African American History - Spanish Florida & the Stono Rebellion

Florida wasn't part of the British colonies until 1763 and was seen as a safe haven for fugitive slaves. The British and their colonies made war repeatedly against the Spanish, especially in 1702, and captured St Augustine in 1740. The British colonists were angry that Spanish Florida was attracting a large number of Africans and African Americans in North America who sought freedom from British slavery. Spain offered the slaves freedom in Florida if they converted to Catholicism. They settled in a buffer community north of St. Augustine, called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, the first settlement made of free blacks in North America.

(The other side of the pictured marker reads) - The Stono Rebellion, the largest slave insurrection in British North America, began nearby on September 9, 1739. About 20 Africans raided a store near Wallace Creek, a branch of the Stono River, South Carolina. Taking guns and other weapons, they killed two shopkeepers. The Rebels marched south toward promised freedom in Spanish Florida, waving flags, beating drums, and shouting "Liberty!"