Today marks the 200th anniversary of the largest slave rebellion in U.S. History. On January 8, 1811, Charles Deslandes and 10 other men led a slave army of 500 through St. Charles and St. James Parishes. Marching in formation and dressed in military uniforms, the army came within 15 miles of conquering New Orleans. A website has even been created by students at Tulane University to help promote understanding of the slave revolt:
1811slaverevolt.com. Many events are being hosted throughout Louisiana to honor this event. Notably,
Destrehan Plantation is hosting a
year-long commemoration of the anniversary.
To learn more about the 1811 Revolt, come by the Earl K. Long Library and enjoy our Louisiana and Special Collections. Here are some of the titles you may peruse:
Ripe for revolt: Louisiana and the tradition of slave insurrection, 1803-1865 by Junius Peter Rodriguez
National newspaper and legislative reactions to Louisiana's Deslondes slave revolt of 1811: a thesis by Thomas Marshall Thompson
The rattling chains: slave unrest and revolt in the antebellum South by Nicholas Halasz
If we must die: shipboard insurrections in the era of the Atlantic slave trade by Eric Robert Taylor
And this title is currently on order:
American uprising: the untold story of America's largest slave revolt by Daniel Rasmussen
Sonnet Ireland
Head of Federal Documents
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Subject Specialist: Legal Research, Political Science
Urban Studies, Engineering
