The Slave Rebellions Of Barbados

Slavery represents an important part of Jamaican history and the cultivated dominant atmosphere. For one, plantations highly depended on slave labor to maximize profit margins. Between 1655 and 1808 one million slaves were forcefully brought to Jamaica (Waters, 1985: 21-23). Persaud (2001: 72) suggests, “the plantation system, the totality of institutional arrangements surrounding the production and marketing of plantation crops, has seriously affected society in Jamaica”. In other words, the slave mode of production was a crucial factor in the establishment of Jamaica’s structural society. “Jamaica’s class structure today reflects its history as a colonial plantation society and its beginnings of industrial development

The origins and development of slavery in Britain’s North American colonies during the colonial period can be traced down to the fact that North American colonies were created for the economic profit of Great Britain. Reasons for the development of slavery in the North American colonies can be the switch to slavery from indentured servitude due to the desire of free labor and the results of Bacon’s rebellion, the introduction of cash crops such as sugar and tobacco and the introduction of the plantation system, and the easy access of slaves due to the triangular trade and the middle passage.

The population of slaves rose from 20,000 to 92,000, meaning the percentage of the total population jumped from 46.5% to 84.2% of the entire population. The slaves very quickly outnumbered their masters. This is due to a number of factors, including the price of land, the price of slaves versus the price of indentured servants, wealth distribution, and a variety of other reasons. This includes the massive migration of whites, not to Barbados, but instead away from the island. This loss of potential labor was likely one of the main factors for the great increase in the slave population, especially when in comparison to the populations of both Chesapeake populations. From 1645 to the 1700s, approximately 30,000 whites departed the colony, and it is extremely important to note that most of these whites did not own any land . The price of land on Barbados increased from 1.20 per acre in 1638 to 5.50 per acre in 1680 . Since the price of land shot up, only wealthy whites could afford to own any land, so their plantations began to expand and dominate. Barbados also took several years to discover its “cash crop”, as they attempted to grow tobacco and caused the market to plummet. They then went from tobacco to cotton, finally settling on sugar through trial and error. Eventually plantations found their wealth in sugar, but by that point the island was dominated only by those who could afford

Slave resistance began for many enslaved Africans before they reach the Americas. Karenga explained the many arrangements in which Africans resisted to enslavement, while in Africa, during the middle passage, and in the Americas. Employing the Karenga text one can evaluate the different resistances that transpired in Antigua as Cultural, Resistance, Day-to-Day Resistance, Abolitionism, Armed Resistance, Revolts, Ship Mutinies, and Afro-Native Alliance. One can conclude that enslaved Africans had an unrelenting resistance to enslavement (Karenga).

The African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Anna C. Bailey takes a rather interesting approach into the history of the Atlantic slave trade. Bailey took a personal journey, and was determined to break the silence. Of course with that being said it would prove to be a difficult quest since so many of these people are shamed about slavery, and the discussion of slavery is a taboo topic in its own ways. It was time to break the silence. Through out the book she explores diverse groups, of distinct people who all share the prevalent history of slavery. Her central theme in unveiling the past is through oral stories. Bailey makes it known in the first chapter that most texts written about the slave trade primarily focus on the Europeans perspective, which is what sets her book apart. Bailey herself residing in Jamaica takes an intimate standpoint to slavery, herself being of African slave descent, and knowing very limited details about her extensive family history. “What is clear from my family history is that more is known about the relatively recent past than is known about the period when my family members were undoubtedly slaves) . Through the obstacles and difficulties Bailey was able to succeed, and gave those affected a voice. Her approach will be examined, and the strengths and weaknesses in her approach will be brought to light.

The transition from colonial era to Revolutionary era brought many variations that greatly affected indentured servants that would later be slaves. In the colonial era, indentured servants were individuals who signed a contract that tied them to a land under the authority of a master. They usually worked in plantations to cultivate crops especially tobacco. They were bound to the land from four to seven years to pay off their transportation to America. Once they worked off their time, they were assured land and freedom. At this time, indentured slaves were both black and white people. The profit from tobacco was growing therefore the demand for labor increased. For planters, the issue of indentured servants escaping was becoming common. African people were easier to identify and catch if they escaped because of the color of their skin and lack of resources.

In the early 1500's, a rebellion occurred in the New World land of Hispaniola, Ponce de León was on his second expedition to the New World with Columbus. The revolt that had occurred on the island was by the slaves that had inhabited the island island when discovered. Ponce de León had participated in the calming of the rebellion; in return for his efforts he was promoted to a military commander, and received a large portion of the western part of the island to govern.

This paper will focus on how slave revolts in the Caribbean and America have affected these countries and the aftermath they caused to their mother countries which greatly impacted the outcome for people of African American descent. Since the very beginning of time mankind has been enslaving one another for centuries. In American around the time the Civil War the south justified slavery by saying that slaves were needed for industrial help such as the industry of cotton picking, they also

In San Domingues there were slaves called Haiti. In document doc A king louis xiv in 1685 remained in force until french legal code regulation of slavery in the west indies and french own the plantain of the San Domingues and these code was a law for for the Haitian people. In document B, in 1789 the Marquis de Lafayette and thomas jefferson created a equal rights for all mankind but the slaves didn't get the right so they revolted since they were not treated respectively.

During the colonization era, most of the laborers came from Great Britain as indentured servants. An indentured servant is a person that signed a contract to pay for their passage to America by working. They usually worked on a farm since the colonies were based on agriculture. These servants were young laborers that intended on becoming permanent residents of the Chesapeake Bay settlements. Some servant owners treated them the same way they treated their family members, whether it was good or bad. Sometimes, convicted criminals were transported to the colonies as indentured servants instead of being imprisoned. Indentured servants weren’t considered slaves. However, when they came to Virginia they were required to work four to seven years to pay for the cost of their transportation. Some found that the major problem with indentured servants was most of them left after several years after they became skilled. It was estimated that over half of all of the white immigrants came as indentured servants. The number of indentured servants was the highest in the South.

The slave masses were in fact the creators of their own history. James acknowledges that the success of the slave revolt was made possible due to the internal rivalries in the colony. "From the very momentum of their own development, colonial planters, French and British bourgeois, were generating internal stresses and intensifying external rivalries, moving blindly to explosions and conflicts which would shatter the basis of their dominance and create the possibility of emancipation" (26). Nevertheless, James asserts that "Men make their own history, and the black Jacobins of San Domingo were to make history which would alter the fate of millions of men and shift the economic currents of three continents" (25).

The sugar plantations increased the profit for the earlier settlers, because in this era sugar was uncommon. The money that entered Barbados from the sugar plantations brought political power to the owners who were controlling the economic aspects as well as in governmental offices. Land owners made it known to the slaves that they were the authority figure and they should not try to get out of line. “Its House of Assembly, which began meeting in 1639, is third-oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, preceded only by Bermuda’s legislature and the Virginia House of Burgesses” (Country Watch, Inc., 2014) . This government wrote a democratic constitution which was used as a template by “the American Founding Fathers” (Country Watch, 2014) to draw up the United States Constitution. Sugar plantations were a successful commercial enterprise which raised a split in Barbados between large plantations and the early small farms resulting in these small farmers to leave. “Some of the displaced farmers relocated to British colonies in North America” (Barbados, 2011). In the years between 1663 through 1669 Barbados was hit with many natural disasters such as a locust plague, Bridgetown fire, a hurricane, drought and in other times too much rain which added to the island’s financial problems. Yet, the natural disasters did not stop the business men

This revolution as it is was a major element of change to the Caribbean economically and socially as well. With the introduction of sugar plantations there was chattel slavery and all its implications on Caribbean heritage and history. John F. Campbell (2010) in his study posited that Caribbean enslavement and its West African labour force was purely the result of economic necessity.

Slave rebellions all over the Caribbean region were common. There is documented evidence of uprisings in at least 20 islands. In many of the territories multiple revolts occurred. Furthermore, there are many cases when conspiracies were put down before there was any violence. The slaughter of the native population by the early 18th Century left the colonist landowners without a work force for the great sugar, coffee, cocoa and cotton plantations that formed the backbone of the region’s economy. African slaves were brought in to work the land. By the 1720s the population of the Caribbean ranged from a low of about 30 % in Cuba to more than 90 % in other islands. Most whites, however, lived in cities; in the countryside the racial makeup favored Blacks 50 to 1. None-the-less, all economic, political and social power was in the hands of the Europeans. There is no need to discuss the many evils of slavery suffice it to say that revolts began before long. Initial revolts took place in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico in the late 16th Century and, Barbados, Jamaica and Antigua early in the 17th. By the middle of the 18th Century, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Sainte Domingue (Haiti), and

Poverty was one of the most substantial contributors to the hardships endured leading up to the riots. Much like the next domino in line, with low wages and unemployment came poverty which affected many families in Barbados in many different ways. In an attempt to escape poverty people moved to the parish of St. Michael in droves to the point where half of Barbados’ population was concentrated there. This move still did not ease their burden because there were no more