A Lesson on Race - The Bible and the Morant Bay Rebellion in the Atlantic World

Stephen C. Russell tells the story of the Bible's role in Jamaica's 1865 Morant Bay rebellion and the international debates about race relations then occupying the Atlantic world. With the conclusion of the American Civil War and arguments about reconstruction underway, the Morant Bay rebellion seemed to serve as a cautionary tale about race relations. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the book demonstrates how those participating in the rebellion, and those who discussed it afterward, conceptualized events that transpired in a small town in rural Jamaica as a crucial instance that laid bare universal truths about race that could be applied to America. Russell argues that biblical slogans were used to encode competing claims about race relations. Letters, sermons, newspaper editorials, and legal depositions reveal a world in the grips of racial upheaval as everyone turned their attention to Jamaica. Intimately and accessibly told, the story draws readers into the private and public lives of the rebellion's heroes and villains.

List of contents

List of Figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. 'These Things Happened': The Rebellion; 2. 'Skin for Skin': Paul Bogle; 3. 'A Good Fight': George William Gordon; 4. 'Dead, Yet Speaketh': Robert Johnson; 5. 'Least of These': Eliza Wigham; 6. 'Produce Your Cause': The Bible; Conclusion; Appendix: Select Sources; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Stephen C. Russell is Associate Professor of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He has published extensively on the social and legal world that produced the Bible.

Product details

• Authors: Russell Stephen C.
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.05.2025
• EAN: 9781009575409
• ISBN: 978-1-009-57540-9
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Series: Histories of Slavery and its Global Legacies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Jamaica, HISTORY / General, c 1800 to c 1900, Religion & politics, Social discrimination & inequality, Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, Religion and Politics, History of the Americas, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, Slavery & abolition of slavery, Black & Asian Studies, Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts, Slavery and abolition of slavery, c 1860 to c 1869, Criticism & Exegesis Of Sacred Texts, Racism and racial discrimination / Anti-racism, Relating to African American / Black American people, Relating to people of the African diasporas / heritage