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A Black Father’s Revenge, Retaliation, and Retribution in Cincinnati
Why one black father finally decided that “enough is enough!”
Fear of slave rebellion, expressed as early as 1672 in Virginia, was ever-present in the West Indies, the plantation colonies on the continent, and even, with less good reason, in some areas in the North. In many areas it was a gnawing, gut-wringing fear, intermittently heightened by undeniable incidents of servile discontent. Every planter knew that the fundamental purpose of the slave laws was prevention and deterrence of slave insurrection.
In leading the efforts for a strengthened slave law in 1710, Governor Alexander Spotswood reminded the Virginia Assembly that constant vigilance was the price of continued mastery: “the Tryals of Last April Court may shew that we are not to Depend on Either their Stupidity, or that Babel of Languages among ’em; freedom Wears a Cap which can Without a Tongue, Call Togather all Those who Long to Shake of the fetters of Slavery….”
Freedom wore the red cap of bloody rebellion, and the colonists never doubted for a moment that their slaves might suddenly clap it to their heads.
— The White Man’s Burden — Historical Origins of Racism in the United States, Winthrop D. Jordan, 1974
