Refuse to Be Slaves: Slave Rebellions, Resistance, and the Fight for Freedom in the Americas
Freedom was never given. It was taken.
Refuse to Be Slaves is a sweeping narrative history of resistance to slavery across the Americas, told through twenty rebellions spanning more than three centuries.
From Gaspar Yanga's mountain kingdom in colonial Mexico to the Islamic uprising of the Malês in Brazil, from the Haitian Revolution to the revolts led by Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, and Samuel Sharpe, this book restores enslaved people to the center of their own liberation.
These were not chaotic outbursts or acts of desperation. They were organized political movements—planned by men and women who understood power, religion, law, and violence, and who knew that slavery would never end without resistance.
What You'll Find Inside
20 Major Rebellions Across the Americas
Haiti, Jamaica, Brazil, Cuba, the United States, Venezuela, Guyana, and Mexico—explore resistance movements that shook colonial powers across the hemisphere.
Religious Resistance
Christian, Islamic, and African spiritual traditions as foundations for revolutionary action and community organizing.
Diverse Forms of Resistance
Marronage, conspiracies, mass uprisings, and revolutions—understand the full spectrum of strategies enslaved people used to fight for freedom.
Historical Rigor
Careful attention to historical evidence and moral complexity, with extensive endnotes and sources for further research.
A New Approach to History
Drawing on court records, colonial correspondence, missionary accounts, and modern scholarship, Roderic Duplechain presents enslaved rebels as strategists, leaders, and moral actors, not passive victims waiting for benevolence from above.
This book does not romanticize rebellion or sanitize violence. It confronts slavery as a system maintained by terror—and resistance as the force that exposed its contradictions and accelerated its collapse.
Many of these rebellions failed in the short term. Together, they made slavery impossible to sustain.
Featured Rebellions
The Haitian Revolution
The only successful slave revolt that led to the founding of an independent nation, transforming the Atlantic world forever.
Gaspar Yanga's Kingdom
The maroon leader who established a free African community in colonial Mexico that forced Spanish recognition.
The Malê Uprising
An Islamic-led rebellion in Brazil that demonstrated the sophisticated organization and religious motivation behind resistance.
Denmark Vesey's Conspiracy
A meticulously planned uprising in Charleston that revealed the revolutionary potential within urban enslaved communities.
Nat Turner's Rebellion
The Virginia uprising that shook the American South and intensified debates over slavery's future.
Samuel Sharpe's Baptist War
The Jamaican Christmas Rebellion of 1831 that accelerated British emancipation across the Caribbean.
Discover the Untold Stories of Freedom Fighters
250 pages of meticulously researched history that centers enslaved people as the architects of their own liberation. Extensively sourced and deeply compelling.
Instant download • 250 pages • 7.59 MB