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Earning and Learning in the British West Indies: an Image of Freedom in the Pre-Emancipation Decade, 1823–1833*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Olwyn M. Blouet
Olwyn M. Blouet
Affiliation:
College of William and Mary in Virginia
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Extract

In 1833 slavery was abolished in the British West Indian colonies. A labour system that had been in operation for two hundred years, ended. A campaign based on the concept of freedom came to fruition. The idea of freedom was central to enlightenment thought. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom of movement, a free press, free trade and free labour were all part of enlightenment ideology. The institution of slavery, which limited all freedoms, came under pressure in an enlightened environment. Unlike the ancients who believed there could not be a civilized society without slaves, enlightenment philosophers developed the view that slavery was antithetical to civilization.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 391 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

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24 Returns relating to slave population (P.P. 1831–2, XLVII), 21–32. For full details about the development of education in Barbados see Blouet, Olwyn M., ‘Education and emancipation in Barbados, 1823–1846: a study in cultural transference’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nebraska, 1977)Google Scholar.

25 P.P. 1832–2, XLVII, appendix. Antigua probably saw the most educational activity before the abolition of slavery. Wesleyans and Moravians were especially busy.

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28 S.C. on extinction of slavery (P.P. 1831–2, XX), 578. This was out of a total population of approximately 28,130. Higman, Barry, Slave population of the British Caribbean, 1807–1834 (Baltimore, 1984), p. 41Google Scholar. Figures are for c. 1834.

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32 P.P. 1831–2, XLVII, 6.

33 The model for the estate school in Barbados was the school on the S. P. G. Codrington plantations. See Bennett, Henry J., Bondsmen and bishops: slavery and apprenticeship on the Codrington plantations of Barbados, 1710–1838 (Berkeley, 1958)Google Scholarand Klingberg, F.J., Codrington chronicle: an experiment in anglican altruism on a Barbados plantation, 1710–1834 (Berkeley, 1949)Google Scholar.

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37 Riot in Barbados [sic] and destruction of the Wesleyan chapel and mission house (in William R. Perkins Library, Duke University). This printed publication includes letters from Mr Shrewsbury to the Wesleyan missionary committee in London.

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51 S.C. on extinction of slavery (P.P. 1831–2, xx), 178.

52 Craton, Michael, ‘Slave culture resistance and the achievement of emancipation in the British West Indies, 1783–1838’, in Walvin, (ed.), Slavery and British society, p. 118Google Scholar. As Lowenthal, David has noted freedom was closely linked with freehold in ‘Caribbean views of Caribbean land’, Canadian Geographer, v (1961), 4Google Scholar.

53 S.C. on extinction of slavery (P.P. 1831–2, xx), 54–5.

54 Ibid. pp. 67–8. He thought slaves were very entrepreneurial and worked for money making straw baskets and hats whenever they could.

55 Ibid. pp. 108, 235.

56 Ibid. p. 136.

57 Ibid. p. 162.

58 Ibid. p. 180.

59 Ibid. pp. 164–6.

60 Ibid. p. 183.

61 Ibid. pp. 229–30.

62 For example see evidence of Austin and Simpson. Ibid. pp. 187, 362.

63 Ibid. p. 207.

64 Ibid. pp. 208–9. Fleming had also visited Haiti where, he said, former slaves worked for wages, p. 212.

65 Ibid. p. 222.

66 Ibid. pp. 361, 375.

67 Ibid. pp. 370–1. He admitted this was an extreme example from the Hope Estate.

68 Ibid. p. 293. Captain Williams commanded the first war ship to arrive at Montego Bay after the Jamaica insurrection of 1831.

69 Ibid. p. 302.

70 Ibid. p. 306.

71 Ibid. p. 375.

72 Ibid. p. 63.

73 Ibid. p. 544.

74 Ibid. pp. 51–8.

75 Ibid. p. 9.

76 Ibid. p. 195.

77 Ibid. p. 233.

78 Ibid. p. 65.

79 Ibid. p. 192.

80 Ibid. p. 171.

81 Reckord, , ‘Colonial office and abolition of slavery’, p. 733Google Scholar.

82 S.C. on extinction of slavery (P.P. 1831–2, xx), 255.

83 For more information about Knibb see Wright, Philip, Knibb ‘the notorious’ (London, 1973)Google Scholarand Turner, Mary, Slaves and missionaries (Carbondale, 1982)Google Scholar.

84 S.C. on extinction of slavery (P.P. 1831–2, xx), 304.

85 Ibid. p. 314.

86 Ibid. p. 315.

87 Ibid. p. 222.

88 Ibid. p. 223.

89 ibid. p. 238.

90 Ibid. pp. 194–5.

91 Campbell, Carl, ‘Towards an imperial policy for the education of negroes in the West Indies after emancipation’, Jamaican Historical Review, XIII (1967), 68–102Google Scholar.

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94 S.C. on extinction of slavery (P.P. 1831–2, xx), 304.

95 Coupland, Reginald, The British anti-slavery movement (London, 1933)Google Scholar and Klingberg, The anti-slavery movement.

96 Williams, Eric, Capitalism and slavery (Chapel Hill, 1944).For recent discussion of the debate see Solow an d Engerman, British capitalism and Caribbean slavery. Most recentlyGoogle ScholarBlackburn, Robin in The overthrow of colonial slavery, 1776–1848 (London, 1988)Google Scholarclaims slavery was overthrown because it was politically untenable. He emphasizes slave resistance, rising domestic social unrest an d the mobilization of popular sentiment in helping to bring about emancipation.

97 Engerman, Stanley and Elds, David make a similar point in ‘Economic aspects of the abolition debate’, in Bolt, and Drescher, (eds.), Anti-slavery, religion and reform, pp. 272–94Google Scholar.