Black Caesar: The Dozens of Pirates Behind The Legend
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- Take the 2023 PBS Survey: to.pbs.org/pbssurvey2023p
You may have heard of the larger-than-life “Black Caesar” who plundered alongside Blackbeard. But as it turns out, there were dozens of pirates of African descent referred to as “Black Caesar.” In this episode of Rogue History, we will unearth the stories of some lesser-known Black Caesars and examine how certain forces shape the stories we remember today.
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Rogue History
Shaking off the barnacles from this wildly popular storytelling canon, this Pirates historical series is an enlightening voyage that unravels historical myths, unearths lost narratives, and discovers fresh perspectives. This is the pirate history you were never told.
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00:00 Intro
00:17 The Legend of the Larger-than-Life African Chieftain
00:43 What DO We Know about Black Caesar
01:23 Alliance with Blackbeard
02:45 Dozens of Other “Black Caesars”
03:59 Henri Caesar + Haitian Revolution
04:27 John Black Caesar the Bushranger
04:49 The Name Caesar is Rooted in the Ancient World
05:08 Black Caesar Had No Last Name in Trial Records
05:21 Questioning the Sources We Rely On
06:10 Why Did Black Pirates Join Crews in the First Place
Just want to throw it out there that you're such a good history presenter. It scratches the same itch that history shows gave me as a kid 💚
As a kid you can be forgiven for cherry picking facts to craft a fantasy narrative
@@garyjohnson8327 let me guess you saw black in the title and decided to click on the video, scroll down the comments and reply with hate. I'll also guess you're a white boy 🤣.
Australian here. I had never heard of John '"Black" Caesar. The more I learn the more I realise we have flattened our bushranger stories, like Americans with westerns, to remove the complexity of who became a bushranger and why. Ned Kelly may be our most famous, but John Caesar was our first.
Thanks for adding another piece to the puzzle Joel.
I though Black Caesar was some bad as dude who kicked Mafia ass in Harlem
Same, I’d never heard of him either, and I thought I knew a thing or two about bush rangers
Let’s be real we know why you guys haven’t heard of him
@@HotSauce-mn1mp We know. If it's not a story about a straight white man it doesn't get told. It's also the reason most people haven't heard of Captain Moonlite.
@@jessicabrown1305 wow. I’ve never heard of him either
I absolutely adored this segment.
Fascinating to bring the real perspectives on these pirates. My only complaint is this was not longer. I'd love to know the historians' favorite details of any specific true to life Black Caesars.
1:46 small correction, they were aboard a sloop called “Adventure” not the Queen Anne’s Revenge, since 6 months after the siege of Charleston, the QAR hit a sandbar and Blackbeard had no choice but to let it sink
Thanks to everyone creating this show, it is so interesting and fun. A question:how long on average did people work as pirates? Was it a "side job" ? And what happened after they left piracy? ( At least the ones who didn't end up on a rope).
LOVING this series.
I'm really enjoying learning about pirates!
Fascinating! Keep telling these stories-and telling us about the stories we have lost.
More of this please! Also, more LIKE this please!
Such a fantastic show! Thank you so much to everyone who put this together 🥰
Brilliantly done!
After your recent poll here I got curious about Black Caesar too. Kinda frustrating to hear that the name ends up being a stand in for a group of people 🙃 (in this case Black pirates), but I guess the upside is when you remember Black Caesar, you don't just remember one person.
(Also, you go Henri Cesar! 😏😎🔥)
Another great episode. Keep them coming!
My brother your mane of head and facial hair is truly majestic and a crown💪🏿
I love golden age piracy history! They talk about this guy in the pirate docu-series 😎
Can't wait until the Somali Pirates are romanticized in movies possibly starring Leonardo DiCaprio of the future in 2120.
Love this show!
more quality content from nerds. cant wait to hear more pirate stories from the ask jeeves archives
Fascinating! I have been getting more into pirates lately so I will take a break at my job (security) to watch.
So interesting and well researched! An amazing video!
Interesting video! I had no idea there were so many "Black Caesar". The only one I ever heard about was the one taken in by the Shawnee and friend of Blue Jacket. The story is that Blue Jacket named the local water way, Caesar's Creek in Ohio, after him.
Pirate legends from the 17th and 18th Century are most probably based on some historical event or person. It is factual that Blackbeard had a Krewe member onboard named Caser. What isn't known is how he came to be onboard other than told in the legends. We may never know for sure so all we have are the stories.
10 days ago? How did I miss this on my feed? Good video!
Black Caesar? More like Black Spartacus given all the pirates who claimed his name.
Spartacus got caught because he was double-crossed by the pirates that had promised to take his army to Sicily, so maybe not the best name for a pirate. The Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture was often called 'the Black Spartacus', though.
Awesome closer about legends. I’m not even having a bad day, but the idea that I could be a legend someday and don’t even know it is so inspiring! Lol
such a great closing statement
I had a theater role as Black Ceasar in "Our Country is Good", decades ago!
Just found this channel and I am LOVING it, thank you for this content :)
This is news to me like most history from the past.....👏👏👏
Very impressive lots of information with this presentation. Could you possibly talk about black James Douglas.
Your beard afro combo is on point.
I'm really loving all the Our Flag Means Desth clips in these videos. It's helping tide me over until we can #RenewOurCrew
This is a history that I am most interested in. Maritime Maroons are an ignored segment of history within the obfuscated story of pirates.
Awesome thanks
Great storytelling and I have a crush on your hair Joel 😍😍
Excellent video ❤this 👏🏽
Black Caesar is more like the the character from Black Sails on Starz
During the time of the Pirates it was common to name house slaves and slave slave drivers after royalty from antiquity. Lots of Caesars, Lots of Helens. Lots of Alexanders, lots of Solomons, Lots of Davids. If an owner disliked a current monarch they’d often name their house slaves after that royal family. Messy times.
So assuming it was meant to be Ancient Rome, not Greece?
Given Caesar being the Emperor of the Roman Empire
I wondered if the word came from Ancient Greece, only to have a big moment with the Romans. But I think your suspicions are right; going by wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_(title)), Caesar was a title with roots in Julius Caesar's family. There is a Greek word for Caesar on the top of the entry, but when you click on it, the Greek word for Caesar comes from Latin, so it's definitely a later addition
Love this series! 🏴☠️🏴☠️🧨🧨
Now i know the historical inspiration for Adewale in AC Black Flag
Fascinating example of little known history. One odd bit. I don't know why one of the historians mentioned ancient Greece when providing background on the Roman name "Caesar."
Julius Caesar's accounts of his campaigns were extremely popular books in the 18th century. His 'Commentaries on the Gallic War' was used as a set text when teaching Latin. Even in an age when most people were illiterate, a lot of people would have been familiar with his reputation and he would have been one of the most famous historical figures. A formerly enslaved African trying to make a career as a pirate would need a name that his European shipmates would recognise and be able to pronounce. It makes sense that more than one person might pick (or have picked for him) the name of a famous warrior from European history to be known by aboard ship.
yeah
Yow g I love this 💯
Great piece. Also, please go watch Our Flag Means Death. I'm scared they're going to make it disappear like Westworld and it is so effing good.
Man, what do *I* have to do to get a nickname that cool?
Oh right...all the murder.
Oi, these are great! 🏴☠️
I didnt know who Black caesar was until knowledge the pirate....
Will you do a video on the Florida Keys Pirate Black Bart?
👏🏾
Damn brothers were pirates ? I heard of the dudes in somalia; like recently but way back when - wow
I wonder is this where the old 70s black plotation film got its name "black Caesar"
All of them were so-called Black. Every last one of them. Look up the history of BlackaMoor's and you will find that so-called White People were not even allowed to navigate ships during those times. It's always our own "Educated" Puppets, like the narrator of this video, who pushes the Historical lies of his "Massa".
I have another one. Diego Diaz Lucifer, from Cuba.
Welp new history is in the making...
Another step closer to finding the one piece
Marshall d teach 💀💀💀
I thought "black ceaser " was a pimp movie from the early 70s
🆓🍃
This is a really great series of videos. I'd love to see a movie based on these Black Caesar stories. Even if it glosses over the ugly bits..
We are not Africans we're the Aboriginal Indians Niiji not Black African Americans
Caesar =
Sea Zsar
that's how somali pirate
The Queen Annes Revenge had run a ground and been abandoned. Blackbeard only has a sloop when he was killed, so nobody was told to blow her up. Hard to trust anything when such basic facts are wrong. Caesar was tasked to destroy the sloop andwas probably a slave from the Caribbean, there was no tribal chief who became a pirate ever recorded.
Greek and Roman name were often used for slaves as they were not considered worthy of having Christian names, not beacsue of associations berween those cultures and slavery.
They Cloned Tyrone
I like that you all did a piece on the black pirates..I happen to be studying black pirates at the moment..but you guys are a little off..blacks were feared-from these pirates to the moors and to the Nubians..they weren’t all called black ceaser many went by names..weather they were mixed blood or full blood.some were first 1st commander while others had their own ship.the great Thomas Cochran called them wild cards in the naval wars in South America.but that also meant that he fought alongside them.which mean black pirates weren’t just aroun the Caribbean and the Florida cays..not all pirates were known..it’s like knowing all nba players..now they were more subject to being forced into slavery when caught..but there were also black pirates hanged for piracy..on the seas.it was your choice..seaman or deckhand which would definitely end up in slavery.white pirates ashed their faces to look more dangerous..
This whole idea that they had to pirate or be slaves in nonsense. There were many parts of the world they could have gone and lived lives. They chose not to and that's ok.
Surnames were not an African tradition
😂💩💪🏿✊🏿 The black title mean you was sold by african kings and tribes for better items
Why wouldn't black people become pirates through choice?
What would make their motivation any different from white European pirates?
It seems absurd, not to say a bit offensive, to suggest that they could only have become pirates under duress.
I'm struggling to accept that black pirates only became pirates to escape slavery, when it could easily have been nothing more than a choice.
Were they "Africans" or were they exiled Europeans in West Africa. A lot of pirates were Black or mixed Spainish and Portuguese.
The people that were later picked up in West Africa were from Spain and Portugal.
You've heard of the Barbary pirates, right?
OMG the Africans enslaved him. Quit bad history, please.
Assassin creed 4 black flag 🤣🤣
Mad at UA-cam algorithm for hiding these wisdom! Thank you 🫵🏾🫶🏾🧢❤️🔥
Is the song in the end a real song? 😂🤔🥹😡