A Narrative of Events, since the First of August, 1834, by James Williams, an Apprenticed Labourer in JamaicaDuke University Press, 23.07.2001 - 206 Seiten This book brings back into print, for the first time since the 1830s, a text that was central to the transatlantic campaign to fully abolish slavery in Britain’s colonies. James Williams, an eighteen-year-old Jamaican “apprentice” (former slave), came to Britain in 1837 at the instigation of the abolitionist Joseph Sturge. The Narrative he produced there, one of very few autobiographical texts by Caribbean slaves or former slaves, became one of the most powerful abolitionist tools for effecting the immediate end to the system of apprenticeship that had replaced slavery. Describing the hard working conditions on plantations and the harsh treatment of apprentices unjustly incarcerated, Williams argues that apprenticeship actually worsened the conditions of Jamaican ex-slaves: former owners, no longer legally permitted to directly punish their workers, used the Jamaican legal system as a punitive lever against them. Williams’s story documents the collaboration of local magistrates in this practice, wherein apprentices were routinely jailed and beaten for both real and imaginary infractions of the apprenticeship regulations. In addition to the complete text of Williams’s original Narrative, this fully annotated edition includes nineteenth-century responses to the controversy from the British and Jamaican press, as well as extensive testimony from the Commission of Enquiry that heard evidence regarding the Narrative’s claims. These fascinating and revealing documents constitute the largest extant body of direct testimony by Caribbean slaves or apprentices. |
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Seite xiv
... Thomas in the Vale Miles St. George Portland Linstead Spanish Town St. Andrew Kingston Dorothy St. Thomas in the East St. David Kingston Port Royal St. Catherine nies in the Caribbean , the Cape Colony ( South Africa ) , and Mauritius ...
... Thomas in the Vale Miles St. George Portland Linstead Spanish Town St. Andrew Kingston Dorothy St. Thomas in the East St. David Kingston Port Royal St. Catherine nies in the Caribbean , the Cape Colony ( South Africa ) , and Mauritius ...
Seite xv
... Thomas Price , who wrote its prefatory " Advertisement , " hoped it would . We must read it not just for the information it provides about the experi- ence of apprenticeship , but equally importantly as a call to action cre- ated ...
... Thomas Price , who wrote its prefatory " Advertisement , " hoped it would . We must read it not just for the information it provides about the experi- ence of apprenticeship , but equally importantly as a call to action cre- ated ...
Seite xviii
... select commit- tee , including the prominent antislavery leader Thomas Fowell Bux- ton , concluded that , although there were some problems with the oper- ation law.12 of apprenticeship, there was no need for major - xviii INTRODUCTION.
... select commit- tee , including the prominent antislavery leader Thomas Fowell Bux- ton , concluded that , although there were some problems with the oper- ation law.12 of apprenticeship, there was no need for major - xviii INTRODUCTION.
Seite xix
... Thomas Price's reference at the end of Williams's Narrative to the ''monstrous sacri- fice of British treasure'' suggests, radical abolitionists were particularly angered by the payment of compensation money to slaveholders. The ...
... Thomas Price's reference at the end of Williams's Narrative to the ''monstrous sacri- fice of British treasure'' suggests, radical abolitionists were particularly angered by the payment of compensation money to slaveholders. The ...
Seite xxi
... Thomas Price again) for the ''tale of near eight hundred thousands of our fellow-subjects''? Clearly, Williams's intelligence, articulateness, and prodigious memory—most of the incidents he recounts in the Narrative were verified by ...
... Thomas Price again) for the ''tale of near eight hundred thousands of our fellow-subjects''? Clearly, Williams's intelligence, articulateness, and prodigious memory—most of the incidents he recounts in the Narrative were verified by ...
Inhalt
ix | |
xi | |
xiii | |
A Note on the Text | lvii |
A NARRATIVE OF EVENTS SINCE THE FIRST OF AUGUST 1834 BY JAMES WILLIAMS AN APPRENTICED LABOURER IN JAMAICA | 1 |
A REPORT OF EVIDENCE TAKEN AT BROWNSTOWN AND ST ANNS BAY IN THE PARISH OF ST ANNS UNDER A COMMISSION FROM ... | 45 |
Additional Documents | 95 |
Bibliography | 131 |
Index | 139 |
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A Narrative of Events, Since the First of August, 1834, by James Williams ... James Williams Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2001 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
Abolition abolitionist Adam Brown affidavits African Amelia Lawrence Ann Bell Ann’s Ann's Bay Apprenticed Labourer apprentices Atkinson August Baptist Missionary breadnut British Browns Town busha Caribbean church Colonial Office constable Creole dance the mill Daughtrey deponent Dillon Drake driver dungeon edition Falmouth Post Finlayson flog freedom Friday gave evidence Gilbert Senior give Henry James Hiattsfield House of Correction inquiry Jamaica Despatch Jamaican Creole James Finlayson James Williams James Williams's Narrative Jenkins John Clark Joseph Sturge Kingston Knapdale Labourer in Jamaica letter London Mary Ann Bell massa master morning named Narrative of Events Narrative's Negro never night penal gang Penshurst plantation planters prison punishment Rawlinson Sarah Senior sent sentence shins slave narrative slave registration returns Slavery Special Magistrate stipendiary magistrate Sturge's sworn tell told took treadmill University Press West Indies William Dalling woman women workhouse