When New York Burned for Freedom
Picture this: Manhattan, 1712, when the city was just a small colony hugging the southern tip of the island. Nine whites were killed in the riot, and six were wounded. But this wasn’t just random violence – it was the first coordinated slave rebellion in what would become the United States. The slaves fired into the crowd of whites, causing panic. On the night of April 6, 1712, a large well-planned and violent uprising began on Maiden Lane, which at that time ran along the northern edge of the city. The uprising started when enslaved Africans, mostly of Coromantee heritage from Ghana, set fire to a building as a signal for other slaves to join them. The rest were brutally executed: four were burned alive; one was crushed by a wheel; one was kept in chains until he starved to death; a pregnant woman was kept alive until she gave birth and was then executed; and the others were hanged. The brutal response revealed just how terrified…..