The 1823 Demerara Slave Rebellion: Betrayal on the Eve of Emancipation

The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History · May 19, 2026 · 5m · transcript

In August 1823, over 10,000 enslaved Africans on the sugar plantations of Demerara (modern-day Guyana) rose up in what became the largest slave rebellion in British Caribbean history. This episode tells the story of the Demerara Revolt, a rebellion that shook the British Empire and accelerated the abolition movement—yet ended in brutal suppression and the execution of its leader, a literate enslaved cooper named Jack Gladstone, along with the execution of the missionary John Smith, whose death became a cause célèbre. We explore the role of the London Missionary Society, the influence of the…