Religion and Rebellion: Moravian Mission and (Post)–Emancipation Revolts in the British and Danish Caribbean

Missionary activities were regarded with suspicion by colonial authorities and planters. When slave rebellions occurred, missionaries were often blamed for having supported rebellious attempts of slaves. In case of the Moravian mission, mission historiography and contemporary historians have pointed out that missionary teaching successfully disciplined the slaves and made them obedient. This article reevaluates this assumption by analyzing and comparing two insurrections in the British and Danish Caribbean, the labor revolt in St. Kitts in 1834 and the slave rebellion in St. Croix in 1848.