WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao and the other Caribbean islands of the Kingdom should undertake a systematic effort to identify, research and preserve stories of local resistance to slavery and colonialism, according to a new study that warns many of these histories remain absent from classrooms despite strong interest among students.
The report "Vergeten verhalen, Verzwegen verleden" concludes that insufficient knowledge and educational material currently exist about anti-colonial resistance figures and acts of resistance across Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius.
For Curaçao, the exception is unmistakable: Tula.
The researchers describe the 1795 uprising led by Tula as the most prominent recurring account of resistance against colonial slavery in education across the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
But they argue that the prominence of one historical figure also exposes how little is systematically taught about others.
The report says locally rooted stories of resistance remain underrepresented in educational objectives and that students' curiosity about resistance in their immediate surroundings and family histories often goes unanswered.
The researchers found that Dutch educational materials tend to place the center of Dutch colonial history in Indonesia and Suriname rather than the present-day Caribbean parts of the Kingdom.
In the report's overall summary, Tula is identified as the principal resistance fighter from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom appearing in teaching materials, while island-based resistance figures generally remain absent and female freedom fighters receive minimal attention.
The study argues that this produces what it calls a "historical silence."
Students learn about slavery, but do not necessarily encounter enough stories about the choices, resistance and agency of enslaved and colonized people themselves.
Researchers also criticize a historical narrative in which European and North American abolitionist movements receive greater attention than resistance undertaken by enslaved people.
According to the report, such an approach risks presenting abolition primarily as something granted by outsiders instead of also examining how enslaved people challenged the system themselves.
Curaçao provides an important example of how this can be addressed.
Locally produced teaching material examined by the researchers discusses the 1795 uprising not simply as an isolated event led by Tula but includes Louis Mercier and Bastiaan Carpata and follows the rebellion through several plantations.
The report also points to Johanna Lesire as an unusual female figure within this history.
Yet researchers say much more remains to be identified and developed.
Their recommendations go beyond simply adding a few names to history books.
They propose establishing a Dutch Caribbean Knowledge Network for Education, Slavery and its Legacies, involving Caribbean governments, school boards, teacher-training institutions, teachers and researchers.
The proposed network would help develop educational objectives, teaching resources and professional support for educators.
Researchers also recommend building a digital database where teachers could access currently underused material about colonialism, slavery and Dutch Caribbean anti-colonial resistance.
The report argues that schools should make greater use of their physical surroundings as historical resources.
Monuments, commemorative sites, local institutions and experts could allow students to investigate events that happened in the same communities in which they now live.
This is particularly relevant to Curaçao, where locations associated with slavery, resistance and colonial history remain part of the physical landscape.
The researchers found that motivated teachers already use project education and what the report describes as "environmental didactics" to bridge gaps in conventional textbooks.
However, the report argues that preserving this history should not depend on whether an individual teacher happens to have sufficient knowledge, time or personal interest.
The researchers therefore call for a coordinated approach involving governments, historians, educators and communities.
The study itself grew out of a 2022 Dutch parliamentary motion that called for overlooked stories of anti-colonial resistance from Dutch colonial and slavery history to be unearthed and archived. The present report is described as a first step toward that objective.
For Curaçao, that process could extend well beyond Tula.
The report suggests looking more closely at resistance on the islands themselves, oral and family histories, female resistance figures and lesser-known individuals whose experiences never became part of conventional textbooks.
The findings ultimately challenge Curaçao to consider not simply whether slavery is being taught, but whose experiences are used to tell that history.
Tula occupies a central and increasingly recognized place in Curaçao's national memory. The researchers' conclusion is that the historical landscape surrounding him remains far larger than the portion currently reaching the classroom.