A remarkable sanctuary emerged along the contested border between Spanish Florida and British colonies - Fort Mose, the first free Black settlement in what would become the United States.
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AT A GLANCE..
Just outside St. Augustine, Florida's ancient colonial capital, this community established in 1738 represented “The First Promise Land”: escape from British territory to Spanish Florida, and you would be granted freedom.
News of this "promised land" traveled northward, inspiring the Stono Rebellion of 1739 - one of the largest slave revolts in colonial history. Nearly 100 enslaved people joined the desperate march toward liberty and the safety of Fort Mose.
Colonial authorities responded with brutal force and implemented harsh new restrictions, including laws that forbade teaching enslaved people to read or write - clear evidence of how threatening literacy was to the institution of slavery.
Though Fort Mose was eventually destroyed when British forces seized Florida, its powerful legacy lived on. This small settlement near St. Augustine had planted seeds of hope that would continue to fuel resistance to slavery for generations to come.