellions, the control of

the planter system and the superiority of Western religion came into question. The idea of black

freedom found expression in varying degrees of cultural resistance from work slowdown, to

escape, and finally to a direct appeal for emancipation. The day after emancipation on St. Croix,

however some white planters and dissatisfied officials retaliated and a group of blacks were shot

down. This led to three days of looting and burning in response to this brutality and weeks of court

hearings to sort it all

St. Croix blacks demonstrated how everyday forms of cultural resistance can accumulate

and produce successful political resutts. The skillful use of free time and useful adaptation of

Western religion was repeated several times throughout the slavery in the Latin

American/Caribbean region. The uniqueness of the St. Croix situation further demonstrates how

cultural resistance can flourish even under dissimilar cultural, political, religious, and economic

conditions.

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