The Stono Rebellion
A group of enslaved people led by a man named Jemmy gathers on the banks of the Stono river in South Carolina and marches, with drums and banners, in the largest slave insurrection in Britain's mainland North American colonies. It is suppressed. The detail that matters for this Journey is the drums: the colonial authorities read them as a signalling and assembly technology, which is one of the things a West African ensemble drum genuinely is, and legislated accordingly.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Colonial prohibition of drumming · phenomenon · British mainland North America, principally the Carolinas · not located
- The West African drum ensemble · cultural practice · West and West-Central Africa · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
The Negro Act of 1740, Province of South Carolina
The Act restricted assembly, movement, earning and literacy among enslaved people and barred the use of drums, horns and other loud instruments, the colonial authorities holding that drums functioned as a means of assembly and signalling. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary from encyclopaedic and museum accounts; the statute text was not read, and no section or clause number is cited.
Province of South Carolina general assembly · 1740-05-10 · Partly verified
The Negro Act of 1740 (South Carolina slave code), passed in response to the Stono Rebellion of 9 September 1739
Recorded on Colonial prohibition of drumming
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.