A Lesson on Race
The Bible and the Morant Bay Rebellion in the Atlantic World

Sheds light on the Bible's role in Jamaica's 1865 Morant Bay rebellion and the subsequent international debates about race relations.

Stephen C. Russell (Author)

9781009575409, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 June 2025

241 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.507 kg

'Russell's unrivalled command of the biblical material and many often-neglected primary sources related to the Morant Bay rebellion sets a high standard for further volumes in Cambridge's new series Histories of Slavery and its Global Legacies.' Jeremy Schipper, author of Denmark Vesey's Bible: The Thwarted Revolt That Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial

Stephen C. Russell tells the story of the Bible's role in Jamaica's 1865 Morant Bay rebellion and the international debates about race relations then occupying the Atlantic world. With the conclusion of the American Civil War and arguments about reconstruction underway, the Morant Bay rebellion seemed to serve as a cautionary tale about race relations. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the book demonstrates how those participating in the rebellion, and those who discussed it afterward, conceptualized events that transpired in a small town in rural Jamaica as a crucial instance that laid bare universal truths about race that could be applied to America. Russell argues that biblical slogans were used to encode competing claims about race relations. Letters, sermons, newspaper editorials, and legal depositions reveal a world in the grips of racial upheaval as everyone turned their attention to Jamaica. Intimately and accessibly told, the story draws readers into the private and public lives of the rebellion's heroes and villains.

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. 'These Things Happened': The Rebellion
2. 'Skin for Skin': Paul Bogle
3. 'A Good Fight': George William Gordon
4. 'Dead, Yet Speaketh': Robert Johnson
5. 'Least of These': Eliza Wigham
6. 'Produce Your Cause': The Bible
Conclusion
Appendix: Select Sources
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]