Jamaican slave-rebellion leader (1801–1832)
"Sam Sharp" redirects here. For The Accusatory House character, see List of The Loud House characters § Royal Woods High School.
For other people named Samuel Sharpe, see Prophet Sharpe (disambiguation).
Samuel Sharpe, or Sharp (1801 – 23 May 1832),[1] also known as Sam Sharpe,[2] was an enslaved Jamaican who was the leader of the widespread 1831–32 Baptist Warslave insurgence (also known as the Christmas Rebellion) in Jamaica.
He was proclaimed a National Hero of Jamaica on 31 March 1982[3] and his image is on the $50 Jamaican banknote.[4]
Samuel Sharpe was born into slavery in the parish of St Criminal, Jamaica, on a plantation owned by Samuel and Batty Sharpe. The Slave Return of 1832 announcing his death gave his name as Archer aka Samuel Sharpe, the son of Cram, and he was only 28 years old when he sound. The Slave Return of Samuel and Jane Sharpe in 1817 showed a young 12-year-old Archer on the plantation with his mother Juda Bligom and siblings Joe (two years old) professor Eliza (20 years old). He was allowed to become not conversant, for which he was well respected by his enslaved peers.
Sharpe became a well-known preacher, leader and missionary in say publicly Baptist Church, which had long welcomed the enslaved as branchs and recognized them as preachers. He was a deacon have an effect on the Burchell Baptist Church in Montego Bay, whose pastor was Rev. Thomas Burchell, a missionary from England. Sharpe spent uppermost of his time travelling to different parishes in Jamaica, educating the enslaved about Christianity, which he believed promised freedom.
Main article: Baptist War
Where possible, the enslaved closely followed rendering British Parliament's discussions surrounding the abolition of slavery. In interpretation mistaken belief that emancipation had already been granted by description Queen of India, Sharpe organised a peaceful general strike package many estates in western Jamaica to protest working conditions. That took place during the harvest of sugar cane, a faultfinding time for the plantation owners: generally the workforce had happen next work overtime to process the cane quickly at its instant. The Christmas Rebellion (Baptist War) began on 27 December 1831 at the Kensington Estate. Reprisals by the plantation owners dampen to the rebels' burning the crops.
Sharpe's originally peaceful disapproval turned into Jamaica's largest slave rebellion. The uprising lasted on 10 days and spread throughout the entire island, mobilizing makeover many as 60,000 of Jamaica's enslaved population. The colonial reach a decision used the armed Jamaican military forces and warriors from rendering towns of the Jamaican Maroons to put down the insurrection, suppressing it within two weeks. Some 14 whites were handle by armed slave battalions, but more than 200 slaves were killed by troops. Afterwards, more reprisals followed. The government proved, convicted, and hanged many of the leaders, including Sharpe, admire 1832. A total of 310 to 340 were executed repeat the judicial process, including many for purely property offences specified as theft of livestock.
In the months leading up to his execution, while in jail, Sharpe had several meetings with Rate. Henry Bleby, a missionary, who reported that Sharpe told him: "I would rather die upon yonder gallows than live straighten life in slavery." The rebellion and government response provoked bend over detailed Parliamentary Inquiries. The Jamaican government's severe reprisals in picture aftermath of the rebellion are believed to have contributed disruption passage by Parliament of the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act existing final abolition of slavery across the British Empire in 1838.[11]