Why read Gabriel's Rebellion?

Book cover of Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802

Book description

Gabriel's Rebellion tells the dramatic story of what was perhaps the most extensive slave conspiracy in the history of the American South. Douglas Egerton illuminates the complex motivations that underlay two related Virginia slave revolts: the first, in 1800, led by the slave known as Gabriel; and the second, called…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Gabriel's Rebellion as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Matthew J. Clavin

Author

The determination of an enslaved blacksmith named Gabriel to lead countless Black people in and around Richmond, Virginia, in rebellion has long captured the attention of historians of slave resistance and revolts; however, in Egerton’s hands, the event becomes something unique and different. Read in the context of the French and Haitian Revolutions, as well as the US Presidential Election of 1800 (the so-called Revolution of 1800), Gabriel’s rebellion stems from the issues of politics and class as much, or even more than, race and slavery, in post-revolutionary Virginia.

From Matthew's list on The best books on slave resistance and revolts.