THE IDEA OF ‘WHITE’ PEOPLE WAS INVENTED
BY PLANTATION OWNERS
IN THE LATE 1600s
WHY?
LOOK TO
JAMESTOWN
1676 A.D.
1676
SIXTY YEARS AFTER
THE MURDER OF POCAHONTAS
THE WORLD IS ADDICTED TO VIRGINIA’S TOBACCO
WITH PROFITS FLOWING
TO THE PLANTATION OWNERS
AND THEIR INVESTORS IN ENGLAND
UNFREE LABOR IN THE FIELDS
THOUSANDS OF BRITISH PEASANTS
TRAPPED IN DEBT BONDAGE
HUNDREDS OF WEST AFRICANS
TRAFFICKED FROM THE CARIBBEAN
HUNDREDS OF INDIGENOUS CAPTIVES
STOLEN FROM THEIR HOMES
THEN, IN 1676…
A CHARISMATIC POLITICIAN
SEIZED THE ATTENTION OF THE MASSES
NATHANIEL BACON
“I CAN SECURE THE BORDER,
I CAN KEEP YOU SAFE
THE GOVERNOR CONSPIRES
WITH THE INDIANS
AGAINST YOU”
BACON’S VITRIOL
SERVED AS AN OUTLET FOR SETTLERS’
FRUSTRATION WITH LIFE UNDER THE OLIGARCHY
BUT BACON’S TRUE DESIRE
WAS TO CONQUER NEW LANDS
AND ACQUIRE INDIAN SLAVES
IN THE SUMMER OF 1676
BACON’S MILITIA MARCHED WEST,
AGAINST GOVERNOR BERKELEY’S ORDERS
MASSACRING SCORES OF OCCANEECHI
AND SUSQUEHANNOCK PEOPLE
IN RESPONSE, GOV. BERKELEY
DECLARED BACON A TRAITOR
AND CALLED FOR HIS ARREST
BUT THE ROGUE SETTLER HAD
OTHER PLANS...
BACON SENT WORD TO THE PLANTATIONS
“RUN AWAY FROM YOUR MASTER
JOIN BACON’S REBELLION
YOU’LL BE REWARDED
WITH LAND AND LIBERTY”
SOON, BACON’S ARMY WAS REINFORCED
WITH HUNDREDS OF RUNAWAY
SERVANTS AND SLAVES
BRITISH, AFRICAN, IRISH,
AND EUROPEAN WORKERS
UNITED IN REBELLION
THEN - IN SEPTEMBER 1676, THIS MULTICOLORED
COALITION OF THE WORKING CLASS
SET FIRE TO VIRGINIA’S CAPITAL CITY…
LEAVING JAMESTOWN IN RUINS
BY WINTER, NEWS OF THE UPRISING REACHED
KING CHARLES II AND HIS INVESTORS
IN JANUARY 1677, HIS ROYAL NAVY ARRIVED
IN VIRGINIA TO SQUASH THE REBELLION
