Jean_Saint_Malo

Jean Saint Malo

Jean Saint Malo

Spanish slave

Jean Saint Malo in French (died June 19, 1784), also known as Juan San Maló in Spanish, was the leader of a group of runaway enslaved Africans, known as Maroons, in Spanish Louisiana.

Saint Malo and his band escaped to a marshy area near Lake Borgne, with weapons obtained from free people of color and plantation enslaved. The maroons lived in the swamps east of New Orleans and made their headquarters at Bas du Fleuve, located along Lake Borgne in present-day St. Bernard Parish.[1]

The Spanish colonial authorities led a campaign to suppress slave revolts and eliminate Maroon colonies in the region, capturing more than a hundred escaped slaves.[2][3] In 1783, Col. Francisco Bouligny led an expedition against Bas du Fleuve, capturing 60 people, including Saint Malo.[2][4]

Jean Saint Malo was condemned to death by hanging, on charges of murder. The execution was carried out by the alcalde Francisco Maria de Reggio on June 19, 1784, in front of St. Louis Cathedral next to the present-day Jackson Square in New Orleans.[4]

The Filipino community of Saint Malo, Louisiana, was named after him.[5]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Powell, Lawrence N. (13 April 2012). The Accidental City. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 238–244. ISBN 978-0-674-06544-4.
  2. [2]
    Din, Gilbert C. (1999). Spaniards, Planters, and Slaves: The Spanish Regulation of Slavery in Louisiana, 1763–1803. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0890969043.
  3. [3]
    Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo (1995). Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0807119997.
  4. [4]
    Voisin, Erin Elizabeth (2008). Saint Maló remembered (MA). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University.
  5. [5]
    Filipino-American history: The Other Spirit of St. Louis- Reviewed 2017-05-10

General references

Flag of United StatesHourglass icon  

This article relating to the history of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Stub icon

This African American–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Jean_Saint_Malo, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.