How to Control the History of a Slave Rebellion: A Case Study from the Sources of Blackwall's Revolt in St Mary's Parish, Jamaica, 1765

Enslaved people in Jamaica staged a series of insurrections from 1760 to 1766 that challenged British colonial authority. Much attention has been paid to the first and largest of these insurrections, popularly known as Tacky's Revolt. Far less has been written about a subsequent event from 1765. Although minor in scope and impact, Blackwall's Revolt is important because it resulted in an unusually detailed textual archive. This archive provides a unique opportunity to see how planters forced their knowledge of slave revolt into established narratives, meant to advance the politics of colonial society. The following article examines that process through discussions of rebel leadership, gendered resistance, and slave–Maroon alliance.