Jamaica’s Morant Bay Rebellion and the Making of Radical Reconstruction

In chapter 3, Edward Rugemer examines how Jamaica’s Morant Bay Rebellion was not only reflected tensions in postemancipation Atlantic societies but was also related to US Reconstruction and the ways in which its advocates envisioned life for freed slaves. The example of the Morant Bay Rebellion, Edward Rugemer argues, provided an example of the dangers of emancipation without political rights. American politicians did not have to look far in other postemancipation societies to be alarmed. Rugemer demonstrates that Radical Reconstruction—or how Congressional Republicans decided on intervention in the spring of 1867—reflected these fears.