Mulatto Jack
Mulatto Jack, Black Irish rebel, fl. 1736.
Background[edit]
Mulatto Jack was an Irish-born man of mixed African and Irish ancestry, others including the well-known singer Rachael Baptist (fl. 1750–1775). Because of their skin colour, Black Irish and British were always in danger of being kidnapped and sold into slavery, even those such as Jack and Rachael Baptist who had never being born into slavery. At some point in his life, Jack was kidnapped in Ireland and enslaved in Antigua.
The Klass 'plot'[edit]
Due to the horrific conditions imposed by British and Irish whites, African slaves had staged a number of revolts in 1701 and 1729. A successful slave rebellion on the Danish island of St. John may have inspired Kwaku Takyi, aka Court or Prince Klaas, to plan one in from about December 1735. However the plot, if it existed, was betrayed in 1736:
"under interrogation (and occasionally torture), a total of 32 slaves confessed to having some stake in the scheme. In all, 132 were convicted of participating in it. Of this number, five, including Klaas, were broken on the wheel. six were gibbeted (hung in irons until they died of hunger and thirst) and 77 others were burned at the stake."
It is uncertain if Kwaku or any slave had indeed planned to revolt, or if the whole affair was the product of white panic.
Jack's fate[edit]
Brought before the authorities, Jack outlined how the course of events had brought him to participate in the plot:
“A person called Mulatto Jack was brought before us as a criminal slave concerned in the plot. But he alleged that he was free born in Ireland and stolen thence and sold here as a slave. We think he proved his allegation, and we submit it to the legislature whether this mitigates his crime.”
Jack's fate is unknown.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- Brian Dyde, "A History of Antigua", London & Oxford: Macmillan Education, 2000.
- David Barry Gaspar. “The Antigua slave conspiracy of 1736: a case study in the origins of resistance”, in The William and Mary Quarterly 35:2, 1978.
- David Barry Gaspar. “‘A mockery of freedom’: the status of freedmen in Antigua society before 1760”, in Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 56, 1982.
External links[edit]
- "America and West Indies: January 1737 | British History Online". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- Liam Hogan. ""As intentional as the forgetting that follows…" — Medium". medium.com. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
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