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94 Flight to Freedom
201), there never was a large-scale servile revolt. Such revolts generally gave
the plantocracy time and opportunity to marshal their forces for counterassaults
that put the insurgency down, often with much bloodshed. However,
as noted already, these revolts helped to sustain Maroon communities, since
many enslaved persons seized the opportunity to run to freedom.
La Rosa Corzo (2003, 230) acknowledges the severe limitations of armed
revolts on the plantations when he states that they occurred in short, unconnected
periods and were quickly and violently quashed. He goes on to say
that the establishment of Maroon communities increased opportunities for
insurgents and had broader and more lasting temporal and spatial connections
than plantation revolts. Whereas the authoritarian state used its regular
repressive machinery to quell revolts, it created a special administrative
machinery and specialized human and material resources to locate and
destroy Maroon compounds (ibid.). It was these factors that made marronage
more lethal in the long term than armed revolt on the plantations. In all territories
that had significant numbers of enslaved persons, marronage held the
most promising prospect of freedom and constituted the major form of
servile protest and challenge to the enslavers. But the two major forms of
insurgency, taken together, struck genuine terror in the hearts of enslavers.
While figures have not been compiled for any jurisdiction on the comparative
incidence of manumission and of long-term marronage, few scholars are
likely to disagree that the latter constituted by far the greater avenue to freedom.
That is why the enslaved persons took it. Marronage was cheaper, more
immediate and less uncertain, and offered a relatively easier way of life and
possibly a longer lifespan.
Maroon children stood a better chance than other Black children of being
brought up in a wholesome environment and being cared for directly by their
parents. Pregnant and lactating mothers, and those whose children were ill,
must have enjoyed greater freedom from work. This was in stark contrast to
the situation in slave society, especially in the period before the late eighteenth
century, when most enslavers and managers felt that it was cheaper “to
buy than to breed” working hands, so mothers and pregnant women were
allowed little or no special consideration. Pregnant women were often
worked in the fields up to the last day or two before the expected date of
childbirth, and were sent back into the fields shortly after delivery. When
they were whipped, their distended bellies were placed in a special hole in the
ground.