For most Americans, Jan. 6 was once an ordinary day. That changed in 2021 when thousands of Trump supporters assaulted the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to stop Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
While those images and subsequent congressional investigation and report are part of the collective memory, a debate still rages over what exactly to call what happened. Was it a rally comprising American patriots or, as many Republicans call it, “legitimate political discourse”? Or was it an insurrection?
As a professor who teaches rhetoric of social movements, I am well versed in concepts of protests, rebellions and insurrections. In an article published in the academic journal ”American Behavioral Scientist,” my colleague Sharifa-Simon Roberts and I argue that any discussion about American insurrections must include the experiences of Black rebellions.
For centuries, insurrections were among the only tools enslaved people had for social change and, ultimately, freedom. From Nat Turner’s insurrection in 1831 to the squelched insurrection in 1687 of a Black man named Sam who was owned by Richard Metcalfe, insurrections and rebellions have always been used by enslaved Black people.
What happened on Jan. 6 was a co-option of a Black liberation tactic used to remedy an injustice enshrined in the law. Unlike Trump’s false claims of voter fraud, insurrections by enslaved people were based on a legitimate flaw in the U.S. Constitution: the denial of full citizenship based on skin color and race.
Rebellions of the enslaved can aptly be classified as insurrections. From the early 1600s, historians estimate there were around 250 insurrections in America involving enslaved people using violence to fight for equal rights.
In his work published in 1937, historian Herbert Aptheker writes, “Nothing has been more neglected nor more distorted than the story of slave revolts.” A few are summarized below.
September 1739
The Stono Rebellion was the largest and deadliest insurrection by enslaved people in the 18th century. In a bloody fight for freedom, dozens of enslaved men raided a firearms store and attempted to journey to freedom. The group grew to about 60 people.
By dusk the insurrection had ended. Half the men were killed and the other half captured.
January 1811
Charles Deslondes led one of the largest insurrections in American history. Armed with muskets and ammunition stolen from the plantation’s basement, formerly enslaved people mobilized and killed their owner Manuel Andry and his son Gilbert.
Donning the military uniforms once worn by their oppressors, the group continued throughout New Orleans, wreaking havoc on plantations along the way. It is estimated that between 200-500 people participated in the insurrection before a white militia defeated them.
August 1831
One of the most well-documented and well-known slave insurrections in history was led by Nat Turner. Known as the Southampton Insurrection, Turner’s rebellion started where he was enslaved at the Travis plantation near Jamestown, Virginia. After he and around 70 rebels killed the plantation’s owner, they marched throughout the county, resulting in the death of nearly 60.
In 1861, the ”Atlantic” published a recounting of the insurrection by white abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson: “The Black men passed from house to house, not pausing, not hesitating, as their terrible work went on,” he wrote. “From every house they took arms and ammunition, and from a few, money; on every plantation they found recruits.”
Despite the interest in the word and the ongoing debate over the events of Jan. 6, 2021, some insurrections are more equal than others as the legitimate plight of enslaved people continues to be ignored, overlooked, and all but forgotten.
Deion Scott Hawkins is an assistant professor of argumentation and advocacy at Emerson College.