FOUN1101 Plenary 4

(UNIFIED)FOUN 1101:
CARIBBEAN CIVILISATION
PLENARY #4 BEYOND THE RIVERS OF BABYLON
1 OCTOBER 2018
DR. RODNEY WORRELL
1
ONE COURSE ONE UNIVERSITY ONE CARIBBEAN

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
AT THE END OF THIS UNIT STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
• DISCUSS SLAVERY AS AN ECONOMIC MODE OF PRODUCTION IN AFRICA AND THE

CARIBBEAN
• ASSESS THE IMPACT OF THE SLAVE TRADE ON AFRICAN CIVILIZATION
• ANALYZE SOME OF THE GENDER ISSUES IN PLANTATION LIFE
• DISCUSS THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ABUSE INFLICTED ON THE ENSLAVED
• EVALUATE THE COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENSLAVED PEOPLE
WORKING IN THE GREAT HOUSE AND THE WHITE PLANTOCRACY
• DISCUSS MANUMISSION IN CARIBBEAN CHATTEL SLAVERY
• ASSESS THE SELF-LIBERATION ETHOS OF THE ENSLAVED AND THEIR RESISTANCE ON

THE PLANTATIONS
TOPICS
• COMPARING WEST AFRICAN SLAVERY AND CARIBBEAN CHATTEL

SLAVERY
• ENSLAVEMENT ON CARIBBEAN SUGAR ESTATES
• FREEDOM LOST, FREEDOM REGAINED ON CARIBBEAN SUGAR ESTATES
SLAVERY
• SLAVERY EXISTED IN MOST PARTS OF THE WORLD IN ANCIENT AND
MEDIEVAL TIMES: AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST, GREECE, ROME, CHINA AND INDIA
• SLAVERY IS A CONDITION IN WHICH ONE PERSON BECOMES THE
PERSONAL PROPERTY OF ANOTHER
• SLAVERY INVOLVED THE PROCUREMENT OF CAPTIVE LABOUR WORKING
WITHOUT WAGES AND USUALLY UNDER COMPULSION
• THE ACTUAL INSTITUTION OF THE SYSTEM VARIED AND IN SOME PLACES
THE LABOUR WOULD BE MORE RESTRICTED THAN IN OTHER PLACES
• THE LOCATION OF THE ENSLAVED, WHETHER IN THE TOWN/URBAN AREA
OR IN THE COUNTRYSIDE/PLANTATION DETERMINED THE TYPE OF WORK
DONE AND LABORIOUSNESS
SLAVERY IN WEST AFRICA
• “…SLAVERY WAS ROOTED IN DEEP-SEATED LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURES OF
AFRICAN SOCIETIES, AND IT FUNCTIONED QUITE DIFFERENTLY FROM THE WAY IF
FUNCTIONED IN EUROPEAN SOCIETIES.”’ JOHN THORNTON
• “THERE CLEARLY WERE PERSONS IN THOSE SOCIETIES WHO HAD BEEN BOUGHT OR
CAPTURED AND SUBSEQUENTLY INCORPORATED ON A BASIS DIFFERENT FROM THOSE
BORN THEM. MANY OF THEM SEEMED TO LIVE AND WORK JUST AS THEIR SO-CALLED
MASTERS DID, AND EUROPEANS, AND OFTEN OTHER AFRICANS COULD NOT TELL THEM
APART. MANY WERE NOT EVEN CONSIDERED SALEABLE – AND WERE THEREFORE NOT
CHATTELS. IN FACT SOMETIMES FREE PEOPLE WERE SOLD AND SLAVES WERE NOT, OR
BOTH COULD BE SOLD. SOME SLAVES BECAME RICH AND POWERFUL AND EVEN
BOUGHT PEOPLE FOR THEMSELVES. OTHERS WERE PUT TO ECONOMIC USE –
SOMETIMES WORKING ON THEIR MASTERS ESTATES – BUT THEY DID NOT FORM A
DISTINCT OR CLASS APART.” SUZANE MIERS & IGOR KOPYTOFF
ENSLAVEMENT IN WEST
AFRICA
• DIFFERED FROM ATLANTIC SLAVERY IN THAT THERE WAS NO
DOMINANT RACE FACTOR TO IT
• BEING BORN INTO SLAVERY PROVIDED THE ENSLAVED WITH
RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS
• INABILITY TO PAY DEBT MIGHT RESULT IN ENSLAVEMENT-
PAWNING – SLAVE UNTIL THE DEBT WAS REPAID
• CRIMINALS BECAME SLAVES AS A PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR
CRIMES OR WITCHCRAFT
• WARFARE WAS THE MAIN ACTIVITY FOR OBTAINING SLAVES
NATURE OF ENSLAVEMENT IN
WEST AFRICA
• THE ENSLAVED PEOPLE WERE NOT JUST TRADED COMMODITIES TO BE WORKED TO DEATH, BUT
WERE ALSO SKILLED PRODUCERS IN AGRICULTURE, CRAFTS, MINERAL PROCESSING, DOMESTIC
ACTIVITIES AND ANIMAL REARING
• ENSLAVED WERE VALUED AS SOCIAL BEINGS AS WELL AS ECONOMIC FACTORS
• THE ENSLAVED ENJOYED PRIVILEGES AND RIGHTS – COULD MARRY, OWN PROPERTY, AND GIVE
BIRTH TO CHILDREN WHO WERE NOT CONSIDERED AS SLAVES
• AN ENSLAVED PERSON WITH SPECIAL SKILLS COULD RISE TO A RESPONSIBLE POSITION AND
BECOME AN IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE MASTERS HOUSEHOLD
• ISLAMIC LAW DECREED THAT CHILDREN OF SLAVE MOTHERS WERE TO BE FREED
• THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY CHANGED WITH EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRANS-
ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE – TRADITION BECAME SECONDARY TO PROFIT MAKING
ENSLAVEMENT ON CARIBBEAN SUGAR
ESTATES
PROFITABILITY OF WEST
AFRICAN SLAVERY
• WEST AFRICA PROVIDED A LABOUR FORCE THAT WAS TRACTABLE,
RELATIVELY IMMUNE TO NEW WORLD DISEASES, HAD A LOW
TRANSPORTATION COST AND A LOW PURCHASE PRICE
• BECAUSE OF THE LOW PURCHASE PRICE ON THE WEST AFRICAN

COAST CARIBBEAN SLAVERY WAS VERY PROFITABLE FOR THE
EUROPEAN TRADERS AND PLANTERS WHO TOOK PART IN THIS TRADE
• DEMAND FOR AFRICAN LABOUR LED TO THE DE-POPULATION OF

PEOPLE FROM THE WEST AFRICAN COAST
• DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF MALES TAKEN

ROLE OF THE AFRICAN
CHIEFS
• AFRICAN CHIEFS BARTERED AFRICAN PEOPLE FOR GOODS- POTS, PANS,
PIPES, TOBACCO, KNIVES, GUNS, GUNPOWDER, IRON WARE, TEXTILES
• NATURE OF SLAVERY NOT CLEAR TO THEM
• THEY WERE ACCUSTOMED TO DOMESTIC SLAVERY
• THIS TYPE OF SLAVERY NOT DEGRADING –
• ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ADVANCEMENT THEIR MAIN AIM
SLAVE RAIDING
• SLAVE RAIDERS WOULD AMBUSHED AND KIDNAPPED AFRICANS

• VILLAGES WERE SET ON FIRE AND FLEEING PEOPLE WERE CAPTURED
• CAPTIVES WERE LINKED WITH STICKS OR CHAINS ON THE NECK TO
PREVENT THEM FROM ESCAPING
SLAVE COFFLE
FORT ELMINA
CAPE COAST CASTLE
METHODS OF PACKING SLAVE
SHIPS
• TIGHT PACK – THE CAPTIVES WERE PACKED TO MAXIMIZE THE USE OF
AVAILABLE SPACE
• ACCORDING TO JOHN NEWTON “ ON THE SHELVES BELOW DECK, THAT
HAD FOUR FEET ROOM BETWEEN THEM, THE SLAVES LAY CHAINED TWO
BY TWO, IN TWO ROWS UNDER EACH SIDE OF THE SHIPS. THEY WERE
PUSHED IN SO TIGHTLY AS BOOKS IN A BOOK CASE … EVERY
MORNING WE FOUND ONE LIVING CHAINED TOGETHER WITH A DEAD”
• LOOSE PACKING- TOOK LESS PEOPLE AND DID NOT EXCEED THEIR
CARRYING CAPACITY TO REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF ACCIDENTS,
DISEASES OR DEATHS IN THE HOLDS
MIDDLE PASSAGE
MIDDLE PASSAGE
• A GREAT MANY EXPIRED DURING THE VOYAGE
• EXTREME OVERCROWDING
• DEPLORABLE CONDITIONS PRESENT ABOARD THE VESSEL.
• MANY SUFFOCATED OR SUCCUMBED TO DYSENTERY
• MANY DIED ALONG THE VOYAGE DUE TO EPIDEMICS OF DISEASE
• ON BOARD THE SLAVERS THERE WERE NUMEROUS OUTBREAKS OF THE DREADED
SMALLPOX
• A FEW OF THE AFRICANS WERE DRIVEN INSANE BY THE CLAUSTROPHOBIC MISERY
• ANYONE SHOWING EVEN THE SLIGHTEST SIGN OF EITHER OF THESE DISEASES
WAS THROWN OVERBOARD ALIVE.
• THIS WAS DONE BY THE CAPTAIN TO PREVENT AT ALL COSTS AN EPIDEMIC
ABOARD THE SHIP. (EG OF SLAVE SHIP ZONG)
SPECULUM ORIS
SALE IN THE WEST INDIES
• ADVERTISEMENTS WERE MADE UPON LANDING IDENTIFYING THE
CREDENTIALS OF THE SLAVES
CARIBBEAN CHATTEL
SLAVERY
• CHATTEL SLAVERY – HAS OFTEN BEEN THE TERM USED TO DESCRIBE THE
TYPE OF ENSLAVEMENT PRACTICED IN THE CARIBBEAN
• THE ENSLAVED WERE VIEWED AS PROPERTY THAT COULD BE BOUGHT
OR SOLD WITH IMPUNITY
• HAD NO RIGHTS BEFORE THE LAW AND COULD BE MURDERED OR
RAPED WITHOUT ANY FORM OF REDRESS
• HIS CHILDREN INHERITED HIS STATUS
• THE ENSLAVED AS A GROUP FORM A CLASS APART, AT THE BOTTOM
OF THE SOCIAL LADDER
• DESTRUCTION OF THE ENSLAVED BOTH MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY
TREATMENT OF THE
ENSLAVED
• THE ENSLAVED WERE BRUTALLY PUNISHED
• FLOGGED FOR MINOR OFFENCES
• WOMEN WHO RESISTED THE ADVANCES OF WHITE MEN WERE WHIPPED
• PREGNANT WOMEN WERE STRIPPED NAKED AND PLACED FACE DOWN
ON THE GROUND WITH A HOLE DUG TO ACCOMMODATE THEIR BELLIES
AND FLOGGED
• THISTLEWOOD WROTE ABOUT ADMINISTERING OF 50-300 LASHES TO
ENSLAVED MEN AND WOMEN
• LIMBS COULD BE SEVERED FOR CONSTANTLY RUNNING AWAY
ENSLAVEMENT ON THE
SUGAR ESTATES
• SUGAR PLANATION COMPRISED OF THREE MAJOR CATEGORIES OF ENSLAVED
WORKERS, SKILLED, DOMESTIC AND FIELD
• THE SKILLED LABOURERS WERE MAINLY MALES – CARPENTERS, MILLWRIGHTS, COPPER

SMITHS, COOPERS, SAWYERS, DISTILLERS AND MID-WIVES- THE BOILER MAN WAS ONE
OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ENSLAVED PERSONS ON THE PLANTATION
• THE DOMESTICS/HOUSE ENSLAVED PERSONS WERE MAINLY FEMALES – COOKS,

WASHERWOMEN AND NURSE-MAIDS
• A LARGE NUMBER OF THEM WERE COLOURED WOMEN
• HAD LESS PERSONAL FREEDOM PERSONAL FREEDOM THAN FIELD SLAVES
• ATE AND DRESS BETTER THAN THE FIELD SLAVES AND HAD A GREATER CHANCE OF
BEING MANUMITTED
ENSLAVEMENT ON SUGAR
ESTATES
• DOMESTICS COULD BE VERY LOYAL TO THEIR MASTERS- BETRAYED MANY REBELLIONS
• THE MAJORITY OF THE ENSLAVED WERE FIELD SLAVES WHO DID THE MANUAL TASK ON
THE PLANTATION THE MAJORITY WERE FEMALES
• FIELD LABOUR WAS DIVIDED INTO THREE WORK GANGS
• THE FIRST GANG WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK GANG ON THE ESTATE AND
CONSISTED OF THE MOST ABLE-BODIED INDIVIDUALS WHO DID THE MOST LABORIOUS
TASKS – CUTTING THE CANES AND PREPARING THE GROUND FOR PLANTING
• THE SECOND GANG INCLUDED WEAKER AND PREGNANT SLAVES WHO PERFORMED
MORE MINOR TASKS
• THIRD GANG MADE UP MOSTLY OF CHILDREN DID LESS DEMANDING TASKS SUCH AS
WEEDING, TENDING TO THE ANIMALS
ENSLAVEMENT ON SUGAR
PLANTATION
THE ROLE OF ENSLAVED
WOMEN
• SLAVE WOMEN WERE WORKERS’, MOTHERS AND SEXUAL PARTNERS.
• THEY WERE PRODUCERS AND REPRODUCERS.
• SLAVE WOMEN WERE EITHER ESPECIALLY OPPRESSED OR
COMPARATIVELY PRIVILEGED.
• DAILY WORK DEBILITATING, FAMILY LIFE UNSTABLE, CONTACT WITH
PLANTER CLASS MISERABLE AND DEPRESSING.
• CHILDREN DOOMED TO SLAVERY.
• TO REBEL THEY RAN AWAY OR TRIED TO ABORT THEIR CHILDREN/
INFANTICIDE– LONG LACTATION PERIODS.
• MORE INTIMATE WITH OWNERS THAN MEN.
• HOUSE SLAVES WERE MORE PRIVILEGED.(QUALIFY)
• JAMAICAN PLANTERS INDIFFERENT TO THE NEEDS OF PREGNANT
WOMEN – FLOGGING NORMAL.
• SEXUAL MOLESTATION – CONSTANT.
URBAN ENSLAVED
• FEMALES OPERATED TAVERNS, EATING HOUSES AND LODGES

• FEMALES WORKED AS LAUNDRESSES, DOMESTIC LABOURERS AND
PROSTITUTES
• MALES WORKED IN THE BUILDING TRADES, SHIP-BUILDING
• SKILLED SLAVES HAD A GREAT
RACHEL POLYGREEN
FREEDOM LOST,
FREEDOM REGAINED ON CARIBBEAN
SUGAR ESTATES
MANUMISSION
• MANUMISSION WAS THE ACT OF FREEING ENSLAVED PERSONS THROUGH A
LEGAL DOCUMENT WHICH MADE THEM FREE FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES
• MANUMISSION RATES WERE RELATIVELY HIGH IN THE SPANISH COLONIES

THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD OF SLAVERY AND MUCH LOWER IN THE BRITISH
COLONIES WITH THE FRENCH, DUTCH AND DANISH FALLING BETWEEN THESE
EXTREMES
• VERY FEW SLAVES WERE MANUMITTED IN THE BRITISH COLONIES DURING THE 18TH
CENTURY, BUT LARGE NUMBERS WERE MANUMITTED IN CUBA
• IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY MANUMISSIONS OCCURRED IN THE BRITISH CARIBBEAN

AT RATES LESS THAN 2 PER 1000 YEARLY
• MANUMISSION BECAME MORE FREQUENTLY BETWEEN 1807 AND 1834
• MANUMISSION WAS MORE COMMON IN TOWNS THAN IN RURAL AREAS

MANUMISSION
• IN THE BRITISH COLONIES, THE MAJORITY OF THE MANUMITTED

SLAVES TENDED TO FEMALE CREOLE, YOUNG AND COLORED
• IN THE SPANISH AND FRENCH COLONIES, IN THE EARLY 18TH CENTURY
THEY MORE OFTEN HAVE BEEN MALE AND AFRICAN BORN
• OFFSPRING OF WHITE MEN AND SLAVE MOTHERS ALWAYS HAD
BETTER CHANCES OF MANUMISSION
• THE STATE MANUMITTED SOME ENSLAVED PERSONS WHO REVEALED
POTENTIAL REBELLIONS
SLAVE RESISTANCE
• THE ENSLAVED CONSTANTLY RESISTED THEIR ENSLAVEMENT
• SLAVE REBELLIONS
• GRAND MARRONAGE – SET UP ALTERNATIVE FREE COMMUNITIES IN THE
FOREST AND MOUNTAINS
• PETITE MARRONAGE
• INDUSTRIAL SABOTAGE
• MALINGERING
• ABORTION
• SUICIDE
• INFANTICIDE
TOUSSAINT L’OVERTURE
QUEEN NANNY
SLAVE RESISTANCE
• ARSON
• RETENTION OF:
AFRICAN LANGUAGES
BELIEFS
MUSIC
CUSTOMS
CRAFTS
END OF ENSLAVEMENT
• ERIC WILLIAM AND A NUMBER OF SCHOLARS ARE OF THE VIEW THAT

SLAVERY ENDED BECAUSE THE SYSTEM WAS NO LONGER PROFITABLE
• IT WAS ALSO ARGUED THAT BRITISH HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION -
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE AND OTHERS - IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT
LED TO THE COUNTRY ABOLISHING THE INSTITUTION
• RICHARD HART , HILARY BECKLES AND OTHER HISTORIANS BELIEVED
THAT THE ENSLAVED BY CONSTANTLY FIGHTING AGAINST THE
SYSTEM CONTRIBUTED TO ITS ULTIMATE DEMISE

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FOUN1101 Plenary 4

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(UNIFIED)FOUN 1101:

ONE COURSE ONE UNIVERSITY ONE CARIBBEAN

AT THE END OF THIS UNIT STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

• DISCUSS SLAVERY AS AN ECONOMIC MODE OF PRODUCTION IN AFRICA AND THE

• ASSESS THE SELF-LIBERATION ETHOS OF THE ENSLAVED AND THEIR RESISTANCE ON

• COMPARING WEST AFRICAN SLAVERY AND CARIBBEAN CHATTEL

• ENSLAVED WERE VALUED AS SOCIAL BEINGS AS WELL AS ECONOMIC FACTORS

• ISLAMIC LAW DECREED THAT CHILDREN OF SLAVE MOTHERS WERE TO BE FREED

• BECAUSE OF THE LOW PURCHASE PRICE ON THE WEST AFRICAN

• DEMAND FOR AFRICAN LABOUR LED TO THE DE-POPULATION OF

• DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF MALES TAKEN

• SLAVE RAIDERS WOULD AMBUSHED AND KIDNAPPED AFRICANS

• THE SKILLED LABOURERS WERE MAINLY MALES – CARPENTERS, MILLWRIGHTS, COPPER

• THE DOMESTICS/HOUSE ENSLAVED PERSONS WERE MAINLY FEMALES – COOKS,

• A LARGE NUMBER OF THEM WERE COLOURED WOMEN

• HAD LESS PERSONAL FREEDOM PERSONAL FREEDOM THAN FIELD SLAVES

• FIELD LABOUR WAS DIVIDED INTO THREE WORK GANGS

• FEMALES OPERATED TAVERNS, EATING HOUSES AND LODGES

• MANUMISSION RATES WERE RELATIVELY HIGH IN THE SPANISH COLONIES

• IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY MANUMISSIONS OCCURRED IN THE BRITISH CARIBBEAN

• MANUMISSION BECAME MORE FREQUENTLY BETWEEN 1807 AND 1834

• MANUMISSION WAS MORE COMMON IN TOWNS THAN IN RURAL AREAS

• IN THE BRITISH COLONIES, THE MAJORITY OF THE MANUMITTED

• ERIC WILLIAM AND A NUMBER OF SCHOLARS ARE OF THE VIEW THAT

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