File:The Fireburn- St. Croix Labour Revolt, 1878 (28436989024).jpg
![File:The Fireburn- St. Croix Labour Revolt, 1878 (28436989024).jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/The_Fireburn-_St._Croix_Labour_Revolt%2C_1878_%2828436989024%29.jpg/736px-The_Fireburn-_St._Croix_Labour_Revolt%2C_1878_%2828436989024%29.jpg?20160908202730)
Original file (1,238 × 1,008 pixels, file size: 386 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Captions
Summary
[edit]DescriptionThe Fireburn- St. Croix Labour Revolt, 1878 (28436989024).jpg |
The October 1878 labour revolt that swept across St. Croix, an island in the Danish West Indies (now the US Virgin Islands), was the result of harsh labour laws and the legacy of slavery. Known as the Fireburn, the revolt took place on 1 October – Quarter Day, the day plantation contracts ended and new ones began. The lives of black plantation workers had changed little after slavery was abolished. The 1849 Labor Act saw forced workers to sign 1-3 year contracts which bound them and their families to the plantations on which they worked. They worked from 4am to 10pm, were paid next-to-nothing, and children from the age of 6 were also forced to work. So on Quarter Day 1878 workers gathered in Frederiksted to demand higher wages, better conditions, job mobility, and the abolition of the Labor Act. Although it was initially a peaceful gathering, the workers threw stones and the Danish soldiers retaliated with gunfire before barricaded themselves inside a fort. Unable to scale the gates, the workers turned their focus on the town, using torches to systematically burn buildings and plantations. Houses, sugar mills, sugar fields, and over half the city of Frederiksted was burned. Prominent in the revolt were women, including three ‘rebel Queens’, Mary Thomas, Axeline Elizabeth Salomon (called Agnes), and Mathilda McBean (a possible fourth woman has come to light recently). The Danish authorities put down the rebellion harshly. Around one hundred of the black population lost their lives, most of them shot during the fighting or hung afterwards. Three hundred more were arrested. Only three Europeans were killed during the rebellion – two soldiers and one civilian named Mr Fontaine. Back in New Zealand, future Premier Sir John Hall looked over this newspaper clipping with horror. His manager’s name was Fontaine and had a brother in the area at the time. Writing to the Colonial Secretary in January 1879, Hall wanted the identity of Fontaine clarified to be sure it was not his manager’s brother. After much correspondence with authorities in the UK, on 5 September 1879 it was conclusively shown that Mr Fontaine was George Fontaine, a German plantation owner of 15 years and not the brother of Sir Hall's manager. Archives Reference: IA1 Box 430/ 1879/4415 archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=24286562 For updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ArchivesNZ Caption information from www.virgin-islands-history.org/en/fates/the-three-rebel-q... Material from Archives New Zealand |
Date | |
Source | The Fireburn: St. Croix Labour Revolt, 1878 |
Author | Archives New Zealand from New Zealand |
Licensing
[edit]![w:en:Creative Commons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/CC_some_rights_reserved.svg/90px-CC_some_rights_reserved.svg.png)
![attribution](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Cc-by_new_white.svg/24px-Cc-by_new_white.svg.png)
![share alike](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Cc-sa_white.svg/24px-Cc-sa_white.svg.png)
- You are free:
- to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to remix – to adapt the work
- Under the following conditions:
- attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
![]() |
This image was originally posted to Flickr by Archives New Zealand at https://flickr.com/photos/35759981@N08/28436989024. It was reviewed on 8 September 2016 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0. |
8 September 2016
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
current | 20:27, 8 September 2016 | ![]() | 1,238 × 1,008 (386 KB) | Vanished Account Byeznhpyxeuztibuo (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via Flickr2Commons |
You cannot overwrite this file.
File usage on Commons
There are no pages that use this file.
Metadata
This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.
User comments | Canon Inc |
---|