ST. JOHN – Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett led a ceremony followed by a hike to Ram Head, the southernmost point of St. John on Sunday to unveil a plaque commemorating the 1733 slave rebellion.
The commemorative plaque is a result of H.R. 7496, a bill drafted by Plaskett and co-signed by Pennsylvania Representative Guy Reschenthaler.
According to Plaskett, Reschenthaler approached her after a trip to St. John where he had hiked the Ram Head trail in the Virgin Islands National Park and heard the history.
“He wanted to be supportive of a plaque and so he was an original co-sponsor with me, we presented it to the committee of jurisdiction, and we worked with a lot of other members who agreed this was important and we were able to get it passed,” she said.
During the brief ceremony, Plaskett became emotional.
“There is such a drive to wipe out history in our country, and without history and that truth our children can’t be strong,” she said.
Plaskett’s remarks echoed a common theme throughout the ceremony.
“History is contentious,” Hadiya Sewer, St. John Heritage Collective president, said. “The archives themselves often have limits, and it's usually people with privilege and power who get to create the historical record.”
WATCH: Ram Head Plaque Ceremony and Unveiling
Enslaved St. Johnians organized the first major battles of resistance against the European slave trade in 1733, according to the plaque. Led by Akwamu warriors and nobles, the rebels fought and controlled the Danish colony for almost six months before collaborative European forces regained control. Rather than be returned to enslavement, the fighters ritualistically took their own lives in the area of Ram Head.
Before the erection of the plaque there was no public acknowledgment of what happened in the 18th century on St. John, according to Plaskett.
“Today marks a special day that's been a long time coming,” Scott Simmons, Virgin Islands National Park acting superintendent, said.
“The National Park Service has not always fulfilled its duty to the people entirely or equally, but the agency is evolving and so is the Virgin Islands National Park,” Simmons said, adding that the plaque was a “significant step” in the park fulfilling its duty.
Despite the rain, about 45 people joined Plaskett for the hike, including a group of cadets from the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.
“It’s something we could think back on 10 years from now, and I could tell my siblings that I had been to this historic site,” Donna Issac, one of the students, said, adding that they had never heard of the 1733 slave rebellion prior to the JROTC trip.
Even though tourists were in attendance for the hike, Kathleen Ganster, of Pittsburgh, heard about the ceremony through the Virgin Islands National Park.
“It's important when you’re anywhere to know, understand, and respect history,” Ganster said.
Hikers braved intermittent squalls and steep, rocky terrain on the 2.7-mile hike to the point of St. John’s Ram Head trail. The clouds cleared at about noon, just in time for Ahmad Toure, NPS division chief of Interpretation, Education and Volunteers, to unveil the plaque.
The plaque features a conch horn, and a pair of crossed cane knives. Toure said the symbols represent freedom, courage, valor, and heroism. It also features an abridged history detailing the slave rebellion.
