Profiles in Africana Religion – Part 8: Samuel Sharpe and the Baptist War

The right to religious interpretation and understanding has not been lost through the trek of African diasporic history.  There is and has been a consistent drive from the purveyors of religious life that shapes both conflict and calm.  That is to say, religion is as much of a reason for struggle as it is for peace.  In the case of Samuel Sharpe of Jamaica and his influential role in the Baptist Rebellion of 1831 it was the former rather than the latter.  For Sharpe, the interpretation of Biblical scripture by those who called themselves master and an interpretation nurtured by the enslaved was the fundamental crux of the problem.  Meaning, the ability to read one’s self and experience into the religious text in an effort to siphon as much spiritual nourishment and direction as possible is critically important for any people.  Through the efforts of Sharpe religion was no longer to be a prison of the oppressed, but a weapon, fashioned specifically to strike at the heart of injustice. 

The life of Samuel Sharpe began in Saint James parish of Jamaica.[1]  He was born sometime in 1805 to a woman named Eve and an unknown father.  Though Sharpe was born into slavery to an enslaver named Archer Sharpe, he was well educated and respected among the enslaved of Jamaica.[2]  As Sharpe grew into adulthood he became involved with the Baptist Church and eventually became a well-respected preacher for both whites and blacks of the island.  As such, he traveled around the island preaching keenly about the prospect of freedom; not just freedom through the grace of God, but actual physical freedom to be experienced by the living through the destruction of the peculiar institution. 

After a time he we named deacon of the Burchell Baptist Church of Montego Bay under the tutelage of Baptist missionary Thomas Burchell.[3]  He worked mainly as a traveling preacher Sharpe and therefore was able to witness the horrific conditions his African compatriots worked under; workers were treated inhumanely, most lived in absolute squalor and no relief was to come from those in power.  Moreover, conditions within the Baptist Church of Jamaica were equally problematic.   Most were promised peace and freedom in the hereafter while suffering under the whip of church leaders.  The culminations of these issues led to the unfolding of the Baptist Rebellion, also known as the Christmas rebellion or the Great Jamaican slave revolt.[4]  This rebellion was sparked as a direct response to the unacceptable working conditions for Jamaica’s black population.  However, before the Baptist Rebellion turned bloody, it began as a strike where workers demanded a working wage, which was described as: “half the going wage rate”.[5]  This was a modest request but unthinkable for those in power who had ran the economy of Jamaica by free labor for decades. 

During the strike African workers refused to do any labor until their demands were met.  Moreover, the prospect of violence was only to be used if the plantation owners initiated it, which it eventually was.  As the name suggest the strike began on Christmas Day 1831 and quickly escalated into lethal violence.  When the dust settled, less that twenty whites were killed but over 200 blacks were dead.  However, the fallout from the revolt was dramatically worse; in the weeks and months following the rebellion over 300 Africans were murdered for various infractions, from being a co-conspirator in the rebellion to petty theft.  Like many rebellions of enslaved Africans, whites took the Christmas rebellion as an opportunity of remind their “beasts of burden” who was in power with a swift and brutal response of mass killings and torture. 

In addition to the inhumane working conditions that sparked the rebellion, it is argued that the revolt was also a response to the forced conversion of African Muslims of the island.  In the article The Jihad of 1831-1832: The Misunderstood Baptist Rebellion in Jamaica, author Sultana Afroz argues that the rebellion spread across the island quickly because of not just the oppression of African people but of African Muslims as well.[6]  African Muslims of Jamaica (as well as practitioners of traditional African religions) were forced to convert through coercion, intimidation, and torture.  In response to this, many African Muslims and other non-Christians hid their belief systems or cleverly infused them within Christian belief structures (syncretism) so that they may survive.  However, suppression had its limits on the Caribbean island and many Muslims used Sharpe’s rebellion as an opportunity for Jihad. 

Having said that, it must be noted that the Baptist Rebellion was an opportunity for many of the problems with the British labor system to be addressed.[7]  That is to say, while Sultana is correct in highlighting the issues that African Muslims had to face as part of the Jamaican slave system, unacceptable working conditions, spiritual suppression and brutality was the experience of most Africans on the island.[8]  So, when the opportunity came to strike back at that system, it was not missed regardless of one’s belief system.  The underlying quality that connected all who revolted was their African ancestry and the conditions under which they were forced to live and work.

Interestingly, there are some thought-provoking historical developments that surround the Baptist rebellion.  First, the year that the rebellion started, 1831, was the same year that Nat Turner seized the heart of South Carolina.  Though there is no direct connection to the actions of Turner and those of Sharpe, it is likely that enslavers of Jamaica were keenly aware Turner’s efforts, which took place in August.  Perhaps this inspired the swift response of the English landowners, as they did not want hordes of their former slaves methodically killing whites house-by-house on an island where the only escape was the Caribbean Sea.  Second, and most impactful, though Sharpe never tasted the freedom he envisioned, his efforts may be been the catalyst that led to the abolition of slavery on the island of Jamaica.  To elaborate, though legislation to end slavery came before the Jamaican Parliament early in 1831, it was decisively shot down.  However, in August of 1832 (several months after the rebellion ended) Parliament revisited the legislation in the form of the Act for the Abolition of Slavery; this time the law passed decisively.[9]

Again, there is no direct connection between Sharpe’s rebellion and that of Nat Turner, however the similarities between the uprisings are definitely noteworthy.  For example, both of the men were in privileged positions afforded them through the church.  This allowed for access to other enslaved people on different plantations.  As well, their social positions garnered a sense of trust by the enslavers, which would create the opportunity to connect and link with like-minded enslaved individuals across the island.  Further, seeing the obvious contradictions and conflicts between what was preached by the would-be spiritually righteous and what they practiced inspired forceful push back.  Both Sharpe and Turner felt it was their righteous duty to fight against this torturous system.  Meaning, that the demise of the slave system came from within the very institution that arguably did the most to hold up that system, the church.  What Sharpe (and Turner) did was turn that institution and its conflicting morals on its head to morally justify any push (even violent) for freedom.  So, in effect the church in many ways is responsible for the undoing of the slave system, even if it was indirectly, through the enslaved taking philosophical and spiritual agency for their own freedom. 


[1] Mary Reckord. "The Jamaica slave rebellion of 1831." Past & Present 40 (1968): 108-125.

[2] Sultana Afroz. "The jihad of 1831-1832: The misunderstood Baptist rebellion in Jamaica." Journal of Muslim minority affairs 21, no. 2 (2001): 227-243.

[3] Nicole N. Aljoe "Zombie Testimony: Creole Religious Discourse in West Indian Slave Narratives." In Creole Testimonies. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 119-144.

[4] Martin Henry.  Christmas Rebellion Pushed Emancipation.  December 27, 2015.  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/focus/20151227/christmas-rebellion-pushed-emancipation.  Accessed December 2017.

[5] Mary Reckord. "The Jamaica slave rebellion of 1831." Past & Present 40 (1968): 108-125.

[6] Sultana Afroz. "The jihad of 1831-1832: The misunderstood Baptist rebellion in Jamaica." Journal of Muslim minority affairs 21, no. 2 (2001): 227-243.

[7] Martin Henry.  Christmas Rebellion Pushed Emancipation.  December 27, 2015.  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/focus/20151227/christmas-rebellion-pushed-emancipation.  Accessed December 2017.

[8] Sultana Afroz. "The jihad of 1831-1832: The misunderstood Baptist rebellion in Jamaica." Journal of Muslim minority affairs 21, no. 2 (2001): 227-243.

[9] Martin Henry.  Christmas Rebellion Pushed Emancipation.  December 27, 2015.  http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/focus/20151227/christmas-rebellion-pushed-emancipation.  Accessed December 2017.