Module 2 Flashcards
The Genesis of Slavery in the Caribbean
Slavery exited in the Americas in the pre-Columbian era and there was evidence that in indigenous societies such as the Mayans, Incans and Aztecs, slaves were necessary for the organization of their societies. Indeed, many of these civilizations went to war with an aim to capture slaves.
Organized slavery, however, were exported to the Americas by the Europeans. Europeans were keen to the idea of slavery due to coercive labour systems which existed in Europe such as feudalism and serfdom up to the 15th Century.
When the Europeans came to the Caribbean (and the Americas), their natural impulse was to exploit the indigenous people who by all indication could not protect themselves from the Europeans who had superior weaponry and brough old world diseases which severely affected the Amerindians.
Enslavement of the indigenous people occurred under the encomienda system which was disguised as a way to Christianized them. This led to their decimation by the mid-1500s.
The Concept of Slavery
Slavery is the condition in which an individual is bounded to another person, is forbidden to quit their service and is treated like chattel (property).
The Reasons African Slaves were preferred in the Caribbean up to the 1800’s
1) The Europeans felt that the Africans were strong, and
agricultural. This made an ideal combination for the
fields.
2) Failure of Previous Labour Sources: The Amerindians died quickly and the bondservants
were lazy and non-agricultural. Furthermore, with the
expansion of sugar, land became much too costly to
give to these bondservants
3) Cost Effective: The planters had always argued that even if it was costly to purchase African slaves, as their property it meant therefore that their children were their property and all their labour to come.
4) The inferiority of the Africans: The planters justified their desire for Africans under the notion that they were uncivilized and barbaric and as such deserved the position of enslavement.
5) Readily available: By the 1700s, there was great rivalry among the European slave traders. It meant therefore that African slaves were therefore readily available for purchase and were often times
affordable as competition grew.
Demographics: Mortality of the African slaves
There was evidence that the mortality rate among the enslaved people was extremely high in the 18 Century. Beckles (1984) mentioned that almost 30% of the enslaved people died within the first three years of working on the plantations. There were many reasons for the high mortality rate:
(1) OVERWORK
The long and arduous work routine of estate labour together with the brutal punishments inflicted by enslavers with higher rates on large sugar plantations and by the higher rates among field labourers.
(2) DIET AND NUTRITION
The poor quality and quantity of food rations also contributed to high mortality rates. Research by Kiple has shown that the diet of the enslaved labourers was high in carbohydrates and low in protein, calcium, vitamins A and B. The unbalanced diet resulted in a number of deficiency diseases among the enslaved. Dropsy, for example, which left victims bloated and swollen, listless and lazy can be traced to a lack of Vitamin A.
(3) UNSANITARY CONDITIONS
The unsanitary conditions of the enslaved quarters as well as the estate itself also contributed to disease. The enslaved quarters were not only cramped but also damp. The fact that the flooring of these quarters consisted of the bare earth made the enslaved
vulnerable to disease. Such diseases can be traced directly to the unsanitary conditions:
(a) yaws: a skin disease which caused ulcers from infected wounds or cuts. This was accompanied by rheumatic pains and fevers.
(b) dysentery: a stomach/intestinal disease transmitted by flies and fleas from faeces or contaminated food or water. In its extreme it lead to vomiting blood and so was commonly called “the bloody flux”.
(c) parasitic diseases: these included worms and hookworms. Hookworm was the result of the enslaved generally being bare feet in unsanitary environment.
(4) OTHER DISEASES
The enslaved also suffered from a number of other ailments. These included smallpox, colds, flus and
fevers. Dirt eating was also common as some enslaved reaped their ground provisions too early when food rations were low. This practice resulted in diarrhoea and fluxes given the bacteria contained in the dirt.
(5) SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN FOOD SUPPLY
Much of the enslaved food rations were imported so that any disruption in supply had a negative impact on mortality rates. The disruption in trade during the American War of Independence, for example, resulted in serious famine. In Jamaica alone, some 15,000
enslaved died during the late 1770s as a result of the acute shortage of food supplies during the War. In fact, the War encouraged the trend of granting provision grounds to the enslaved to supplement their food rations.
Besides the disruption of food imports, instances of drought, flood or hurricane had adverse effects on the enslaved labourers food supply.
(6) HEALTH CARE AND TREATMENT
The quality of health care on the estates was not of the highest standard. There were several examples of excellent doctors such as Dr Wright in Jamaica and Dr Warner in Antigua who worked among the enslaved on the sugar estates in the 18th century. The standard rate was 5 shillings per enslaved labourer with check-ups every 3 to 6 months. Enslavers readily paid these fees realising the importance of a healthy labour force to
estate productivity.
However, there were not sufficient doctors to service the large enslaved population. In Jamaica the ratio stood at one doctor per 1500 enslaved while in
Barbados the ratio was one doctor to 1300 enslaved.
Besides the problem of numbers, the methods of treatment of certain ailments left much to be desired. Many doctors, for example, were fearful of treating those enslaved who had contracted yaws since it was
highly contagious. The use of mercury pills to treat certain ailments such as venereal disease was another example, since mercury releases a slow poison.
Demographics: Initial preference for male slaves
Studies have shown that planters preferred men than women and in the 18% Century, almost twice as many men were imported as women.
Higman (1984) mentioned that the price for men was often slightly higher than for enslaved women. However, the planters wanted more men to complete back-breaking task such as clearing fields and loading ships.
Over the years, however, sex became less important and planters started to import slaves based on their general health and age.
In fact on many estates, females outnumbered males among field labourers. On Worthy Park estate
in Jamaica in the 1780s, for example, some 43% of all enslaved females were field labourers.
The reason for this imbalance in terms of work allocation was the fact that males had a wider range of jobs. Skilled positions were reserved for males and some males were also allocated as domestics ( coachmen, butlers).The only skilled positions open to females were those of seamstress and nurse.
The lower range of jobs for females meant that the females had to be allocated to either field work or domestic work. In addition, women were expected to be just as strong and robust as the field men.
Demographics: High Percentage of Enslaved Africans
The enslaved population showed a high percentage of Africans.
This trend was the result of the planters’ belief that it was cheaper to import enslaved Africans rather than to encourage natural increase among their enslaved labour force. The process of natural increase was
believed to be more costly for several reasons:
- the loss of valuable production time for pre and post-natal care for pregnant enslaved females.
-the offsprings would add to overall maintenance costs as they would not become productive until age 16 years.
The Implications of Slave Laws
(1) LEGAL STATUS
Given the fact that the enslaved was considered property under the law, he had no rights under the law. As such, the enslaved had no form of legal redress against his enslaver for ill treatment and so enslavers were brutal in the punishments they inflicted on them.
(2) IDENTITY
The enslaved were robbed of their identity as they were socialised into accepting the norms and values of their enslavers. The enslaved was given a new name and sometimes a new religion. According to Wallon “The slave’s existence is entirely absorbed in
another.”
(3) POWERLESSNESS
The enslaved was powerless in all situations since he was dependent on his enslaver for his very survival. As such, the enslaved had to submit to his enslavers’ orders and wishes. Failure to do so would result in harsh punishment.
(4) PERMANENT STATUS
The most dehumanising aspect of slavery was that there was no escape. The enslaved was enslaved for life. Freedom was entirely dependent on his enslaver. An enslaver could free his enslaved labourer as a reward for some act of act of benevolence on the part of the enslaved such as saving his life or that of a family member. But such instances were rare.
Infant Mortality
Several reasons for high mortality rates among infants:
(1) enslaved females often committed abortion not wanting their infants to endure the
cruelty of slavery. Infanticide through ‘lock jaw’ by midwives was common.
(2) infants were vulnerable to a number of diseases given the unsanitary conditions of
the plantations (tetanus, fleas, flus and worms).
(3) certain African traditions placed infants at risk. The most notable of these practices
was that of paying little attention to the infant during the first nine days after birth.
This practice made infants vulnerable as it exposed them to the elements too early in
their lives.
(4) the unhealthy state of enslaved females gave rise to a situation where offsprings were
deficient in key nutrients at birth. This deficiency made them more vulnerable to
contracting disease.
(5) young children were given work from an early age. Although the work was light, it
could prove strenuous for those who were sickly
Why did more women slaves work in the
fields?
Only a few women were domestic slaves and a large bulk of them were field workers due to the following reasons:
1) Women were never seen as skilled workers, and so the planter felt that it was necessary to use them on the
fields. Unlike women, men were seen as skillful craftsmen and could have been employed as artisans.
Only about 8% of the skilled slaves in the British colonies
were women and about 90% were field labourers.
2) There was evidence to support that women were more
agricultural than men. In West Africa more women than
men had planted. Because women were more accustomed to planting, it was the necessary for them to
till the fields.
3) Women were not seen as the weaker sex and so
they were expected to be just as strong and robust as the field men. For that reason, most females were field labourers.
4) Planters often justify that women were not able to
handle the type of work that was done in the factories and had often relied on skilled slaves to fulfil the activities of the factories. Women had little position within the factories and were to tend the fields.
Reproduction among slaves
Up to the 1800s, the enslaved people generally didn’t reproduce. In fact, had it not been for the slave trade the plantations would have ceased to exist. Natural increase was generally not a character in the British West Indies, for the following reasons:
1) Given the constant market for slaves, they were often very cheap. It was therefore cheaper, notes Beckles (1984), to purchase slaves rather than to breed them.
Deer (1949) notes that to raise a slave was almost two and a half time more expensive than to simply purchase one.
2) The poor medical care available to enslaved mothers led to a high infant mortality rate. The plantation did not have any provision for the female’s pre and postnatal stage. The role of a mother was thus secondary to
the role of a slave. With the high mortality rate, most slaves were unwilling to have children.
3) There is evidence that the enslaved women had practice birth control often taking herbal medicine to avoid getting pregnant or terminating a pregnancy if same was detected.
4) The high level of mal-nutrition meant that mothers were sometimes unable to have healthy babies. Some were born as still born. The food ration given offered little protein, starch, fat and calcium for slave mothers.
5) Beckles (1984) noticed that there was often an in-balance in the female and male population. By this, there was often more women than men mainly because women lived longer. Reproduction was thus restricted.
6) Diseases were an hindrance to reproduction. They were an everyday part of life: - fevers, the flux, measles, smallpox, yaws, sexual diseases, worms, locked jaws or tetanus-were all common. The babies fell prey to these diseases and infant mortality was high.
7) The planters did not generally promote reproduction due to their reliance on importation of Africans. It was only after 1807 with the abolition of the slave trade planters had changed their attitude to the case. Only the Bahamas and Barbados experienced natural increase in their slave population.
Survival Measures: Slave families
It was evident that family relations amongst slaves were
discouraged. The planters had felt it was necessary to do so as means of protecting their property.
If a family structure was allowed to develop among the slaves, it meant that the slaves would come to develop special bonds.
Under such a bond, cultures and ideas of resistance would be easily transmitted, the very thing that the planters had always tried to prevent.
If the fathers were allowed to develop special relations with their children, then it would have been difficult for the planters to either punish the slaves or sell them without large resistance.
Family ties would have created a room for a large revolt against the plantation system and would give the slaves opportunities to plot against the planters.
Methods of undermining slave families
The following steps were taken to undermine slave families:
1) Most males were rearranged on the plantation so as to break the families that he might have developed. Males were normally seen as fertilizing pool and would be shipped around the plantation to impregnate as many women as possible but not to develop ties with them.
2) Planters had always sold slaves to pay off their debts. The selling of slaves was very selective so as to reduce the creation of family ties. Should a male create strong bonds with a woman, he would be sold and if necessary so were the children who were born.
3) Marriages were discouraged amongst the slaves.
4) Males were not allowed to live in the same huts of their children’s mothers and women and men had to reside in separate barracks
Evidence of slave families in the Caribbean
Recent studies have provided interesting new dimensions to the study of family life. Enslavement generally thought to have broken up families and retarded the quality of family life.
In the instances where families did survive, these units have been described as matrifocal because of the centrality of the mother figure and the relative absence of the male.
More recent studies suggest that this depiction was not as common and there was more variation in the formation of family units.
Higman (1984) have provided evidence of larger numbers of nuclear families in Jamaica and Trinidad.
Craton (1997) produced similar findings for the Bahamas.
Survival Measures: Economic (Food production & Marketing)
To survive in the Caribbean, enslaved people adopted a variety of mechanism. Of vital importance were the economic activities that were developed by them. The following were the economic activities developed by the enslaved people:
1) The enslaved people were able to cultivate ideal provisional grounds. For this reason, proto-peasantry was developed among them as an economic strategy for survival. Without the planting of these provision grounds, most of the slaves in Barbados and other colonies would have died.
2) Beckles (1984) note that there is evidence that women engaged in prostitution. This was especially true of enslaved women in the towns. Large amount of resources were generated by such activities.
3) Strategies and payment schemes such as partners, box- box and sou-sou were developed so as to generate large savings.
4) There was the development of an extensive internal
marketing system — most of the slaves were able to sell
their goods within this market. Often, even the planters
themselves benefited from these markets and were
supplied by these markets.
5) Hawking was of significant importance for women. As they were willing to travel with the goods of other slaves and sell them. They would then get a portion of the profit.
6) Higman notes that slaves engaged in the raising
of animals — normally birds, livestock and pigs. They would save and buy these animals for rearing.
7) Currency was not always available to the slaves and for this an effective bartering system was developed among them. Food products could easily be traded for items of clothing made of cotton that was grown and produced by the slaves themselves. Some slaves were skilled craftsmen and traded their services for food and
clothing.
Types of Enslaved Family Units
(1) THE MATRIFOCAL FAMILY UNIT
This was the most common family unit especially in the Leeward Islands given the research of Gouveia.
This type of family unit was headed by a female which was the result of the unstable unions between enslaved males and enslaved females given the low
sex ratio among the enslaved population.
An enslaved male would have several relationships with different enslaved females (quasi-polygamy) while an enslaved female would have several relationships with different enslaved males (quasi-polyandry).
Besides this basic feature of a dominant
female and several offspring fathered by different enslaved males, the matrifocal unit had
a number of important features:
(i) extended family: the matrifocal unit was not confined to immediate offspring of a dominant female or matriarch but also included the offspring of her children, themselves. As such as much as two or three generations comprised this family unit.
(ii) the female presence: the female presence in the matrifocal unit was boosted by the presence of sisters of the matriarch. The offspring of these sisters also formed part of the family. This feature took the concept of extended family even further to include
nephews and cousins of two generations.
(2) NUCLEAR FAMILY UNIT
Although less common than the matrifocal family unit, this type of family unit was also evident among the enslaved. In its simplest form it consisted of a male and a female together with their offspring.
(a)The Bahamas: research by Craton has shown that a number of enslavers actually registered their enslaved labourers on a family basis. This was true of John Rolle (Exuma), William Willy (New Providence) and Burton Williams (Watling Island).
(b) Jamaica: Research by Higman on three estates (Old Montpelier, New Martinique and Shettlewood Pen) has shown that 52% of the 864 families developed nuclear families.
(c) Martinique: research by Gabriel Debien on family life on the L’Anse a L’Ase Estate has shown that there were approximately 52 known nuclear families on the
plantation between 1743 and 1778.
The Significance of Enslaved Family Units
Enslaved family units were significant in several ways:
(1) the family unit gave the enslaved a sense of belonging having been robbed of kinship links on arrival
(2) the family unit gave the enslaved a sense of identity as a ‘person’ contrary to the enslaver’s concept of ‘property’ under the law.
(3) the family unit provided the elderly with a sense of security as West Africans had a great deal of respect for age. Such elderly persons generally received little care and attention from enslavers as they had passed their prime and so ceased to be productive.
(4) the family unit served as an important ‘coping mechanism’ which allowed its members to overcome the dehumanizing and brutal aspects of enslavement.
