Benkos Biohó:Maroon Leader Against Spanish Empire

Here is the chance to learn about the life and legacy of Benkos Biohó, one of the first leaders of the resistance to slavery in the Americas, from Dr. Omar H. Ali, a distinguished historian and author of seven books on the African Diaspora.

Biohó was captured and enslaved along the shore of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, and shipped to New Grenada (in present-day Colombia) in 1596. Within three years of his arrival to the port of Cartagena de Indias—the principal point of entry for Africans into colonial Spanish South America— Biohó organized a slave rebellion, leading thirty men and women into the forest south of the city where he formed one of the earliest maroon communities in the Americas.

As attempts to erase Black history intensify, let us learn about and honor the legacy of Benkos Biohó, one of the first Black revolutionaries of the Americas. Register Here.