Whatever team Dread Scott is on, I want to join it. His charm, apparent immediately, rolls out in waves as he speaks with the passion and nasal intonation of a Dungeons and Dragon’s nerd, a role-playing game the artist spent his teenage years involved with. That background fits his latest project. On November 8 and 9, Scott will launch what will undoubtedly be the most ambitious and important artwork of the year with the help of the New Orleans-based non-profit, Antenna: Slave Rebellion Reenactment. Starting just outside of New Orleans, approximately 500 costumed rebels armed with machetes and muskets will retrace the steps of insurgents during the largest slave rebellion in the country’s history—the rebellion of 1811. Currently, the city’s only tribute is a bronze plaque in the middle of a traffic triangle that reads “major 1811 slave uprising organized here.” Prior to Albert Thrasher’s On to New Orleans, published in 1996, no books on the subject had been written.
With the need for commemoration palpable, the excitement in Scott’s voice grows as he speaks about the reenactment. “We start out with a small number of people and increase as we go downriver,” he said. Led by a handful of rebels on horseback, a crowd of people waving military flags and beating African drums will travel the German Coast, crossing St. Charles, St. James and St John Parish. “Black and indigenous people with machetes, muskets, sickles and sabers in period costumes will march and chant ‘On to New Orleans! Freedom or death! We’re going to end slavery! Join us!’” Scott described to Observer. Their hope—to establish an African Republic.
