4. The Baptist War
The Baptist War of 1831 is perhaps one of the famous slave revolts in Jamaica. About 20% or numerically, 60,000 of Jamaica’s Slaves went on a strike demanding a proper wage for survival and basic freedoms as a human being. They followed the footprints of the abolitionist movements in Great Britain and in the same way they revolted under the leadership of Samuel Sharpe, a Baptist preacher. When the revolt turned into a war, about 10% of the slaves were slaughtered and hanged without mercy but the war itself turned out to be one of the greatest slave revolts of that era. Although Samuel Sharpe lost his life during the course of the war, his life was not wasted in vain as within a year or so, slavery was completely banned from the British Empire. Thus, the Baptist War is not only significant as a great uprising of the tortured class of the society but also as an end to the war of centuries, between the slaves and their masters, for freedom. The Baptist War is also known as the Christmas Rebellion, the Christmas Uprising or the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt.
