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What does the Morant Bay Rebellion tell us about the time after abolition?

Abolition was not the end of the story. The people of the Caribbean had to carry on and move on. Did the new way of live allow them this?

512px-PaulBogle-MorantBay.jpg

Statue of Paul Bogle - Morant Bay, Jamaica.

dubdem sound system, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons No alterations

Life after abolition

In 1833 a law was passed in Britain that finally ended enslavement in its colonies. 

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It favoured the enslavers. It paid them millions of pounds in compensation, and gave no real thought to any debt owed to the now legally free people and how to help them. 

The Apprenticeship System

What the Abolition Act did do was called the Apprenticeship System. (This was very different from the types of apprenticeships you may be aware of as a way into a career.)

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People who were now free had to;

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  • Remain working for their previous enslaver for up to 45 hours per week

  • For field hands this could be up to six years

  • For skilled and domestic workers this was four years 

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There is evidence that in this period conditions actually got worse

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  • Child mortality figures rose

  • Working conditions worsened

  • Workers were physically punished and the punishments became more severe. 

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The Morant Bay Rebellion

In 1865 Paul Bogel led a short lived but important rebellion in Jamaica. 

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It began with peaceful protests over an unjust fine. The protests scared the British governor, Edward Eyre. He unleashed the British Army on the protestors, which caused the death of nearly 500 people. 

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Bogel was caught and hanged. 

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Paul Bogel remains an important figure in The Caribbean. His, and others, resistance tells us that abolition did not cure the Caribbean and those enslaved were still hugely discriminated against. And that discrimination would not be tolerated by the people of Jamaica. 

Over to You!

History Detective challenge 

How is Paul Bogel remembered?

Significance

Research Paul Bogel

Where do his images appear in Jamaica in modern times?

What can we infer from those images about how modern Jamiaca feels about Bogel?

Why does it feel this way?


 

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