APPRENTICESHIP AND EMANCIPATION Full emancipation was a gradual process in the British colonies. The first step occurred with an 1833 legislative act of the British Parliament that proposed a program known as apprenticeship. The act became effective in all the British colonies on August 1,1834. All slaves children under the age of sixor born after this date were freed,while all others were required to undergo a transitional period as apprentices before full emancipation. The act sought to soften the effects of abolition on slave owners by giving them monetary compensation of £6,161,927 for their loss of property in slaves. The slaves received no compensation. The apprenticeship program tied apprentices to their former masters: praedials (field workers) for sixyears and nonpraedials for four years. Apprentices were obliged to work on the estates for 40.5 hours per week in exchange for food, clothing,and shelter,but not wages. They could be paid for any work done beyond those hours. Provisions were made for the appointment of stipendiary magistrates, paid by Britain,as arbiters between apprentices and planters. The system,which was marred with abuses by the planters,met with strong resistance from apprentices. In the parish of Saint Ann,for instance,apprentices went on strike, refusing to work without wages. They swore that they would rather have their heads cut off,or [be] shot before they would be bound apprentices. To quell the resistance,160 well-armed soldiers were deployed throughout the parish,and many slaves were whipped and sentenced to the workhouse. Resistance to apprenticeship was also evident in Saint James and Saint Thomas-in-the-East (now part of Saint Thomas Parish). On August 1,1838,the British Parliament ended the apprenticeship program,which had become an enormous administrative burden,and granted full emancipation to more than 300,000 slaves in Jamaica. In the view of the planters and colonial officials,emancipation meant slaves would become a docile proletariat working on the sugar estates. For the former slaves emancipation meant freedom from planter control and a measure of independence from the estates. Serious and irreconcilable conflicts between employers and employees (former slaves) ensued. Nonconformist missionaries,especially the English Baptists,attempted to defuse disputes,especially those concerning rent,by creating free villages. Under this system missionaries bought large holdings,normally located in close proximity to working estates,and subdivided them in small house lots to sell to the former slaves. The aim was to prevent the establishment of African-type communities in the interior away from white supervision. The white racist view was that blacks would lapse into barbarism if they were allowed to wander off into the interior away from the estates and white influence. Holdings under the free village system were extremely small and could not satisfy the desire of the former slaves to become independent of the sugar estates. The inadequacy of these holdings for crop cultivation,coupled with the unresolved disputes between estate owners and their black employees,resulted in the flight of freed slaves from the estates. They established themselves as small peasant farmers on land obtained through lease,rent,purchase,or by simply squatting (settling on land without title or payment of rent). By 1860 the small farms of the black peasantry showed yields indicating they were a viable alternative to plantation agriculture. Meanwhile,the sugar plantations in Jamaica were reeling from the massive shortage of available labor and,after the 1846 Sugar Duties Act,from the elimination of Jamaica as Britains favored supplier of sugar. Plantation owners began to import indentured servants,mostly from India but also from China. Between 1845 and 1917,when contracting of indentured labor ceased,more than 37,000 East Indians migrated to Jamaica as indentured laborers. In general,the relationship between blacks and East Indians was relatively amicable. Together, they constituted the majority of the islands lower classes. Blacks did not meet the property qualifications to vie for political office. But through their ownership of small land holdings,many gained the franchise and constituted the majority of the electorate. Anyone seeking political office had to join forces with influential black peasant farmers to gain black votes. Two important black peasant leaders of the 1850s and 1860s were Samuel Clarke and Paul Bogle. Clarke was a carpenter and peasant farmer who owned nearly 4 hectares (10 acres) of land in the southeastern former parish of Saint David (now part of Saint Thomas). He mobilized black voters to support the Coloured candidates in the elections of 1851,enabling them to win the two Saint David seats in the House of Assembly. Between 1853 and 1865,Clarke embarked on a program of political education among blacks,organizing public meetings in Saint David to discuss social issues. He was elected to the Saint David Vestry (which ran the parish government) in 1853. Bogle was a peasant farmer and deacon of the Native Baptist Church from the district of Stony Gut,in Saint Thomas-in-the-East. He was a close ally and political supporter of George William Gordon,a Coloured politician,member of the House of Assembly for the parish,Native Baptist minister,and champion of the black cause. As political and racial consciousness developed among black voters,they began electing candidates who were sympathetic to their cause to the House of Assembly. But blacks lacked the direct political representation in the House of Assembly necessary to influence legislation concerning their interests. Therefore, racial discrimination,exploitation,and social injustice continued. Access to land continued to be severely restricted,and appeals for redress from the authorities were denied.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 01:22:57 +0000
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