In December 1752, Thomas Thistlewood, a white Jamaican planter, caught one of an enslaved man named Congo Sam, trying to run away. When Thistlewood challenged him, Congo Sam pulled a machete and ran at him. “I will kill you. I will kill you,” he shouted. Thistlewood screamed for help but none of his watching Black workers moved to intervene. This talk, with University of Maryland historian Dr. Richard Bell, examines the plantation management strategies that produced such violent resistance. It also reveals that extent of slave uprisings in British North America, using the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina as a case study, and explores the lives of those men and women who escaped slavery by disappearing into the forests and swamps of colonial America.

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Can’t watch the lecture live? We invite you to register; all registrants will receive a link to the recording of the lecture to watch at their convenience. The lecture recording will be available for two weeks. Live closed captioning is available for all lectures.