Prince Klaas, also known as King Court, Tackey, or by his African name, Kwaku, was an enslaved Antiguan who was a posthumous recipient of the Most Exalted Order of the National Hero. In order to establish an independent African-ruled Kingdom of Antigua and destroy the colonial white administration, Klaas launched a slave uprising that was put down.

Background

In 1736, on the island of Antigua, an enslaved African known as Prince Klaas (whose real name was thought to be Court or Kwaku Takyi) planned an uprising in which whites would be massacred. Court was crowned “King of the Coromantees” in a pasture outside the capital of St. John’s, in what white observers thought was a colourful spectacle, but was for the Africans a ritual declaration of war on the white enslavers. Due to information obtained from other enslaved people, colonists discovered and suppressed the plot. Prince Klaas and four accomplices were caught and executed by the breaking wheel. They hung and starved six Africans and burnt another 58 at the stake. The site of these executions is now the Antigua Recreation Ground.

Early life

Klaas, then known as Kwaku, was taken captive from the Ashante in the Gold Coast, which is now modern-day Ghana, when he was 10 years old. He was taken prisoner during the Eguafo Civil War, which broke out as a result of the death of King Takyi Kuma. This gave British and Danish slave dealers the opportunity to seize as many people as they could and sell them as slaves. Kwaku lived in St. John’s and was the “chief slave,” “owned” by slave owner Thomas Kerby, a Judge of the Peace and Speaker of the Assembly.