A Rumor of Revolt: The "Great Negro Plot" in Colonial New York

This groundbreaking historical examination analyzes the 1741 New York Conspiracy trials: a pivotal moment in colonial American history when the city's legal system prosecuted an alleged slave conspiracy with severe and controversial consequences. Thomas J. Davis meticulously reconstructs the trials and executions that resulted from this supposed uprising, providing crucial insights into the intersection of race, ethnicity, legal practice, and social control in colonial New York.

During the spring and summer of 1741, New York authorities conducted dramatic trials in response to fears of a coordinated slave rebellion. Between May 11 and August 29, 1741, the city executed 35 individuals: thirteen Black men were burned at the stake, seventeen Black men were hanged, and two white men and two white women were also executed. These brutal punishments reflected the city's intense fear and the racialized nature of colonial justice.

Davis's analysis examines the primary source material to investigate what this historical episode reveals about colonial New York's racial hierarchies, ethnic tensions, and legal systems. The work scrutinizes the trials themselves, asking critical questions: Was there truly a conspiracy, or was the event primarily a product of hysteria and rumor? How did racial prejudices, economic anxieties, and the structure of colonial authority shape legal proceedings?

Beyond the courtroom drama, Davis explores the broader implications of these trials for understanding slavery in northern colonies, where enslaved people were not as visible but equally integral to colonial society. The book demonstrates how fear, whether grounded in reality or stoked by rumor, could mobilize entire communities and transform legal systems into instruments of racialized control. This work has become essential reading for understanding how colonial societies constructed narratives of racial threat and employed legal mechanisms to enforce racial subordination.

DR. THOMAS JOSEPH DAVIS is a distinguished historian and legal scholar. With nearly fifty scholarly publications including books and peer-reviewed articles, Davis has established himself as a prominent authority on African American history, slavery in northern colonies, and the legal dimensions of racial control in early America. His works include: Documents of the Harlem Renaissance;History of African Americans, Plessy v. Ferguson, Race Relations in America, and Race Relations in the United States, 1940-1960.