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 xvii
... planters and the West India interest hoped to achieve . This compromise heavily compensated slave owners for their loss of human property , both di- rectly— £ 20 million of public money was used to compensate plant- ers — and indirectly ...
... planters and the West India interest hoped to achieve . This compromise heavily compensated slave owners for their loss of human property , both di- rectly— £ 20 million of public money was used to compensate plant- ers — and indirectly ...
Seite xviii
... planters , magistrates , and apprentices ; about apprentices ' efforts to combat their masters ' domi- nation ; and about conditions and conflicts within the St. Ann's Bay House of Correction . Much of his discussion of the prison ...
... planters , magistrates , and apprentices ; about apprentices ' efforts to combat their masters ' domi- nation ; and about conditions and conflicts within the St. Ann's Bay House of Correction . Much of his discussion of the prison ...
Seite xix
... planters and apprentices during the first two years of apprenticeship. In gather- ing information they relied heavily on the extensive network of Baptist missionaries that had been developing in Jamaica since the early nine- teenth ...
... planters and apprentices during the first two years of apprenticeship. In gather- ing information they relied heavily on the extensive network of Baptist missionaries that had been developing in Jamaica since the early nine- teenth ...
Seite xx
... Planters blamed the rebellion on the influence of missionaries. They violently attacked nonconformist missionaries and slaves who belonged to dis- senting churches. Although the rebellion had centered in Jamaica's western parishes ...
... Planters blamed the rebellion on the influence of missionaries. They violently attacked nonconformist missionaries and slaves who belonged to dis- senting churches. Although the rebellion had centered in Jamaica's western parishes ...
Seite xxx
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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