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 xvi
... different from that of the standard narrative . Whereas most slave narratives recount the narrator's life from birth , culminating in his or her escape from slavery and establishment as a free person , Williams's Narrative limits itself ...
... different from that of the standard narrative . Whereas most slave narratives recount the narrator's life from birth , culminating in his or her escape from slavery and establishment as a free person , Williams's Narrative limits itself ...
Seite xviii
... different set of concerns.11 Williams recounts the events lead- ing up to his many experiences of punishment on the orders of magis- trates - seven floggings and four periods of imprisonment — as well as the similar experiences of many ...
... different set of concerns.11 Williams recounts the events lead- ing up to his many experiences of punishment on the orders of magis- trates - seven floggings and four periods of imprisonment — as well as the similar experiences of many ...
Seite xix
... different set the of four colonies. divided 13 into two groups of two, each Sturge and Harvey spent about half of their time in Jamaica, arriv- ing there in January 1837 and leaving in early April. It was during their stay in the island ...
... different set the of four colonies. divided 13 into two groups of two, each Sturge and Harvey spent about half of their time in Jamaica, arriv- ing there in January 1837 and leaving in early April. It was during their stay in the island ...
Seite xxxii
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Seite xxxvii
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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 |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
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