Slavery in the Caribbean
"The period of slavery was characterised primarily by one protracted war launched by those enslaved against their enslavers’ (V. Shepherd). Discuss with special reference to the anti-slavery activities of enslaved Africans."
Ra’Monne Darrell Gardiner
410004250
Caribbean Civilization
Professor C. Curry
University of the West Indies
November 23rd, 2010
“Where ever there was slavery, there was resistance” (University of the West Indies 86). Before the arrival of the first African slave ship, until the expansion of Maroon communities and the birth of Creolized Africans, slaves have resisted and resented the hostile confinements of slavery. The harsh realities of slavery left many enslaved persons feeling maladjusted to their conditions as expendable labourers rather than human beings. The resistance to their conditions were an everyday feature of their lives as slaves. Building on Michael Craton’s typology, it is important to note the different transitions of resistance. Craton states that in order to understand the forms and types of resistance, one must view it on several levels. Resistance went through a transition; freedom from slavery to the resistance of the slave system itself (qtd. in Knight 3:222). Craton believes that while there are passive and active resistance, there were the transitional phases of these types of resistance in the context of the African born protests to Maroonage, and finally the Creole Africans (qtd. in Knight 3:222).
In order to defeat the slave system passive resistance became an everyday element of protest. Passive resistance can be defined as resistance through nonviolence. The enslaved would use various kinds of passive resistance to show their discontent. Methods used included slow working, malingering, pretending ignorance, illnesses and carelessness with owner’s property (Greenwood and Hamber 42-43). There were other more assertive forms of passive resistance such as mere refusal to work. Consequences for
Ra’Monne Darrell Gardiner
410004250
Caribbean Civilization
Professor C. Curry
University of the West Indies
November 23rd, 2010
“Where ever there was slavery, there was resistance” (University of the West Indies 86). Before the arrival of the first African slave ship, until the expansion of Maroon communities and the birth of Creolized Africans, slaves have resisted and resented the hostile confinements of slavery. The harsh realities of slavery left many enslaved persons feeling maladjusted to their conditions as expendable labourers rather than human beings. The resistance to their conditions were an everyday feature of their lives as slaves. Building on Michael Craton’s typology, it is important to note the different transitions of resistance. Craton states that in order to understand the forms and types of resistance, one must view it on several levels. Resistance went through a transition; freedom from slavery to the resistance of the slave system itself (qtd. in Knight 3:222). Craton believes that while there are passive and active resistance, there were the transitional phases of these types of resistance in the context of the African born protests to Maroonage, and finally the Creole Africans (qtd. in Knight 3:222).
In order to defeat the slave system passive resistance became an everyday element of protest. Passive resistance can be defined as resistance through nonviolence. The enslaved would use various kinds of passive resistance to show their discontent. Methods used included slow working, malingering, pretending ignorance, illnesses and carelessness with owner’s property (Greenwood and Hamber 42-43). There were other more assertive forms of passive resistance such as mere refusal to work. Consequences for
Cited: Beckles, Hilary. Natural Rebels: A Social History of Enslaved Women in Barbados . New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1989. Claypole, William, and John Robottom. Caribbean Story: Book One: Foundations.UK: Longman, 1999. Dookhan, Isaac. A Pre- Emancipation History of the West Indies. Jamaica: Longman, 1999. Greenwood, Robert, and Shirley Hamber. Emancipation to Emigration. 2nd ed. Thailand: Macmillan, 2003. Knight, Franklin. General History of the Caribbean. 3 vols. Paris: UNESCO, 1997. Saunders, Gail. "Slave Resistance in the Bahamas.” Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society 6 (1984): 25-29. University of the West Indies. Faculty of Humanities and Education. Caribbean Civilization: A Provisional Interdisciplinary Reader. Barbados, 2010.