Guadeloupe says Tula and Boni should be taught as resistance heroes in Dutch schools

THE NETHERLANDS--Dutch schoolchildren should learn about Caribbean and Surinamese resistance leaders Tula and Boni as part of a fuller understanding of slavery, colonialism and the struggle for freedom within the Dutch Kingdom, according to Professor Dr. Francio Guadeloupe.

Guadeloupe made the case in an interview conducted by journalist Miriam van Coblijn and published by Dutch platform Nieuw Wij. The interview examines the meaning of healing, justice and repair following the Netherlands’ involvement in transatlantic slavery and colonial rule.

The discussion formed part of a five-part Nieuw Wij series reflecting on Suriname’s 50th anniversary of independence and the shared colonial history of Suriname and the Netherlands. The series considers what healing and repair should mean for society, relations between the two countries and future generations.

Guadeloupe argued that education must move beyond presenting enslaved Africans and their descendants only as victims of colonial systems. Students should also learn about the people who organised, resisted and fought for freedom.

Tula led the major 1795 uprising against slavery in Curaçao, while Boni became one of the most important leaders of Maroon resistance against Dutch colonial forces in Suriname.

Guadeloupe’s position is that these figures should be recognised within Dutch education in the same way that European resistance fighters are remembered and taught. Including Tula and Boni would give students a broader account of Dutch history, one that includes the experiences and actions of people in the Caribbean and Suriname.

Such an approach would also challenge the idea that the history of the Kingdom took place mainly in the European Netherlands. The Dutch colonial past was shaped across several continents, and the people who resisted colonial rule were also part of that history.

Guadeloupe linked the absence of figures such as Tula and Boni from mainstream education to a wider imbalance in how national history is presented. When students learn mainly about colonial administrators, European political developments and the formal abolition of slavery, they receive an incomplete account of how freedom was pursued.

The struggle against slavery did not begin when colonial governments decided to abolish it. Enslaved people and Maroon communities resisted captivity long before abolition through organised uprisings, escapes, the creation of independent communities and continued opposition to colonial forces.

Teaching those histories, Guadeloupe argued, would help students understand that people of African descent played an active role in shaping freedom, justice and political change.

Healing requires more than an apology

The interview also addresses the debate over apologies and reparative justice for slavery.

Guadeloupe cautioned against reducing repair to a single financial payment, as though crimes against humanity could be settled by paying a fine. Financial compensation may be part of a broader process, but he presented repair as something more extensive.

His approach focuses on whether descendants of enslaved people can participate fully and equally in the Netherlands, Suriname and throughout the Kingdom.

That process includes healing, rebuilding, education and the removal of social and economic barriers that remain connected to the colonial past. Repair, from this perspective, is not a one-time event. It is continuing work directed toward creating a more just future.

Guadeloupe argued that meaningful apologies must therefore be connected to action. Recognition of historical wrongdoing is important, but an apology has limited value when the inequalities linked to that history remain unaddressed.

The discussion should examine the present-day position of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Surinamese communities, including their access to education, employment, housing, political participation and opportunities for social advancement.

Colonial relationships did not suddenly disappear

Guadeloupe also addressed the continuing effect of the unequal relationships created during transatlantic slavery.

He argued that the end of legal slavery did not immediately remove the ideas, institutions and social relationships that had developed over centuries. The damage includes both the belief that some groups are naturally inferior and the corresponding belief that others are naturally superior.

Those ideas can continue to influence how people are viewed, treated and represented, even when racial discrimination is no longer formally permitted by law.

Healing must therefore involve more than changing legislation. It must also confront the ways people understand history, identity, citizenship and their relationship with one another.

Education becomes central to that process because schools help determine which historical figures are remembered, whose experiences are considered important and what children understand about the societies in which they live.

A shared history throughout the Kingdom

Guadeloupe’s comments also carry significance for the Dutch Caribbean, where debates about slavery, colonialism, autonomy and equality remain closely connected to present-day Kingdom relations.

The histories of Tula and Boni are not separate from Dutch history. They are part of the history of a Kingdom that developed through colonial expansion, forced labour and economic relationships extending across the Atlantic.

Recognising that history requires the Netherlands to treat Caribbean and Surinamese experiences as central to the national story rather than as additional or foreign subjects.

For St. Maarten, the interview has added relevance because of Guadeloupe’s longstanding connection to the country.

He previously served for four years as President of the University of St. Martin and is currently Professor by Special Appointment of Public Anthropology of Kingdom Relations at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a senior research fellow at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies.

His academic work focuses on the Dutch Caribbean, Kingdom relations, ethnic diversity, national identity, colonial racism and the ways history continues to influence contemporary society.

Moving beyond symbolic recognition

The interview presents the teaching of Tula and Boni as part of a larger effort to reconsider how the Netherlands understands its colonial history.

Adding their names to a school lesson would be a beginning, but Guadeloupe’s broader argument goes further. Historical recognition should contribute to changes in how societies understand freedom, resistance and equality.

Students should know not only that slavery existed, but also that enslaved people opposed it. They should understand that colonial rule was challenged by people who recognised their own humanity and demanded freedom, even when the legal and political systems of the time denied it to them.

Teaching Tula and Boni would therefore do more than expand a history curriculum. It would recognise that the pursuit of justice within the Dutch colonial world was also led by Caribbean and Surinamese people.

The interview by journalist Miriam van Coblijn was published by Nieuw Wij under the Dutch title, “Alle Nederlandse scholieren zouden verzetsstrijders als Tula en Boni moeten kennen,” which translates to, “All Dutch schoolchildren should know resistance fighters such as Tula and Boni.”

‍