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Take the damned flag down, then let all South Carolinians celebrate a true hero .. Jeremy Cato

OK, but why not celebrate the bravery of Africans who fought against slavery? Most of these heroes are not even in the history books. A good place to start might be with Cato’s Rebellion.

A good way of recognizing this might be to rename Charleston College for this great American Jeremy Cato College.

The Stono Rebellion (sometimes called Cato’s Conspiracy or Cato’s Rebellion) was a slave rebellion began in 1739.   The leader, Jemmy (referred to in some reports as “Cato”, and probably a slave belonging to the Cato, or Cater, family), was a literate slave who led 60 other salves in an armed march south from the Stono River .  They were fleeing to  Florida where the the Spanish promised freedom  to escaped slaves .  Cato and his followers were  defeated by the South Carolina militia near the Edisto River. Most of the captured slaves were executed; a few survived to be sold to markets in the West Indies. In response  the South Carolina legislature passed the Negro Act of 1740 restricting slave assembly, education, and movement. It also  required legislative approval for manumissions.

Imagine the real southern pride of a white kid graduating with a degree from a school with such truly heroic Southern heritage!