Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood: The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823The night of August 17, 1823 saw the start of one of the most massive slave rebellions in the history of the Western Hemisphere, the uprising in the British colony of Demerara (now Guyana), in which nearly twelve thousand slaves took up arms against their masters. In Crowns of Glory, Emilia Viotti da Costa tells the riveting story of this pivotal moment in the history of slavery. Studying the complaints brought by slaves to the office of the Protector of Slaves, she reconstructs the experience of slavery through the eyes of the Demerara slaves themselves. Da Costa also draws on eyewitness accounts, official records, and private journals (most notably the diary of John Smith, one of four ministers sent by the London Missionary Society to convert Demerara's heathen), to paint a vivid portrait of a society in transition, shaken to its foundations by the recent revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Casting new light on the nuances of racial relations in the colonies, the inevitable clash between the missionaries' message of Christian brotherhood and a social order based on masters and slaves, and the larger historical forces that were profoundly eroding the institution of slavery itself, Crowns of Glory is an original and unforgettable book. |
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CROWNS OF GLORY, TEARS OF BLOOD: The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823
User Review - KirkusAn engrossing history of an obscure incident: the 1823 mass uprising of slaves in the South American British colony of Demerara (present-day Guyana). Da Costa (History/Yale) draws on ample primary ... Read full review
Crowns of glory, tears of blood: the Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictDa Costa re-creates the historical moment of one of the most massive slave rebellions in the history of the Americas--the uprising of 9000 to 12,000 blacks in August 1823 in Demerara, the British ... Read full review
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abolition abolitionism abolitionists African asked attorney authorities Bachelor's Adventure Barbados Berbice Bolingbroke British government British Guiana Caribbean chapel Chateau Margo Cheveley Christian coffee colonists colony complained congregation cotton Court of Policy Craton Demerara and Essequibo Dutch East Coast Elliot emancipation England Essequibo evangelical Evangelical Magazine females fiscal flogged free blacks freedom Further Papers Respecting Georgetown Goodluck governor Guiana History Ibid Jack Gladstone Jamaica John Smith John Wray Journal labor later lived London Missionary Society Mahaica managers manumission masters McTurk merara militia mission Murray negroes night notions number of slaves obeah overseers Papers Respecting Insurrection Parliament percent plantation planters preach protector of slaves punishment Quamina rebels religion religious Resouvenir Richard Price rituals Royal Gazette Saramakas seemed sent slave population Slave Rebellions slave society slave trade Slavery social sugar Sunday things told tried West Indian West Indies whites wife women Wray's letter wrote
Bibliographic information
| Title | Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood: The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823 ACLS Humanities E-Book Oxford University Press paperback |
| Author | Emília Viotti da Costa |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1997 |
| ISBN | 0195106563, 9780195106565 |
| Length | 378 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Latin America / South America |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |