On Nov. 23, 1733, on what is now St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, a group of captive Africans used weapons stashed away in woodpiles to steal six months of freedom. The islands were then known as the Danish West Indies. On Friday, their revolt will be remembered with a commemorative hike to Fortsberg in Coral Bay on the east side of St. John, the site where the revolt was first sparked.
Now in its 26th year, the event will include dramatic historical presentations, drumming, ecological education, ancestral tributes and Afrocentric cultural discussion. The event begins with a ceremony on St. John at Cruz Bay offering libations to participants’ ancestors, followed by visits to an old steam mill at Estate Adrian and a restored sugar mill at Cathrineberg and a steep, but measured, hike to Fortsberg.
To read the entire article in the Virgin Islands Daily News click here.
