American Quilombo

Woodland Plantation
Photo: Debbie Elliot/NPR

This post is an invitation to learn about the largest uprising of enslaved persons in U.S. history, which took place in Louisiana in 1811. The uprising was organized among workers in captivity in several sugar plantations along the very lowest reaches of the Mississippi River, downstream of New Orleans. 

I learned about this place and its story from journalist Debbie Elliott's interview with twin sisters Jo and Joy Banner. They are descendants of these plantations who led the effort to return this property to black ownership and to launch a new form of plantation tourism that is honest about the terrible history of these beautiful buildings. The story link includes the six-minute audio and abundant links to continue exploring this important history. The Banner sisters and their colleagues are telling a complex and layered history that connects many facets -- up to the present patterns of environmental injustice -- to the original sins of this land.

The revolt was initially successful, with the takeover of Woodland Plantation. The uprising continued, with its participants working their way along the river toward New Orleans. Their progress was soon ended by local militias and the U.S. Army, which was not to fight against slavery until another half century had passed. The brutality of slavery is illustrated by the medieval cruelty of the response.

Despite teaching a course about New Orleans for the past several years, I have not yet been to the city. When I do go, I now know that I will need to spend a couple of days to the south, in the lodgings available at Woodland. 

The word quilombo that I use in the title of this post is somewhat misplaced, but it came to me when I heard the first few seconds of the broadcast story. It is a Brazilian term for the usually small, very remote settlements of people who had escaped slavery. When I first heard that the Woodland Plantation story was about the largest uprising against slavery in the United States, my mind went immediately to these communities in Brazil. Although organizers of this uprising hoped to establish something like a quilombo in New Orleans, it was not to be. 

The pedestrian option in Google Maps gives some sense of the scale of the travel these revolutionaries were attempting. 

Lagniappe

Almost immediately after I posted this, an online friend asked if I had read How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, the first non-fiction book by New Orleans poet Clint Smith. I am very surprised that I had not heard of this 2021 publication, which has been very enthusiastically received by reviewers on Goodreads, whose description begins:

Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks-those that are honest about the past and those that are not-that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves.

This work spans several centuries and thousands of miles. We are looking forward to reading the audio edition, read by the author himself. Often a professional actor does better readings than the authors can do, but this audio version comes recommended, and I look forward to hearing this important work in the voice of a poet.