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Know more about the Morant Bay Rebellion. 

In 1865 there was a rebellion in Jamaica. This was after 30 years of the abolition of enslavement in Jamaica and the rest of the British controlled West Indies.

 

In 1833 a law abolishing enslavement was finally passed. A bill borne of compromise from British abolitionists, the West Indies lobby, and the government[1]

 

It led to the optimistically called Apprenticeship system. In a way to minimise the disruption to ex-enslaved the now ‘free’ people were required by law to work without compensation for 45 hours per week for the former enslaver. For field hands this was to last for 4 years. For skilled and domestic workers this was to last for four years.[2]

 

 In Barbados non field workers were transferred to the field to work. There was an attempt to extend the apprenticeship system to 1840, in particular for those with specific skills, such as carpenters and boilermen.[3]

 

Food rations remained poor and work conditions remained harsh, such as working hours. There were physical punishments for the so-called apprentices, that as Beckles states would have been ignored by many planters during the slavery era.[4]

 

Children were freed in 1834. However, there was no provision for them in the emancipation acts. There was no education set up, other than that by parents, who had to work on plantations. In Barbados after 1834 infant mortality began to rise again, after it had started to decline in the last days of enslavement.

 

By 1838, it was clear that planters had retained their land, profits and a workforce as well as receiving massive amounts of compensation. For thousands of workers conditions had not improved and in lots of cases got worse.[5]

 

When the emancipation proclamation came in 1838 there was little fanfare in Barbados. People went to church heavily guarded by the British army.

 

In Jamaica, there was a similar situation. Abolitionist visitors in 1837 spoke to apprenticed workers in the Friendship and Greenwich estates and were told, ‘when free, which they wished might be tomorrow, they should be glad to remain on the estate and work for wages, rather than leave their houses and grounds and begin work again.’[6]How telling is the phrase, ‘when free’?

 

People were removed from land they had once been forced to work on if they would not work under conditions akin to or worse than enslavement. There were no plans to support these people.

 

There was a decline in plantation workers which some Jamaican plantation owners tried to fill with German and Scottish immigrants, but by the 1840’s this had not worked.

 

In the 1830’s there were rumours of re enslavement and even Jamaica becoming part of the USA. This led to minor rebellions in 1838 and 1849. Along with other issues, the tension was high.

 

Some formerly enslaved were able to vote for the Jamaican assembly and local government bodies. Although a minority, this shows some improvement and allows for some representation and ability to meet, discuss issues, and air grievances.[7]

 

But due to the failures of emancipation, a severe drought, a drop in the price of sugar, a failure to grow other crops, and people from other parts of the world migrating to Jamaica, tensions remained high.[8] There were two riots in 1859, which led to police shooting dead protestors.

 

In September 1865, a dispute about an unfair fine lit the fire that would become the Morant Bay rebellion. Led by Paul Bogle, a protest march turned violent and led to further unrest. The English governor of Jamaica Edward Eyre, who people thought would do right by Jamaicans, soon turned the power of the British army against the protestors. As Carrie Gibson in Empire’s Crossroads notes, ‘‘Nearly 500 people were killed, even more flogged, houses burned down, and martial law declared.’[9]

 

Back in Britain a debate over Eyre’s actions arose but led to no criminal charges brought against him. On one side, saying he should be prosecuted were the notable people, John Stuart Mill. Supporting him were Charles Darwin and Herbert Spenser.[1] [2] 

 

Bogle was executed by the British but is remembered by Jamaica as someone who stood up for the rights of Jamaicans.

 

[1] Olusoga, D. (2021) Black and British: A forgotten history. London: Picador. P 230=231

[2] Ucl (2022) The Apprenticeship System in the Caribbean: The World of the Apprentices, UCL Institute of the Americas. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/americas/events/2022/oct/apprenticeship-system-caribbean-world-apprentices#:~:text=Although%20the%20enslaved%20were%20declared,forty%2Dfive%20hours%20per%20week. (Accessed: 11 June 2024).

[3] Beckles, H. (2007) A history of Barbados: From Amerindian settlement to nation-state. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p130-131

[4]  Beckles, H. (2007) A history of Barbados: From Amerindian settlement to nation-state. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p132

[5] Beckles, H. (2007) A history of Barbados: From Amerindian settlement to nation-state. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p133

[6] Joseph Sturge and Thomas Hardy in The West Indies in 1837 as read in A., M.K.E. (2003) Jamaica in slavery and freedom: History, Heritage, and Culture. Kingston: Univ. of the West Indies Press. Pg 292

[7] Diane Paton University of Edinburgh. In Our Time BBC Radio 4 Morant Bay Rebellion. First aired 3/11/22. Accessed on 7/1/23.

[8] Heuman, G.J. (2000) The killing time: The Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press. Pg 44-56

 

[9] Gibson, C. (2015) Empire's crossroads: A history of the Caribbean from Columbus to the present day. New York: Grove Press. Pg 218

 

I don't understand Charles Darwin being referenced twice; were there 2?

Oh, that's because I am an idiot.

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