Reenacting the Largest Slave Revolt in US History

CNN REPORTS
By Edmund D. Fountain

Artist Dread Scott, second from left, marches through New Orleans. Scott spent six years planning the march in conjunction with other artists, historians and community members.Edmund D. Fountain for CNN

Hundreds of people marched along the Mississippi River this weekend in a reenactment of the 1811 German Coast slave uprising, the largest revolt of enslaved people in the history of the United States. The performance, the brainchild of artist Dread Scott, was six years in the making and sought to reclaim the history of the uprising. In the river parishes outside New Orleans, the reenactors retraced much of the route of the revolt and concluded with a public celebration at Congo Square inside Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans. The reenactment was the first time the revolt has been reenacted at this scale. [More]