The Jamaican Maroons not only escaped slavery but also humiliated the British empire while at it. These warriors built sovereign towns, waged guerrilla war from the mountains and forced Britain to sign a treaty recognising Black autonomy in the early 1700s. They governed themselves, preserved African traditions and became a living blueprint for freedom. Our Facts of the Week break down why their legacy still threatens imperial narratives today.
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Continued……Sources
https://www.snljamaicantours.com/tours/accompong-january-6
https://jis.gov.jm/information/get-the-facts/the-maroons-and-the-abeng/
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/guerilla-warfare-in-eighteenth-century-jamaica/
https://discover.vacaymenow.com/listing/accompong-maroon-festival/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Maroon_War?
Who were the Maroons? https://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/against-slavery/black-resistance-against-slavery/the-maroons-of-jamaica/
Fought against slavery https://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/against-slavery/black-resistance-against-slavery/the-maroons-of-jamaica/
First Maroon war https://face2faceafrica.com/article/how-the-maroons-from-africa-battled-the-british-in-jamaica-and-won-in-the-1700s
https://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/against-slavery/black-resistance-against-slavery/the-maroons-of-jamaica/
Second Maroon war https://jamaicatimeline.com/history/maroon-2ndwar.html
Deportation to Canada
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20240731/what-happened-trelawny-town-maroons
British breaking the agreement
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20240731/what-happened-trelawny-town-maroons
Petition to go to Sierra Leone
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20240731/what-happened-trelawny-town-maroons
Legacy today.
Accompong https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/legendary-community-that-fought-for-its-freedom-in-jamaica
Moore Town https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3xW808tdJE
https://schoolhistory.co.uk/early-modern/second-maroon-war
https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2018/04/07/what-triggered-the-second-maroon-war-in-1795
Captain Cudjoe
https://nlj.gov.jm/history-notes/The%20Maroons%20edited%20final.htm
Maroon Festival
https://maroonfestja.com/about-us
https://www.snljamaicantours.com/tours/accompong-january-6
https://jis.gov.jm/information/get-the-facts/the-maroons-and-the-abeng/
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/guerilla-warfare-in-eighteenth-century-jamaica/
https://discover.vacaymenow.com/listing/accompong-maroon-festival/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Maroon_War?
Who were the Maroons? https://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/against-slavery/black-resistance-against-slavery/the-maroons-of-jamaica/
Fought against slavery https://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/against-slavery/black-resistance-against-slavery/the-maroons-of-jamaica/
First Maroon war https://face2faceafrica.com/article/how-the-maroons-from-africa-battled-the-british-in-jamaica-and-won-in-the-1700s
https://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/against-slavery/black-resistance-against-slavery/the-maroons-of-jamaica/
Second Maroon war https://jamaicatimeline.com/history/maroon-2ndwar.html
Deportation to Canada
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20240731/what-happened-trelawny-town-maroons
British breaking the agreement
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20240731/what-happened-trelawny-town-maroons
Petition to go to Sierra Leone
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20240731/what-happened-trelawny-town-maroons
Legacy today.
Accompong https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/legendary-community-that-fought-for-its-freedom-in-jamaica
Moore Town https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3xW808tdJE
https://schoolhistory.co.uk/early-modern/second-maroon-war
https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2018/04/07/what-triggered-the-second-maroon-war-in-1795
Captain Cudjoe
https://nlj.gov.jm/history-notes/The%20Maroons%20edited%20final.htm
Maroon Festival
https://maroonfestja.com/about-us
Expedition Magazine
Expedition Magazine | Guerilla Warfare in Eighteenth Century Jamaica
<p>There is a story that when Christopher Columbus, after his second voyage to the New World in 1494, was asked […]</p>
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BLACK TOWN EATONVILLE WINS AGAINST DEVELOPER
Freed enslaved Africans established the town of Eatonville on 15 August 1887. The Florida municipality is one of the earliest self-governing Black towns in the United States. It embodies the spirit of Black resilience and freedom, having emerged from the shadows of slavery to foster a vibrant community of landowners, educators, and leaders.
However, in 2023, Eatonville residents waged a struggle to prevent land appropriated for educational purposes from being sold to a private developer.
What came of their struggle? Watch and find out.
Freed enslaved Africans established the town of Eatonville on 15 August 1887. The Florida municipality is one of the earliest self-governing Black towns in the United States. It embodies the spirit of Black resilience and freedom, having emerged from the shadows of slavery to foster a vibrant community of landowners, educators, and leaders.
However, in 2023, Eatonville residents waged a struggle to prevent land appropriated for educational purposes from being sold to a private developer.
What came of their struggle? Watch and find out.
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Continued ….Sources
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/town-of-eatonville-incorporated
https://jamesmadison.org/the-history-and-legacy-of-eatonville-floridas-pioneering-african-american-town-2
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://jamesmadison.org/the-history-and-legacy-of-eatonville-floridas-pioneering-african-american-town-2
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofjosep0000mitc/page/n3/mode/2up
https://www.floridatrend.com/article/17832/the-town-that-freedom-built
https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/eatonville-fl-population-by-year/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20the%20population%20of%20Eatonville%20was%202%2C284%2C%20a%200.04%25%20increase%20year%2Dby%2Dyear%20from%202022.%20Previously%2C%20in%202022%2C%20Eatonville%27s%20population%20was%202%2C283%2C%20a%20decline%20of%200.39%25%20compared%20to%20a%20population%20of%202%2C292%20in%202021
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/1219650?utm_medium=explore&mprop=income&popt=Person&cpv=age,Years15Onwards&hl=en
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-hopeful-affirmative-resolution-hungerford-property-after-courts-ruling/#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20The%20Ninth%20Judicial%20Circuit%20Court%20dismissed,(P.E.C.)%20and%20Hungerford%20descendant%20Bea%20Leach%20Hatler.&text=Judge%20Alvaro%20denied%20that%20motion%20as%20moot%2C,sale%20of%20the%20Hungerford%20property%20at%20issue.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://capitalbnews.org/historic-black-towns-survival
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/town-of-eatonville-incorporated
https://jamesmadison.org/the-history-and-legacy-of-eatonville-floridas-pioneering-african-american-town-2
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://jamesmadison.org/the-history-and-legacy-of-eatonville-floridas-pioneering-african-american-town-2
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofjosep0000mitc/page/n3/mode/2up
https://www.floridatrend.com/article/17832/the-town-that-freedom-built
https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/eatonville-fl-population-by-year/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20the%20population%20of%20Eatonville%20was%202%2C284%2C%20a%200.04%25%20increase%20year%2Dby%2Dyear%20from%202022.%20Previously%2C%20in%202022%2C%20Eatonville%27s%20population%20was%202%2C283%2C%20a%20decline%20of%200.39%25%20compared%20to%20a%20population%20of%202%2C292%20in%202021
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://datacommons.org/place/geoId/1219650?utm_medium=explore&mprop=income&popt=Person&cpv=age,Years15Onwards&hl=en
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-hopeful-affirmative-resolution-hungerford-property-after-courts-ruling/#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20The%20Ninth%20Judicial%20Circuit%20Court%20dismissed,(P.E.C.)%20and%20Hungerford%20descendant%20Bea%20Leach%20Hatler.&text=Judge%20Alvaro%20denied%20that%20motion%20as%20moot%2C,sale%20of%20the%20Hungerford%20property%20at%20issue.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eatonville-florida-residents-fight-over-land
https://capitalbnews.org/historic-black-towns-survival
Zinn Education Project
Aug. 15, 1887: All-Black Town of Eatonville Incorporated
Eatonville, Florida is the oldest Black-incorporated municipality in the United States, incorporated toward the end of the Reconstruction era.
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$10K TOILET SEAT? PENTAGON’S
BLOATED BUDGET
If you had to take a wild guess at which country's military forked out a whopping $10,000 for a toilet seat, what would your answer be? Spoiler alert: It's not some 'corrupt' African state. It's the good old USA.
In November 2024, news broke that the Pentagon had failed its seventh consecutive audit, shedding light on the astronomical levels of corruption that run rampant within the US Department of Defence.
By 2027, the defence budget is projected to surpass $1 trillion for the first time. And those ridiculously bloated contracts with contractors? Yeah, they help explain the eye-watering price of defending, or more truthfully, expanding the US empire.
BLOATED BUDGET
If you had to take a wild guess at which country's military forked out a whopping $10,000 for a toilet seat, what would your answer be? Spoiler alert: It's not some 'corrupt' African state. It's the good old USA.
In November 2024, news broke that the Pentagon had failed its seventh consecutive audit, shedding light on the astronomical levels of corruption that run rampant within the US Department of Defence.
By 2027, the defence budget is projected to surpass $1 trillion for the first time. And those ridiculously bloated contracts with contractors? Yeah, they help explain the eye-watering price of defending, or more truthfully, expanding the US empire.
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Continued……. In this 2024 report, African Stream's Kenneth Kaigua delves into the jaw-dropping prices the US paid for subpar goods. He also pulls back the curtain on the revolving door that links politicians with arms manufacturers.
Washington's 2025 $848.3 billion defence budget dwarfs the combined spending of the next 10 biggest country budgets.
Maybe it's high time we rebranded the US military headquarters as the Penta-con!
Sources
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/exclusive-inside-secret-world-us-commandos-africa
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/the-air-forces-10000-toilet-cover/2018/07/14/c33d325a-85df-11e8-8f6c-46cb43e3f306_story.html
https://insidedefense.com/insider/austin-discloses-financial-ties-defense-contractors
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/us/politics/lloyd-austin-private-public.html
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2000/08/cheneys-multi-million-dollar-revolving-door/
https://www.wired.com/2008/09/dumb-as-a-bag-o/
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/07/hegseth-trump-1-trillion-defense-budget-00007147
https://archive.ph/iczyt
Washington's 2025 $848.3 billion defence budget dwarfs the combined spending of the next 10 biggest country budgets.
Maybe it's high time we rebranded the US military headquarters as the Penta-con!
Sources
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/exclusive-inside-secret-world-us-commandos-africa
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/the-air-forces-10000-toilet-cover/2018/07/14/c33d325a-85df-11e8-8f6c-46cb43e3f306_story.html
https://insidedefense.com/insider/austin-discloses-financial-ties-defense-contractors
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/us/politics/lloyd-austin-private-public.html
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2000/08/cheneys-multi-million-dollar-revolving-door/
https://www.wired.com/2008/09/dumb-as-a-bag-o/
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/07/hegseth-trump-1-trillion-defense-budget-00007147
https://archive.ph/iczyt
Pulitzer Center
Exclusive: Inside the Secret World of US Commandos in Africa
United States Special Operations forces (SOF) — including Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets and Marine Corps Raiders — are the US military’s most highly trained soldiers, specialising in counterterrorism...
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KWAME TURE: AFRICAN UNITY COMING SOON
On 29 June 1941, Stockley Carmichael was born in Trinidad before moving to the US at the age of 11. There, he would grow to become a revolutionary figure. In 1968, Carmichael adopted the name he is famously known for, Kwame Ture, in honour of his friends and political allies, the great pan-Africans, Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's founding father and Guinea's Sekou Touré, encompassing his ideals, which connected the struggles of Black people in the US to the continent.
For Ture, a founding member of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, a revolution in the diaspora would have to be linked to a revolution - and the sovereignty of Africans - on the continent.
In this clip, he offers a compelling perspective on the evolution of Pan-Africanism within the broader context of societal development. Drawing on his deep study of history, Ture observed that human societies typically follow a distinct pattern of growth:
On 29 June 1941, Stockley Carmichael was born in Trinidad before moving to the US at the age of 11. There, he would grow to become a revolutionary figure. In 1968, Carmichael adopted the name he is famously known for, Kwame Ture, in honour of his friends and political allies, the great pan-Africans, Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's founding father and Guinea's Sekou Touré, encompassing his ideals, which connected the struggles of Black people in the US to the continent.
For Ture, a founding member of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, a revolution in the diaspora would have to be linked to a revolution - and the sovereignty of Africans - on the continent.
In this clip, he offers a compelling perspective on the evolution of Pan-Africanism within the broader context of societal development. Drawing on his deep study of history, Ture observed that human societies typically follow a distinct pattern of growth:
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Continued……Beginning as families, expanding into clans and villages, then forming nations, and ultimately organising on a continent-wide scale.
While this trajectory is common to all peoples, Ture argued that Africa’s path would accelerate significantly due to the disruptive forces of capitalism and colonialism. While imperialism violently interrupted Africa's natural progression, he argues, it also strengthened ‘the force and desire for continental unity.’
Today, we celebrate Kwame Ture as one of the greatest Pan-Africanists of the 20th century who left us blueprints on liberation and unity in the ongoing struggle for African self-determination and sovereignty.
Sources
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/carmichael-stokely-kwame-ture-1941-1998/
https://mobile.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Kwame-Ture-The-U-S-civil-rights-activist-who-changed-his-name-to-honor-Kwame-Nkrumah-and-Sekou-Toure-1742279
https://thedig.howard.edu/featured-people/kwame-ture
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/stokely-carmichael
https://www.biography.com/activists/stokely-carmichael
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stokely-Carmichael
While this trajectory is common to all peoples, Ture argued that Africa’s path would accelerate significantly due to the disruptive forces of capitalism and colonialism. While imperialism violently interrupted Africa's natural progression, he argues, it also strengthened ‘the force and desire for continental unity.’
Today, we celebrate Kwame Ture as one of the greatest Pan-Africanists of the 20th century who left us blueprints on liberation and unity in the ongoing struggle for African self-determination and sovereignty.
Sources
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/carmichael-stokely-kwame-ture-1941-1998/
https://mobile.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Kwame-Ture-The-U-S-civil-rights-activist-who-changed-his-name-to-honor-Kwame-Nkrumah-and-Sekou-Toure-1742279
https://thedig.howard.edu/featured-people/kwame-ture
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/individuals/stokely-carmichael
https://www.biography.com/activists/stokely-carmichael
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stokely-Carmichael
Blackpast
Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) (1941-1998)
A civil rights leader, antiwar activist, and Pan-African revolutionary, Stokely Carmichael is best known for popularizing the slogan “Black Power,” which in the mid-1960s galvanized a movement toward more militant and separatist assertions of black identity…
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THE MOTHER OF ALL KARENS
A UK tribunal has just ruled that calling someone a Karen is “borderline racist, sexist and ageist.” That’s right — a term created to describe racialised ennoscriptment is now being reframed as a slur.
But what about the original Karen — Karen Blixen?
The Danish aristocrat and author once owned a 6,000-acre coffee plantation at the foot of Kenya’s Ngong Hills during British colonial rule. The land had belonged to the Maasai, who were forcibly removed to make way for settlers like her. Blixen lived in luxury, waited on by African servants, while penning books soaked in white-saviour tropes and colonial nostalgia.
Yet today, Nairobi still honours her legacy — with a suburb, a museum, and a certain colonial snobbery that persists in the spaces named after her.
A UK tribunal has just ruled that calling someone a Karen is “borderline racist, sexist and ageist.” That’s right — a term created to describe racialised ennoscriptment is now being reframed as a slur.
But what about the original Karen — Karen Blixen?
The Danish aristocrat and author once owned a 6,000-acre coffee plantation at the foot of Kenya’s Ngong Hills during British colonial rule. The land had belonged to the Maasai, who were forcibly removed to make way for settlers like her. Blixen lived in luxury, waited on by African servants, while penning books soaked in white-saviour tropes and colonial nostalgia.
Yet today, Nairobi still honours her legacy — with a suburb, a museum, and a certain colonial snobbery that persists in the spaces named after her.
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