 On July 2, 1947, Elizabeth Mary Furlong was born in Birmingham, England. Her mother was an Irish woman named Mary Maureen Furlong studying classics at Newman College of Cambridge University. Her father was a Nigerian diplomat named Lawrence Odiatu Victor Anionwu studying law at the University of Cambridge. Elizabeth’s parents met while attending Cambridge. Mary’s family was a strict Irish Catholic family, because of their values and beliefs, it was difficult for Mary to tell her family she was pregnant by a Nigerian man and unmarried. Once Elizabeth was born, her grandparents took guardianship of her and attempted to present Elizabeth as their own, but her brown skin made it clear she was not their child. Her grandparents were caring for her initially so her mother Mary could continue school, and her father currently was not in the picture. Elizabeth was placed in a boarding school where she experienced harsh treatment by her classmates and the nuns caring for the children. Her skin color and hair made her an outcast among the children, she also had to bear with extreme eczema. The eczema was treated daily with coal and tar paste and wrapped with bandages. Elizabeth could remember being in extreme pain as the bandages were removed for treatment, some of her skin would be removed with the bandages. Of all the nuns that cared for her skin, there was one nun she described as the “nun in white”, who was cautious about hurting Elizabeth as she applied and removed the bandages, in the process, she would tell Elizabeth jokes to distract her from the pain. This experience is what inspired Elizabeth to become a nurse. At the age of nine, Elizabeth’s mother withdrew her from the boarding school and brought Elizabeth to live in her home with her husband. As time passed and Elizabeth settled with her mother and stepfather. Negative judgments about having a mixed-race stepchild began to annoy Elizabeth’s stepfather. The social pressure was said to lead him to become violent within their home. As a result, Elizabeth’s grandparents gained custody while she finished her schooling. At 17, she was accepted to study nursing at the Paddington General Hospital, after several rejections from other institutions. She was an exceptional student who graduated with honors. Elizabeth attributed her rejections to her skin color and not having knowledge of her father. She had to attach a picture of herself to her applications and answer a question about her father’s occupation. As she began attending Paddington she learned that funding was created to aid migrants from south Asia, the Caribbean, and East Africa, but no such thing was happening, so she brought the issue up with her supervisor, and the result was her being given a failing grade for her class. Because of the connections, she made around the institution and around Paddington, London, she was able to be granted an appeal of her failing grade, avoiding her failing the class. Elizabeth also took up a fight against the National Health Services of London for practicing racial discrimination. In March of 1972, Elizabeth became increasingly interested in learning who her father was. She wrote a letter to her mother asking about her father but did not give the letter to her mother. She learned the name of her father at the age of 24. A few months after writing the letter, she approached a man who was a lawyer from Sierra Leone named John Roberts about her father. He did some investigating and found information about her father. He even spoke to her father on the phone. When he revealed this information to Elizabeth, she was shocked to learn that he spoke to her father, thinking he lived in Nigeria. She was even more shocked to learn that her father lived only an hour and a half away from her. The next day she drove to meet her father. She arrived at his residence, approached his front door, and rang his doorbell, when he opened the door they greeted each other with the warmest loving hug. They both were excited to see each other. From that point on, they built a strong and loving relationship. She was able to meet her father’s side of her family in 1973, as she traveled with her father to Nigeria. She was fully embraced by his family. This was the first time in her life that her skin color did not make her an outcast. She felt connected to her father and his family. She felt connected with herself. So connected, she decided to change her name to Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu. Her father died in 1980, but his impact on her life was permanent. Her trip to Nigeria also inspired her to further pursue her career as a nurse. During the trip, she learned that one of her cousins had sickle cell anemia. This was her first time ever learning about sickle cell, but she was curious and wanted to learn more. After returning to London and continuing to practice as a nurse, no one could answer any of her questions about sickle cell because it was a little-known condition at the time in London, mainly because it did not greatly affect white people. She would later begin to gain more information about sickle cell by attending a lunch-and-learn talk by a hematologist named Misha Brozovic. During the talk, she asked numerous questions, so many questions that Misha tracked her down after the lunch-and-learn to ask Elizabeth to join her in working to learn more about sickle cell. Elizabeth and Misha began working together as the only people in the UK seriously interested in studying sickle cell. By 1979, they made great progress, so much progress that they made a two-room hospital into the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Information, Screening and Counselling Centre. For a period of time, because of the sickle cell center, Elizabeth was the only person in London treating people with sickle cell. Elizabeth and Mish worked for years treating people with sickle cell while receiving virtually no funding because once again, sickle cell anemia was not a disease that greatly affected white people. In 1981, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter named Azuka. The relationship with Azuka’s father did not last long, so she began raising her daughter as a single parent. Along with raising her daughter, Elizabeth fought tirelessly against institutional discrimination from the National Health Services, while working to find better ways to treat sickle cell. Elizabeth was greatly influenced by the late great Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse who established the “British Hotel” which was described as a mess-table and comfortable quarters for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. Because of the influence of Mary Seacole, Elizabeth founded the Mary Seacole Center For Nursing Practice. A center where black nurses and nurses from all walks of life, can study without discrimination and rejection. The center was also founded to challenge the National Health Service and its discrimination against non-whites. Elizabeth worked as a nurse from 1979 until 2007, the year she retired, but her work would never truly stop. After nursing, she began bringing awareness to the life and works of Mary Seacole, becoming the vice-chair of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal. Elizabeth and a committee raised 500,00 Euros in a twelve-year period to create and erect a statue of Mary Seacole at the St. Thomas hospital. During her career, Elizabeth was a senior lecturer for the Institute of Child Health, at the University College London, advocating for people living with sickle cell anemia. She became the dean of the School of Adult Nursing Studies and was also a professor of Nursing at the University of West London. She was a member of the Sickle Cell Society, Nigerian Nurses Charitable Association of the UK, Vice President of Unite/Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association, and Honorary Advisor to England's Chief Nursing Officer's Black & Minority Ethnic Strategic Advisory Group. She has published over 32 pieces of literature and a memoir titled Mixed Blessing from a Cambridge Union in 2016. In 2001, Elizabeth's career and service in nursing earned her the distinguished honor of being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2004, she received the Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing, for her pioneering work in sickle cell and thalassemia treatment. In 2007, she was appointed Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London. She also received a host of other awards and is still being awarded to this day for her pioneering work. To Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to support the OTSOG book series. References: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/10/elizabeth-anionwu-the-cool-black-and-exceptional-nurse-who-fought-to-make-the-nhs-fairer https://www.elizabethanionwu.co.uk/about-me/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Anionwu
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 In 1875, a baby boy was born who would become one of the world’s foremost classical composers and political activists. That baby was Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, born to Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor and Alice Hare Martin, in Holborn, London. Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor was born in Sierra Leone and is a member of the Creole ethnic group that’s a mixture of people from Sierra Leone and African Americans. Daniel Taylor worked as a doctor and was also the Imperial Coroner in the Gambia. There is debate about Daniel’s presence in Samuel and Alice’s lives. One source says Daniel left London returning to the Gambia unaware of Alice being pregnant. Another source says Daniel was aware of Alice being pregnant with Samuel but returned to the Gambia to work as the Imperial Coroner while keeping in touch with his son. Alice was an English woman living in Croydon during the time of her and Daniel’s relationship. After Alice’s split with Daniel, she gave birth to Samuel. She also lived with her father in Croydon until meeting and marrying a railroad worker named George Evans. Alice named Samuel after her favorite poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, founder of the romantic poetic movement in England. Music was very influential for Alice and her family, many members of her family were musicians and Alice’s father taught Samuel how to play the violin when Samuel was a young boy. Not only did Samuel show interest in the violin, but his skill level improved quickly, prompting his grandfather to pay for his violin lessons. At the age of 15, Samuel was accepted to the Royal College of Music in South Kensington, London. Samuel entered the Royal College of Music as a violinist, but after studying under the professor and composer Charles Villers Stanford, his focus changed from the violin to composing music. His change to composing and hard work paid off because after his graduation he became a professional musician, composer, orchestra conductor, and professor at the Crystal Palace Company's School of Art in East London, England. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor the composer was becoming very popular in London and abroad. His works earned him an invitation to present his compositions at the Three Choirs Festival in London, England, a prominent music festival held by the three cathedrals of Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester. Samuel debuted his composition “Ballade in A Minor”, which was considered a masterpiece and earned Samuel the title of “genius”. By this time Samuel had created 30 compositions with “Ballade in A Minor” being his most popular at the time, he then composed Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, a piece that allowed Samuel to tour the United States three times, and the piece was conducted by his former professor Charles Villiers Stanford at a premiere in 1898. Samuel’s first tour of the United States was in 1904. Then-president Theodore Roosevelt welcomed Samuel because of his musical success, influence, and his growing work in racial and social politics. Roosevelt receiving Samuel in such a manner was uncommon for the times, especially in the United States with race relations not being favorable for black people. Touring the United States helped Samuel learn more about himself and his ancestry, and he learned more about traditional African music and how he could incorporate African music into his compositions. Samuel eventually met and collaborated with the great African American writer Paul Lawernce Dunbar, and even recreated some of Dunbar’s poems into musical compositions, also collaborating to perform Dunbar’s poems at a rectal in London. Samuel did not earn a lot of money as a composer, at times to make ends meet, he sold the rights to some of his most successful compositions for a fraction of what the pieces were eventually worth. However, he kept the rights to a number of his pieces and earned the royalties from those pieces. As I stated earlier, Samuel became interested in his father’s lineage, he did learn that his father was a descendent of African Americans who resettled, in Nova Scotia, London, the Caribbean, and Sierra Leone. Samuel married a woman named Jessie Walmisley in 1899, a woman he met while attending the Royal College of Music. Initially, Jessie’s parents did not approve of their marriage because Samuel was born of a mixed-race but eventually gave their blessing to the couple. Samuel and Jessie produced a son named Hiawatha and a daughter named Gwendolyn, both Hiawatha and Gwendolyn became musicians. Samuel died in 1912 at the age of 37 due to pneumonia. In total, he composed 82 pieces of music, and 11 compositions were recorded. Samuel was a world-famous composer who influenced the musical world, but directly influenced black musicians around the world. His composition Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast was his most famous piece, but many of his pieces were admired and imitated by the music world. His name was lost to the pages of history outside of the music world, but his name and compositions are still influential within the world of music. Samuel proved that classical music is not just a white man’s music or limited to European musical influences. Also, true talent and will cannot, and will not be denied. Mr. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to support the OTSOG book series. References: https://www.classical-music.com/composers/samuel-coleridge-taylor/ https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/who-was-samuel-coleridge-taylor-what-famous-for/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Coleridge-Taylor  The African country of Nigeria is the homeland of the Yoruba people, and the Forest, or the Igbo people. In the 12th century, the Igbo were known for raiding the Yoruba kingdom of Ile Ife, battling and enslaving the Yoruba people. The Igbo wore raffia palm tree leaves and costumes when raiding Ile Ife. Because of the leaves, costumes, and the severity of the raids, the Igbo were seen as spirits, leaving the Yoruba feeling helpless against the raids of the Igbo. Queen Moremi was one of the wives of Oranmiyan Omoluabi Odede, the heir to the Kingdom of Ile Ife. Queen Moremi was well-known for her beauty and courage, but she was also one of the citizens of Ile Ife who wanted to put an end to the raids of the Igbo. Queen Moremi pondered for days about a way to help her people defeat the Igbo. She then devised a plan that included visiting the gods of the river Esimirin to offer a sacrifice, in return, she would learn what the strength of the Igbo was and how to defeat them. Queen Moremi visited the gods of the river Esimirin and promised to offer the greatest sacrifice she could, in return to learn the Igbo strengths and save her people. After promising her sacrifice, she left the river and traveled to the area of Ile Ife that was most frequently raided by the Igbo, sacrificing herself by allowing herself to be enslaved by the Igbo. She was then transported to the Igbo kingdom where she was initially kept as a slave. Queen Moremi’s plan was unfolding. The second part of her plan was to get captured by the Igbo so she could infiltrate their kingdom to learn their strength. Because she was astonishingly beautiful, the Igbo King noticed her beauty and quickly became interested in her. The third part of her plan was happening. She used her beauty, wit, and charisma to charm the king, he eventually fell in love with her, giving her his full trust. After wooing the king, Queen Moremi was able to travel the Igbo lands learning why the Igbo were so powerful. Before going to battle with the Yoruba, the Igbo warriors covered their bodies with bamboo fibers and ekan grass along with incantations for their spiritualists. But the incantation had a weakness. If someone was to approach and pass through the Igbo warriors with a torch, the incantation would be released and the Igbo would be able to be defeated. After Queen Moremi gathered this critical information, she escaped the Igbo kingdom and returned to Ile Ife. She reunited with her husband and shared with the Yoruba army the secrets to the Igbo’s strength. With the information provided by Queen Moremi, the Yoruba went to war with the Igbo. They used torches to render the Igbo incantations useless. Now vulnerable to the attacks of the Yoruba, the Igbo were finally defeated, ending their warring and enslaving of the Yoruba. After the victory, the Yoruba people celebrated, but Queen Moremi had to keep her promise of sacrifice to the God of the Esimirin River. The life of her son Olurogbo was requested by the river gods. Because she did not expect the life of her son to be sacrificed, she pleaded with the river gods to ask for anything else but her son. The river gods only wanted her son. To avoid angering the river gods, she kept her promise and sacrificed her son. Because of her heroics and continued sacrifices for the freedom of her people, Queen Moremi is venerated and celebrated by the Yoruba people. The 4th tallest statue in Africa is dedicated to her, the Edi Festival was created to celebrate her, and a number of buildings in Nigeria are named after her. The legend of Queen Moremi lives on to remind us all that we have the power to change our lives, we just have to use it. To the legendary Queen Moremi Ajasoro, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to learn more about the OTSOG book series. References: https://historyofyesterday.com/the-queen-who-sacrificed-her-son-to-save-her-people-13d2cadf0a36 https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/queen-moremi-did-you-know-about-the-courageous-legend-whose-statue-is-the-tallest-in/hr4llg4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moremi_Ajasoro  In the latter months of 1760, rebel leaders Takyi and Apongo were captured and killed by the British. The remaining rebels were able to escape the battle against the British militia and fled into the mountains of Jamaica in the High Windward Cockpit Country. The rebels often used guerilla warfare under the cover of the landscape of High Windward to attack the British. On October of 1760, the rebels led by Simon raided and burnt down the Ipswich Sugar Estate in the Saint Elizabeth Parish. The following December, the rebels gained another victory while burning down the house of the plantation owner Thomas Durant, and killing a number of other men. Simon led a band of 50 men and women battling plantation owners and freeing slaves. The British gathered a few men to hunt down Simon led by a man named Hynes, who was in charge of a regiment of black men hunting Simon. Simon was able to initially escape Hynes and his men. The rebels that were caught by Hynes were killed and beheaded. They stuck the heads of the rebels on poles to intimidate the rest of the rebels. Simon and a number of rebels relocated to Clarendon, Parish where they settled in Mile Gully. Not long after settling in Mile Gully, Simon was caught by the hunters and killed. This was one of the last stands of the rebellion, but the rebellion did continue. The rebellion in total lasted for 6 years with significant battles lasting for months, within those six years. The last of the rebellion was recorded in 1766, in Westmoreland, by Africans of Akan descent enslaved in Jamaica. As I stated during part 1, a total of over 400 rebels were killed, and around 60 of the British were killed during the rebellion. It took years for the British to regain order and control in Jamaica, it also cost them millions of dollars to repair the damages. The rebellion as a whole was significant because of the length of the rebellion and the amount of damage the rebels caused. Takyi, Apongo, Simon, and other unnamed leaders were carrying on the tradition of the true Maroons. Maroons who fought for their god-given freedom. Takyi’s rebellion was inspired by the rebellions of Breffu, but Takyi’s rebellion inspired the rebellions of Queen Nanny, Samuel Sharpe, and other notable Maroon leaders. To the brave Takyi, Apongo, Simon, and all the Maroons of Jamaica, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to support the OTSOG book series. References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacky%27s_War  The exact date of the founding of the Underground Railroad is unknown. Still, in the early 1800s, free blacks with the African Methodist Episcopal Church and abolitionists had a network to help blacks escape slavery. That network eventually became the Underground Railroad, which helped a great number of black people gain their freedom. The Underground Railroad helped blacks escape going North, as well as escaping to Florida, and some to Mexico. As time passed and the number of blacks escaping slavery increased, slave labor began to decline, which affected the amount of money the plantation owners made from the slave labor. This gave rise to the “Reverse Underground Railroad”, where plantation owners hired men to recapture blacks escaping slavery. Some of the people recaptured were returned to their owners, and some of the people were resold for profits. The people who were recapturing the blacks were called anti-abolitionist. One of their recapturing methods was to disguise themselves as friendly abolitionist, only to mislead the people back into slavery. Escaping slavery was an impossible task that many black people conquered. Taking up arms was necessary to protect themselves. The most famous and fierce conductor of the Underground Railroad is Harriet Tubman, but Aunt Polly Jackson was also a fierce conductor who was known for battling anti-abolitionist to help her people escape to freedom. I do not have any information on Aunt Polly’s early life. Because she escaped enslavement, we can assume she faced similar hardships to her counterparts. Aunt Polly escaped north along the Ohio River and found her freedom in a settlement called Africa in Ohio. Africa was a settlement created by blacks who escaped slavery. It allowed blacks to have land and create a life for their families. Aunt Polly was able to buy land and settle on a farm in Africa. Because Africa was located along the northern route of the Underground Railroad, residents living in Africa often helped blacks escape slavery. They were often victims of raids by anti-abolitionists. Aunt Polly witnessed the anti-abolitionist terrorizing her people, so she decided to help her people. She became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, but she would carry a butcher's knife and a pot of boiling water. To disguise herself, she dressed as an older woman, the disguise allowed her to not be attacked by the anti-abolitionist because they didn’t see elderly blacks as a threat. Disguised and armed, Aunt Polly would help blacks to freedom and literally fight off anti-abolitionist attempting to reenslave black people from escaping slavery. She was so successful at fighting off anti-abolitionist that she gained a reputation in the settlement of Africa. Over time, Aunt Polly’s reputation grew with the anti-abolitionist, so she became more strategic with how she helped blacks escape. She began attacking the anti-abolitionist at night, using her butcher’s knife to stab and cut the anti-abolitionist, also throwing the pot of boiling water at the men. She became very known for pouring boiling hot water on a number of anti-abolitionist. Aunt Polly was not the only person fighting off anti-abolitionist, but she became famous because of her tact and success. She, along with others fighting for the freedom of enslaved blacks, helped to slow down and eventually end the anti-abolitionist system. I do not know exactly how old Aunt Polly was, but the information I have says she was a middle-aged woman battling grown men and coming out victorious. Aunt Polly’s birth and death are unknown, but I do know she put her life on the line to make sure her people could live life free and on their own terms. To Aunt Polly Jackson, we proudly stand on your shoulders. J.A. Ward Click here to support the OTSOG book series. References: https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-heroics-of-aunt-polly-jackson-who-fought-off-white-slavers-to-protect-fugitives-in-the-mid-1800s https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll32/id/14014/?fbclid=IwAR2vWPgisxpHOsTUwnv_D0uWsWaYehS_Ub_4-rBOJLQJPeWOs6DVc-zp4rU  May 25, 1760, is the date that marks the beginning of the Western Revolt, a continuation of Takyi’s rebellion. Before we dive into Apongo’s role in one of the most significant slave rebellions in the Caribbean, let’s explore some of Apongo’s life, and learn how he became a part of Takyi’s rebellion. Apongo was a West African military leader, I do not have the information to confirm exactly where he is from in West Africa, but according to the diary of the English planter Thomas Thislewood, Apongo was a prince in Guinea who paid homage to the King of Dahomey. According to author Vincent Brown, Apongo was a Dahomey war Chief. I can confirm that Apongo was born on the Gold Coast of Africa, and he had a complicated relationship with John Cope, the Chief Principle of Britain's Cape Coast Castle, located on Africa’s Gold Coast. In the 1740s, Apongo was captured and became the property of Author Forest, Captian of the HMS Wager. After the capture of Apongo, Forrest changed Apongo’s name to Wager, after the ship he captained.
Apongo was then shipped to the plantation of Artur Forest in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, where he lived and worked for 20 years until the start of Takyi’s rebellion. After the death of Takyi, the rebellion was able to continue because of leaders like Apongo, as well as the organization of the rebellion. Apongo played an integral part in the planning and fighting in Takyi’s rebellion, so his escaping capture after the death of Takyi was critical to the continuance of the rebellion. On May 25, 1760, Apongo and his fellow rebels signaled the start of the rebellion by shaving their heads, also the attack on the Masemure estate in Westmoreland, Jamaica. Simon a lieutenant in the rebellion, shot and killed John Smith, the managing attorney of Masemure estate. The Western revolt was underway led by Apongo. The rebels attacked the British when their naval escort was away from the island. Initially, the rebels faced a militia with fewer numbers than they would have if the British naval escort was present. Over the next four days, the rebels and the British fought back and forth gaining and losing ground. May 29, 1760, was a key victory for Apongo and his fellow rebels. The British militia attempted to attack a rebel camp, but the rebels gained an overwhelming victory over the British, resulting in the rebel army gaining more members willing to fight the British for an all-black Jamaica. The British were suffering humiliating losses to Aponog and his rebels, so the British decided to call for an enormous amount of reinforcements. Reinforcements from the British 74th regiment, 3 Maroon regiments, and 3 militias were deployed against the rebels to storm their encampment. The British were able to successfully breach the encampment due to the extreme reinforcements they gained. The rebels and the British battled for over 2 hours before the rebels were defeated. The militia killed men, women, and children of the rebels, even throwing some of the rebels off of a cliff. Despite the defeat, Apongo and the remaining rebels continued to wage war against the British from June 5th to July 3rd, which marked the death of Apongo. He like many other rebel leaders were defeated by the British and eventually surrendered. Apongo eventually died in a cage after being captured. In total, over 400 rebels were killed during the rebellion, and 60 of the British militia were killed. Following the death of Apongo, several of the rebels were able to evade capture and hide in the mountains of Jamaica or escape the island completely. This was not the end of the rebellion, but it leads us to Simon, who became the leader of the rebellion and our subject for part three. To be continued……. J.A. Ward Click here to support the OTSOG book series. References: https://time.com/5766781/slave-insurrection-atlantic-world/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacky%27s_War  The island of Jamaica is revered for its beauty and culture, but in my opinion, it is an underrated island when it comes to the history of enslaved Africans revolting against their enslavers. Jamaica is the setting for today’s story, but the story begins on the gold coast of Africa in the country of Ghana. Takyi was a Fante Chief of an Akan state in Ghana, who was said to be a ruler of the Kommenda or Koromantse people, that information I have not confirmed. Takyi was a wealthy chief with a high ranking among the chiefs of the kingdom, who also spoke fluent English. Sources state that Takyi admitted to selling Africans into slavery, that is how he gained a portion of his wealth. As time passed Takyi and his people were at war with another Akan state but lost the war, Takyi is then captured and sold to the British. Takyi’s life went from being a chief in Ghana to a slave working the fields in Jamaica. Takyi and others enslaved in Jamaica faced some of the harshest treatment of any slaves recorded. Takyi became an overseer on the plantation he worked. As the overseer, he began planning a rebellion with fellow slaves. Takyi had a vision of a Jamaica with a free colony of black people absent of white oppression or influence. To create this Jamaica he would have to defeat the British. In 1759, he would escape from his plantation into the caves of Jamaica, accompanied by fellow Africans ready to fight for their freedom. They would plan the rebellion for a year before they officially attacked the slave masters. April of 1760 was the beginning of Takyi’s Rebellion, also known as, the Easter Rebellion of Port Maria. In the early hours of Easter morning of 1760, Takyi and his followers began their rebellion, they first killed the slave masters on the plantations they worked. They immediately found themselves free and in charge of their own destinies, but they were well aware that this was only an initial defeat, real freedom came with totally defeating the British. As they killed their enslavers, they gathered as many supplies, weapons, and ammunition as they needed. The number of rebels grew as more and more Africans killed their enslavers to join the rebellion. Easter day was a bad day for plantation owners in Jamaica. The Africans rebelled until early the next morning. The following morning, Takyi and his rebels celebrated their victories before continuing their plans to ensure their freedom. During their celebration, a cowardly African slipped away unnoticed, ran to the nearest plantation that wasn’t ravaged by the Africans, and told the plans of the rebellion to British officials. Takyi and the rebels either practiced, believed, or tolerated the obeah spiritual tradition. Because of their belief in Obeah, they trusted that they would be protected by Obeah because an Obeah spiritualist cast a spell of protection over the rebels and ensured them that the weapons of the British could not harm them. The rebels were soon facing a British militia who were alerted of the rebellion by the person who sold out the rebels. Takyi and the rebels initially faced the British militia with confidence because of the belief in the protection of Obeah by the spiritualist. The British quickly killed the spiritualist and hung him by his own mask. This spooked a great number of the rebels because they believed they were protected. A number of them fled, but Takyi and the bravest stayed and fought the British. The rebels were fighting for their freedom and enraged that their spiritualist was murdered. As the rebels were gaining the upper hand, Maroons who were contracted to fight with the British joined the fight against the rebels. Takyi and the rebels were fighting for a month before Takyi was killed by a Maroon named Davy. Once Davy killed Takyi, he beheaded him and presented Takyi’s head to the British. Takyi’s death did not stop the rebellion, it only fueled the rebels to continue their fight. Takyi’s rebellion was Jamaica’s second-longest rebellion behind the 30-year rebellion led by a brave woman named Breffu. I profile Breffu in my new book On the Shoulders of Giants Volume 4 The Caribbean. A waterfall in Jamaica was named after Takyi, Tacky Falls, and a school was named after him. His brave efforts and strategy led to Jamaica’s second-longest rebellion. As I stated earlier, the death of Takyi was not the end of the rebellion, but it marks the rise of Apongo and the Western Revolt of 1760. To be continued. J.A. Ward Click here to support the OTSOG book series. References: https://ghanaianmuseum.com/the-story-of-takyi-the-ghanaian-king-who-led-a-slave-rebellion-in-jamaica-in-1760/ https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-story-of-takyi-the-ghanaian-king-who-led-a-slave-rebellion-in-jamaica-in-1760 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacky%27s_War |
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