New York Slave Revolt of 1712

The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 was an uprising in New York City, in the Province of New York, of 23 Black enslaved people. The population consisted of a low 6,000 -8,000 people in which 1,000 of them were slaves. They killed nine whites and injured another six before they were stopped. More than 70 blacks were arrested and jailed. Of these, 27 were put on trial, and 21 convicted and executed.

Although they were certain slaves had different owners it was most common that they still engaged with each other which allowed them to create a plan to rebel. On the night of 6 April 1712, a group of more than twenty slaves, the majority of whom were believed to be Coromantee people of Ghanaian heritage, set fire to a building on Maiden Lane near Broadway to initiate their revolt. Slaves turned the night into a panic. While the local white inhabitants tried to put out the fire, the slaves, armed with guns, hatchets, and swords, fought the whites and then ran off. Eight whites died, and seven were wounded. Over the next few days, colonial forces arrested seventy blacks and jailed them. Twenty-seven were put on trial, 21 of whom were convicted and sentenced to death. Six of them committed suicide even before trial started to avoid pension and consequences such as: physical abusement, excessive work, and unimaginably terrible life conditions that some believe weren't worth going through only to see another day. From then on slaves were seen by European enslavers as a species of property in which they can be owned and ruled by one. They may be seen as individuals who are deprived of rights and justice in such a way where they rarely had any say in most situations. African people were most often captured and enslaved through war, during their childhoods due to being "unwanted" and having no place to be, or even being raided and kidnapped. Many were also were made into from committing crimes, leading them to be punished and put under the "slave" title. Since their rebellion, slavery was mandated for owners to be more harsh on their "property" to create a smaller chance of them to commit these acts once again.