The 1843 Creole Revolt: Slave Ship Rebellion on the US Coast

The 1863 New York City Draft Riots: Race and Rage

In July 1863, the largest civil insurrection in American history erupted not in the South but in New York City. The Enrollment Act of 1863, which allowed wealthy men to buy their way out of Civil War conscription for $300, ignited a firestorm of working-class fury. For four days, white mobs — many Irish immigrants — rampaged against the draft, but their rage quickly turned into a murderous pogrom against Black New Yorkers. They lynched Black men from lampposts, burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground, and killed over 100 people. The arrival of Union troops fresh from Gettysburg finally crushed the rebellion. This episode digs into the class and racial dynamics of the riots, the role of the Tammany Hall political machine, the disproportionate casualties among Black New Yorkers, and the lasting legacy of a rebellion that tried to stop a war for emancipation. #NewYorkCityDraftRiots #CivilWar #EnrollmentActOf1863 #EmancipationProclamation #IrishImmigrants #ColoredOrphanAsylum #TammanyHall #Gettysburg #AbrahamLincoln #WorkingClassHistory #RaceRiots #FourteenthAmendment #NewYorkHistory #Conscription #ClassWarfare #AfricanAmericanHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Middle Passage: Life and Death in the Slave Ship Hold

This episode of Fexingo History takes you inside the brutal reality of the Middle Passage—the journey that carried millions of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. We focus on the human experience within the slave ship hold: the stench, the disease, the suffocating heat, and the constant threat of rebellion. Lucas and Luna explore the design of slave ships, the infamous Brookes diagram, mortality rates, and the psychological terror of the crossing. We also look at resistance—from shipboard mutinies to suicide—and how enslaved people fought back even in the most hopeless conditions. The conversation touches on specific vessels like the Zong and the Brookes, the factors that determined survival, and the shift in mortality as the trade became more systematized. No political or economic overview here; this is about the lived experience of the millions who were forced to make that crossing. A raw, necessary look at one of history's greatest horrors. #MiddlePassage #SlaveShip #BritishSlaveTrade #RoyalAfricanCompany #BrookesDiagram #ZongMassacre #OlaudahEquiano #JamesFieldStanfield #SlaveTrade #AfricanDiaspora #Abolition #18thCentury #19thCentury #AtlanticHistory #MaritimeHistory #HumanRights #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The 1693 Cartagena Slave Revolt: Palenque Liberty in New Granada

In 1693, a carefully planned uprising by enslaved Africans in Cartagena de Indias shook the Spanish colonial port and led to the creation of one of the most successful maroon communities in the Americas: San Basilio de Palenque. This episode unpacks the revolt itself—how leaders like Benkos Biohó organized hundreds of escapees across the swamps and forests of what is now Colombia—and the complex peace treaty that granted them freedom in exchange for ending attacks on Spanish settlements. We explore the role of Kongo and West Central African cultural traditions in palenque life, the politics of colonial negotiation, and how the community survives today as a UNESCO-recognized symbol of resistance. Along the way, we look at the asiento system that flooded Cartagena with captives, the brutal labor on gold mines and sugar plantations, and the surprising legal status of palenques under Spanish law. This is a story not just of rebellion but of a viable free society carved from the slave trade's heart. #CartagenaDeIndias #BenkosBioho #SanBasiliodPalenque #SlaveRevolt #Maroons #Palenque #NewGranada #KongoDiaspora #SpanishColonial #Asiento #GoldMines #UNESCO #Resistance #17thCentury #AtlanticSlaveTrade #Colombia #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The 1832 Mutiny of the Robert and the Slave Trade in Cuba

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1832 slave ship mutiny aboard the Robert, a Spanish schooner carrying over 200 enslaved Africans from the Congo to Cuba. They discuss the clandestine slave trade after abolition treaties, the role of Cuban sugar plantations, the mutineers' capture by the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron, and the legal limbo of liberated Africans in Sierra Leone. The episode also touches on the broader context of the illegal slave trade in the 19th century, the Mixed Commission courts, and the human cost of the trade. Listeners will learn about figures like Captain Richard Owen, the British commodore who intercepted the ship, and the fate of the mutineers, who were tried but later freed. The conversation highlights the resilience of enslaved people and the ongoing struggle for freedom on the high seas. #Cuba #SlaveTrade #Mutiny #1832 #Robert #Congo #WestAfricaSquadron #SierraLeone #MixedCommission #RichardOwen #SugarPlantations #IllegalSlaveTrade #Abolition #RoyalNavy #LiberatedAfricans #Freetown #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The 1811 German Coast Uprising: Louisiana's Largest Slave Revolt

In January 1811, along the Mississippi River in the Territory of Orleans, dozens of enslaved men rose up in what would become the largest slave revolt in American history. Led by Charles Deslondes, a mixed-race enslaved driver from Saint-Domingue, and joined by others like Kook and Quamana, the rebels marched from the German Coast toward New Orleans, gathering recruits and burning plantations. The uprising was crushed within two days by a militia led by General Wade Hampton, and the brutal reprisals that followed—decapitated heads displayed on pikes—sent a chilling message. This episode explores the revolt's origins, the role of Saint-Domingue refugees, the tangled legacy of Charles Deslondes, and why this rebellion remains lesser-known than Nat Turner's. We also examine how the territory's Spanish and French legal traditions shaped slavery in Louisiana, and how the revolt influenced later slave codes. #GermanCoastUprising #CharlesDeslondes #Louisiana #SlaveRevolt #1811 #SaintDomingue #NewOrleans #MississippiRiver #WadeHampton #Kook #Quamana #TerritoryOfOrleans #SlaveCodes #HaitianRevolution #AtlanticHistory #Slavery #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]