Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood: The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823 [Paperback]

Emilia Viotti da Costa (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195106563 | ISBN-13: 978-0195106565 | Publication Date: February 27, 1997

The 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With thorough, judicious research, Yale history professor da Costa reconstructs "one of the greatest slave uprisings . . . of the New World," which occurred in the British colony of Demerara, now known as Guyana, in 1823. She records the debates in Britain and its outposts over rights and reforms, showing how planters and missionaries differed and how the colony's slaves grew resentful of the pace of change. Missionary John Smith, drawn to Demerara by serendipity, became a convert to the slaves' causes and was blamed for the rebellion; he was sentenced to death, but died in jail. Da Costa suggests, rather, that some 12,000 slaves, stimulated by rumors of freedom and by harassment, linked to one another by family and work loyalties, started the uprising on their own, seizing their plantations. Though only three whites died during the rebellion, hundreds of slaves were killed or wounded and 33 were executed after summary trial. The conflict ultimately influenced the British decision a decade later to abolish slavery in its colonies. Illustrations not seen by PW .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Da 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 colony in northeastern South America, later known as Guyana. With precise, penetrating analysis, the Brazilian-born Yale historian and winner of a MacArthur fellowship exposes and examines the antecedents of the three-day carnage and the subsequent highly controversial trials of captured rebels. Relying on local and world perspectives drawn from abundant archival records and broad reading in the recent scholarship on slavery, antislavery reform, and religion, da Costa offers a sensitive and skillfull portrait that captures the rules and rituals of repression and recalcitrance in a slave society in the Americas on the eve of abolition. Highly recommended for collections on slavery, antislavery, blacks, and the British Caribbean.
- Thomas J. Davis, SUNY-Buffalo
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195106563
• ISBN-13: 978-0195106565
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > History > Americas > South America > Guyana

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