On this day, 7 April 1760, a rebellion of enslaved people known as Tacky's rebellion broke out in the then-British colony of Jamaica.
It was sparked when around 100 mostly Akan and Coromanti people who had recently been abducted from modern day Ghana took over their plantation in the parish of St Mary, led by a Fante man called Tacky. They successfully overran British troops at Fort Haldane, seizing weapons and ammunition, while the rebellion grew.
Within a couple of days the governor of the island sent two British military detachments, as well as three companies of Maroons. Maroons were free communities of Africans who had escaped slavery, but they were obliged by their peace treaty with the British.
Facing the unfavourable odds, many rebels returned back to their plantations, while a small band fought on in the woods until Tacky was killed by a Maroon marksman. The remainder of his men killed themselves in a cave, preferring death to returning to slavery.
Although Tacky's revolt was over, similar rebellions of enslaved people broke out across Jamaica, and it took colonial authorities months to put them down, which they did with the utmost brutality, burning some rebels alive and starving others hanging in cages.
Tacky's rebellion - WCH | Stories
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