Slavery in the Caribbean Effects on Culture Race and Labor

Slavery in the Caribbean: Effects on Culture, Race and Labour

Origins of slavery

The Caribbean slavery began in the 16th and 17th century during the emergence of piracy. The basis for the modern Caribbean dates back to the slave trade and slavery. During the 16th century, outsiders settled in the Caribbean. This was a period characterised the European powers struggling for trade supremacy and the utilization of newly found resources. During the end of this century, sugar export emerged as a highly profitable trade as the cultivation of sugar developed into the main industry. The earnings from this trade were essential as they assisted in funding the Britain's and other European country's industrial revolution. Growing and producing sugar was not an easy task (Dowling, 2005).

This is since the plantations were large and needed to use the combination of agriculture and the sugar cane's mechanised processing. This meant that the semi-industrial process needed an intensive labour force. This was the main reason behind the massive expansion of the 17th and 18th century slave trade. The trade became popular and led to slavery in the Caribbean spreading its roots. The plantation owners decided to import people from the West Africa coastal regions as the native people were unsuitable for slavery in the Caribbean. This resulted to Africans forcefully becoming slaves and enduring torture in order to cope with the increasing slave demand (Dowling, 2005).

Promotion of slave trade

The emergence of piracy resulted to the promotion of the slave trade and sugar plantation. In order to promote the trade between American, European and Caribbean countries, the farm owners had to utilize a large workforce. This workforce was to cultivate a considerable amount of sugar cane along with other crops. The increase in the demand of sugar cane was proportional to the need for workforce. People began to understand the usefulness of resources in the Caribbean as more sugar and various relevant firms emerged. This resulted to the procumbent of labour force from outside. The main reason was that the indigenous people were unfit for slavery since they resented such an act. The promotion of the Caribbean slaver was due to the fact that the African natives were readily available and the possibility of assimilating in a new land (Engerman & Solow, 2004).

Treatment of slaves

Once the slaves arrived in the Caribbean island, they would be prepared for sale to the local buyers. The selling process would result to separation of children from their parents, and wives from their husbands. The plantation mainly relied on the imported slaves as it emerged into an agricultural factory that concentrated on an individual cost-effective crop for sale. The enslaved Africans had to engage in various laborious tasks that were all backbreaking. The fieldwork was exhausting since the labours would spend long hours in the sun, where the overseers supervised the. The overseers were quick to whip anyone they felt was not working properly. The tasks varied from planting cane, manuring, harvesting cane using bare hands, weeding and clearing land. The plantation relied on this workforce rather than on the family labour (Engerman & Solow, 2004).

II. Slave trading and sugar plantations

The beginning of sugar cane plantation in the 1640s, to St. Kitts along with its successive rapid growth resulted to the increase of a plantation economy. This economy only depended on imported labour from enslaved Africans. As a result, the plantation owners desperately sought after the Africans, who worked in unpleasant conditions of humidity and heat. These planters believed that the Africans were suitable for these conditions compared to their own citizens. This is since the climate was similar to the climate of the African's home in West Africa. These Africans were also cheap to maintain compared to the paid wage labourers and the European servants (Tomich, 2004).

Emergence of a slave society

The Caribbean island is a diverse area, which represents the effects of slavery, combination of much cultures and slavery. The arrival of the Europeans in the Caribbean has seen the island undergo a constant change. The loss of the indigenous people along with the plantation system introduction resulted to immediate and permanent repercussions to the island. The plantation system led to the development of a society that entailed a large enslaved, low class people and a powerful, rich upper class people. The plantation system became a success, and in order to progress, the plantation owners required more labour. The answer to the problem lay in slavery, which played a fundamental part in the way the economy influenced the island since the economic ingredient shifted. This slavery led to the emergence of a new social class of the free coloureds. This led to a confusing and later a separation between the slaves and the whites, which resulted to the end of the slave trade (Tomich, 2004).

Slave turnover ratio

Towards the end of the 17th century, the magnitude of the black population increased dramatically in the Caribbean due to the slave trade. When sugar took over from tobacco in the 1960s, the enslaved Africans resulted to only 20% of the Caribbean population. By the 1678 census, the population of the Black population had increased to 3849 against the white population of 3521 people. When the production of sugar established fully in the 18th century, the Blacks formed approximately 80% of the population. The plantation owners felt threatened by the vast increase in Black population due to this they treated the black population harshly. The plantation owners felt a need to control the large but potentially rebellious and discontented workforce (Dowling, 2005).

Degrading plantation system

The conditions were not friendly inside the plantation works especially the boiling house and the heat. In addition, the Blacks worked for long hours especially during the harvesting time. The rate of death increased in the plantations due to disease, overwork, work conditions, brutality and poor nutrition. The plantation owners preferred importing other new slaves to providing the existing slaves with conditions and means for survival. This resulted to the passing of the Amelioration Act in 1798, which required the plant owners to improve on the enslaved workers conditions (Kiple, 2002).

III. Treatment of slaves

Plant owners treated the enslaved workers harshly. The workers had to survive the harsh conditions that surrounded the journey from West Africa commonly known as the middle passage. The conditions led to the death of many slaves due to ill treatment and disease. Some even committed suicide through jumping into the sea (Kiple, 2002).

Horrors of slavery

The plantation factory was a technically sophisticated organism that made use of power technologies such as isolation, psychological despondency, surveillance, cultural alienation and physical abuse. All this was in an effort develop the economic production. The slave women would use their sexuality in order to acquire material rewards from the whites, fellow slaves and occasionally they would use it to gain their freedom. These sexual relations ranged sordid to violent sex. This physically and psychologically devastating sexual economy that surrounded the female plantation slaves depicts the incomparable circumstances required for survival (Beckles et al., 2000).

Hardships of slavery

Conditions, during the voyage, were intolerable as the slaves were wedged into a hull while chained together to stop revolts. Incase one of the enslaved person fell sick from smallpox or dysentery the traders would throw them overboard. The slaves that survived the voyage faced abuses on the plantations. Most of the plantation owners returned to Europe and left their farms under the care of overseers, who were often unsavoury. The slave families split up as the women men and children worked with little or no food. These slaves were diseased, undernourished, and this forced them to work during 'their' free time in order to cater for their needs (Beckles et al., 2000).

IV. Resistance Movements

The obeah religion movement

This religious sect also made up the resistance movements in the Caribbean anti-slave movements and the slave owners feared this movement. They acted as inspirational leaders during the slave rebellions; there influence had a great impact in Jamaica. They used the knowledge of herb as a tool for active resistance in the Caribbean and in America. Their knowledge of poison also helped in the anti-slavery movement against the slave master especially by women who poisoned their masters. This was a dreadful tool for resistance by the blacks both in Jamaica and in America resisting the oppression by their masters. Slave masters drafted laws forbidding the possession of articles believed to have the knowledge on drugs and use of herbs to make poison. This did not deter the people from the active resistance and on March 1, 1738, Jamaican maroons forced the whites to sign a treaty with the black slaves. This was the first step to end slavery in the Caribbean before it ended officially many decades later (Knight et al., 2007).

Civil Rights Movements and Women Resistance Movements

Civil rights movements made up by African-Americans who experienced the slavery rule also formed a strong resistance movement, which is still active up-to-date. These movement mobilised groups to resist the slavery rule by boycotting duties and calling for better treatment by their masters. They acted as an inspiration to the people who followed their example to fight for their rights and bring to an end the slavery. Women also played a major role in the fight against slavery and slave rule. They resisted using various means, which contributed in the fight against slavery. These forms included refusal to work, this was a bold step since their labour, productivity capacity was significant to their masters, and refusal to perform duties had an impact on the production capacity. The resistance by the women was collective and was for the interest of their future off springs not to go through the kind of life they went through (Knight et al., 2007).

Reaction to Authoritative Rule

The authoritative slave rule met strong and spirited resistance from the slaves. The authoritative rule was the cause of the uprising movements in the Caribbean. No slaves were happy with the kind of treatment they got from their masters and lords. This led to a number of resistances by both women and men who provided labour in the white firms (Matthews, 2006).

Forms of resistance

The slaves deployed different forms of resistance in their fight against the oppression rule and era of slavery. These forms of resistance include refusal to eat, refusal to take medicine, refusal to work/strikes, and theft (Matthews, 2006).

1. Refusal to Eat

In a number of occasions, slaves both women and women went on hunger strikes to protest the inhumane treatment they got from their masters. Some of the hunger strikes went for more than two weeks forcing the masters to lower their condition since the slaves could not work and deliver when weak (Matthews, 2006).

2. Refusal to Take Medicine

In situations when the slaves fell ill, most of the refused to take medication as a form of showing resistance to the kind of treatment they received from their masters. They did not care about death, they made this sacrifice for a better future for their off springs and generations to come (Matthews, 2006).

3. Strikes and Theft

A number of strikes characterized the period of resistance and theft cases, the slave refused to perfume their duties some even stole and destroyed property of their masters. This a way of showing their displeasure with the kind of treatment they received from their masters opting for theft and strikes (Matthews, 2006).

V. Emancipation

19th Century

Emancipation was the process of abolition of slavery in the West Indies who were British colonies (Matthews 2006). Although the proposal to abolish slavery started as early as 1787, the process became a reality during the 19th century following legislation that saw successful implementation of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 that became effective in 1884. The British emerged as the first colonial masters to propose abolishing slavery in the Caribbean region in the 19th century. This process could however take time and much effort to accomplish (Matthews 2006). The people of England considered slavery as a cruel and brutal hence saw the significance of enlightening on abolishment. As industrial revolution and fee trade began to take shape in Britain and parts of Europe and America, the demand for slavery went down particularly in the Caribbean region (Matthews 2006).

Slavery abolished in 1886

Although slave trade ended by 1886, it did not mean an end to slavery. In essence, end of slave trade led to little improvements to the lives and conditions under which the slaves lived. In reality, the slaves lived under deplorable conditions. The colonial authorities would then allow them to marry and begin rearing families (Matthews 2006). Contrary to expectations, such a strategy was for economic rather than humanitarian reasons as many of them widely anticipated. The economic face as well as industrial revolution of Britain and Europe changed hence the need to adopt free trade. Besides, slavery and slave trade were no longer an option for growth and development of industries (Matthews 2006).

VI. New social class

Third Social Class

The Caribbean region has a stratification system that the history of colonialism, indenture ship, and plantation slavery has largely influenced. The legacy of the history of most Caribbean countries and systems influence their individual social structures despite the reality that most of these nations have accomplished political independence today. The third social class mainly consisted of the caste or working class (Kiple 2002). Majority of them were black slaves, uneducated, and lacked wealth as well as political power. Their lifestyles clearly showed the deplorable conditions they had to put up with before emergence of a new wave of industrial revolution in Britain that eventually spread quickly to other parts of Europe. Directly contrary to the working class were the ruling elites (upper class). They owned wealth, means of production, and power. This clearly showed why they were living large as opposed to the black destitute (Kiple 2002).

Legal Freedoms

The countries in the Caribbean region required true freedom that would be free of slavery or slaves. Legal freedom was a matter of concern to Caribbean governments and civil society groups. In particular, these groups would come together to discuss public participation in governance, access to information, and access to justice without any forms of discrimination (Rugemer 2008). Complete freedom to countries and people within the Caribbean region would mean transparency and non-partisan judicial mechanisms that provided equal treatment to accused and plaintiffs irrespective of their social, political, or cultural backgrounds. The leadership should recognize and appreciate existence of cultural diversity and race antagonism (Rugemer 2008).

Rejection by white society

White bias was one of the most significant characteristics of society in the British Caribbean. It is both a conscious as well as unconscious part of majority of the population of African descent. This trend derives its basis during the times of slavery when white slave owner was the source of authority, power, and prestige (Rugemer 2008).

The effect of slavery on culture

Slavery in the case of Caribbean had great influence on the culture thus changing of interactions within the new societies. Slaves were forced out of their backgrounds to serve in the new areas belonging to their landlords. These slaves moved from different backgrounds thus a reflection of unique folks, ideas, beliefs, norms, and culture. There was need for adaptation and incorporation of culture from different ethnic groups. Slavery was essential in the minimization of adherence to cultural beliefs and norms. It is also essential to note that slaves were forced to drop their culture in order to operate effectively and efficiently in the new environment (Carter Jr. p. 1857).

For instance, there were changes in the process of farming and living styles. Slaves were forced to sleep in the small rooms which they had to share with individuals from other ethnic groups and races. This was the first approach towards minimization of the role of culture in fostering the development and growth of the slaves in the new areas. Slavery was also a massive aspect in the practicing of discrimination in relation to the concept of culture. It is essential to understand the role of slavery as a reflection of superiority and inferiority of the two cultures in relation to the landlords and the slaves. Landlord's culture was deemed to be superior in comparison to the slaves' culture hence the application of forceful rules and regulation in the provision of services and expertise in the farms. Slavery was also crucial in the formation of new cultures towards the fight to freedom. There were vital interactions among the slaves from different background thus the need to adopt and implement different ways of communication. This was essential in the formation of new cultures, languages, and modes of interaction within the slave camps.

The effect of slavery on race

Slavery had critical influence on the race with reference to the case of Caribbean island. One of the influences of slavery on race is increase in the number of races in the context of various slaves from different parts of the African continent. Slaves came from different backgrounds and races thus the increase in the number of races. This made it difficult for the realization of effective and efficient interaction among the slaves. It is also essential to note that slaves formed groups within the camps in relation to their ethnic groups or races. This is effective in the initiation and sustenance of communication through common and familiar language (Graff p. 136).