April 22, 2013

"Julien Fédon, a mixed race owner of the Belvedere estate in the St. John Parish, launched a rebellion against British rule on the night of 2nd March 1795..."

"... with coordinated attacks on the towns of Grenville, La Baye and Gouyave. Fédon was clearly influenced by the ideas emerging from the French Revolution..."
... especially the Convention's abolition of slavery in 1794: he stated that he intended to make Grenada a "Black Republic just like Haiti." Fédon and his troops controlled all of Grenada except the parish of St George's, the seat of government, between March 1795 and June 1796. During those insurgent months 14,000 of Grenada's 28,000 slaves joined the revolutionary forces in order to write their own emancipation and transform themselves into "citizens"; some 7,000 of these self-liberated slaves would perish in the name of freedom. Fédon's forces were defeated by the British in late 1796, but Fédon himself was never caught and his fate is unknown.
Grenada is the next "History of" country, as we resume our alphabetical progression the the "History of" Wikipedia pages for the 206 countries of the world.



IN THE COMMENTS: bagoh20 said: "Is that outfit ever appropriate in Grenada near the equator?" And Anniella said: "That's an amazing painting, but there's a very good reason he's so bundled up," linking here.
In 1819, Charles Willson Peale headed down to Washington to paint portraits of President James Monroe, Henry Clay, and other dignitaries for exhibition in the famed Peale museum located in Independence Hall. But there was another sitter the painter wanted to snare on his trip.

"I heard of a Negro who is living in Georgetown said to be 140 years of age," Peale wrote in his diary. "He is comfortable in his Situation having Bank stock and lives in his own house."

The man was Yarrow Mamout, a free African, a Muslim who indeed held bank stock, purchased with great effort to secure a comfortable old age - after a life of abduction and bondage...
So... it's not Julien Fédon. I had my doubts, and I won't take advantage of the lame excuse — though I thought of it when I decided to use that picture — that I never actually say that's Julien Fédon. I'm glad to hear of Yarrow Mamout and I love the painting.
"Yarrow owns a house & lotts and is known by most of the Inhabitants of Georgetown & particularly by the Boys who are often teazing him which he takes in good humour," Peale confided in his diary. "The acquaintance of him often banter him about eating Bacon and drinking Whiskey - but Yarrow says it is no good to eat Hog - & drink whiskey is very bad."

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom..." Richie Havens - Woodstock.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Hello Muddah, hello Faddah . . .

test said...

Following a leftist coup in 1983, the island was invaded by U. S. troops and a democratic government was reinstated.

Everyone should watch Heartbreak Ridge: the only movie to authentically capture the experience of the Grenada invasion.

NitneLiun said...

Heartbreak Rigde. Authentic? That's funny, dude.

edutcher said...

Heartbreak is about Marines.

It was the Rangers' exploits dramatized in that movie.

bagoh20 said...

Is that outfit ever appropriate in Grenada near the equator?

Anonymous said...

"Sometimes I feel like a motherless child..." continuing my Richie Havens allusion. Is it me or are the comments on Althouse always veering off to immediate snarkiness? It seems no one can go four comments in/down without snark rearing it's head. It's getting very typical and ordinary. Is there any other default setting other than snark?

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

his fate is unknown

I have a pretty good idea what his fate was unless he is an undead zombie or vampire.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

his fate is unknown

I have a pretty good idea what his fate was unless he is an undead zombie or vampire.

Ann Althouse said...

"Is that outfit ever appropriate in Grenada near the equator?"

He's all bundled up. I'm going to assume he traveled. The painting looks European, and he was influenced by French ideas.

SJ said...

Thanks for resuming the series, Ann.

Interesting...I'd long been aware of Grenada, mostly of the US Military intervention in the 1980s, but never troubled myself to learn more.

The explanation given at Wiki makes some sense, though it mentions that the request for aid went outside of usual diplomatic channels. And that US leadership at the time was very concerned about Soviet influence in the region.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"... he stated that he intended to make Grenada a "Black Republic just like Haiti..."


If you are a citizen of Granada you should get down on your knees and thank God every day that he lost.

Anniella said...

That's an amazing painting, but there's a very good reason he's so bundled up:

http://articles.philly.com/2011-10-23/news/30313262_1_charles-willson-peale-portrait-bank-stock

Geoff Matthews said...

Probably a good thing that his rebellion failed. The slave's ancestor's in Grenada are probably doing better than the average descendant of slaves in Haiti.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Anniella. I had some question about whether that was really Fedon. I couldn't figure out how to search it down. I found it on a site where it was captioned as being Fedon.

Dr Weevil said...

"If you are a citizen of Granada" you live in one of the larger cities of southern Spain and have no need to think about small Caribbean islands at all for weeks at a stretch.

Perhaps I shouldn't mock Lars' spelling. As I recall, when the U.S. liberated Grenada, Soviet TV showed a map depicting the U.S. military invading Spain from the south through the city of Granada.

Wikipedia doesn't mention it, but I believe Grenada is named after the pomegranate, and that Grenadine (the mixer) and the hand grenade are also named after the fruit, not the island.

FWBuff said...

I believe that Fedon is wearing a "Phrygian cap" or a "Liberty cap", which was worn in ancient times by former slaves to show that they had won their freedom. By the time of the French Revolution, they were important symbols of Liberty, and Liberty caps were also featured on many of our early U.S. coins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap

FWBuff said...

Hmmm. Now I've read Ann's update about the portrait, so my speculation about the Liberty cap looks like know-it-all twaddle. In the words of Emily Litella, "Never mind!"

FleetUSA said...

Great little story ... as updated.

Glad to see the country series reinstated.

Michael said...

Nutmeg. Nutmeg and cutlasses sparked on the highway. Not my favorite country. Deep water all around.

Anonymous said...

Obviously, no snow ever.

Peter

rcocean said...

"The acquaintance of him often banter him about eating Bacon and drinking Whiskey - but Yarrow says it is no good to eat Hog - & drink whiskey is very bad."

Banter?! Sounds like hate speech to me.