Theme 5: Adjustments to Emancipation, 1838- 1876

1.. Identify the problems affecting the sugar industry in the English-speaking Caribbean
1838-1854.

Emancipated Life and Problems Affecting the Sugar Industry

The period of Apprenticeship ended prematurely on August 1, 1838. The planters

had a lot of adjustments to make.

1. They now had to enter in a new relationship or arrangement with the

emancipated people.

2. They would have to pay full time if they wanted labor on their estates.
According to Ashdown and Humphreys, (Caribbean Revision History for CXC)
after emancipation wages accounted for two thirds of the total cost of the
production of sugar.

3. They would have to finally face the fact that the laborer was free to choose who
he or she wanted to work for.

4. Because of the negative and spiteful attitude towards the apprentices many of
them did not want to return to the estates to work. The planters therefore faced a
labor problem. In some cases it was shortage of labor. In other instances it was a
case of the labor being unreliable or too expensive

5. Emancipation also highlighted the need to use machinery on the estates.

But there were other challenges as well. By 1838, competition from beet sugar and
cane sugar from Cuba and Brazil increased. In 1846, Britain equalized the duties
on foreign grown sugar so that all sugar entering her ports paid the same amount of
duties.

The little ‘cushion' that the British West Indian planters depended on was removed.
That compounded the credit crisis that they were already facing. A number of them
were staring bankruptcy in the face. By 1854, a number of them were
overburdened with debt and forced out of production. Jamaica and Grenada had the
highest number of abandoned estates.
In the older colonies such as Jamaica, Barbados and Antigua the planters were
battling with infertile and tired soils. Soil exhaustion leads to poor quality yields in
a market where better quality sugar was readily available.

Some of the planters tried items of machinery such as the centrifugal systems the
plough, harrow and vacuum pans. Others introduced the railways. Trinidad, British
Guiana and St. Kitts introduced steam mills.

The planters in the Windward Islands of St. Lucia and Grenada in particular tried
the system of sharecropping. The majority though still believed in the old way of
production using manual labor. They managed to convince England to allow them
to import immigrant labor.

A number of them clung to the ‘griping method.' They complained to England

hoping to get some help: Select Committee of 1842 and 1848. Others opposed the
establishment of Free Villages and the Peasantry. As usual they ranted and raved
against the Non-Conformist missionaries and tried to block their effectiveness.

2. Describe the attitudes to labour in the English-speaking Caribbean after 1838.

Attitudes to Labour

The newly emancipated people also had some adjusting to do:

1. They had to find their own food, clothing and shelter. They could either make
arrangements with their former owner or establish independent settlements. Where
possible, they much preferred the latter.

2. They had to learn and exercise the rules governing bargaining of labor

3. They had to address the issue of education, health as well as their legal and
political rights. Needless to say the colonial authorities were not in a hurry to
include them in the political process or to change the laws to reflect their new
status. As Governor Harris of Trinidad noted: " a race has been freed but a society
has not been formed."

4. The planters shifted the burden of taxation to the newly emancipated people.
 3. Account for the various schemes of migration as a solution to the problems of labour.

Immigration

The planters argued that the introduction of a large number of immigrant workers
would guarantee them labor at least for the duration of the contract. Secondly in
the long run it would serve to force down the wage level. Britain did not want her
‘Great Experiment' of free labor to fail so she reluctantly agreed to the scheme.

Where did the majority of the immigrants come from and what territories did they
go to?

East
Territory Europeans Madeirans Africans Chinese
Indians
British 5,200 36,100 36, 500 17,430 416,000

French 200 300 17,000 1,500 88,000

Dutch - 480 - 2,502 34,024

The immigrants were required to sign a contract. The provisions of the 1854
Immigration Ordinance (Trinidad) give us a good idea of the various immigration
schemes that were operated throughout the Caribbean. Most of the other territories
used Trinidad and or British Guiana's Ordinances as models.

1. The immigrants were required to work for a period of three to five years.

2. Jail terms were imprisoned for infringement of any aspects of the Immigration
Law.

3. Time spent in jail to be added unto the period of indenture

4. Tickets of leave to be issued to immigrants to be off the estate during working

hours.

5. They were required to work seven hours a day, six days per week for one
shilling per day.

6. Employers had to provide housing and medical care

The Chief Justice of British Guiana called the immigration schemes "The New
Slavery" because of the harsh conditions and inhumane treatment that the
immigrants had to endure.

4. Assess the effects of immigration on the sugar industry and the impact of selected
migrantgroups on society.

Social Contribution of Immigrants

1. New races were introduced. This resulted in a permanent change in the social
composition of the colonies.

2. Sexual relationships between the Asian immigrants (Chinese and East Indians)
and the Negroes resulted in a further mixing of the races. In Trinidad and British
Guiana, a person of such mixed descent was termed a ‘doogla.'

3. The introduction of a new language. Though the masses never really learnt the
Chinese or Hindu language, one could enter a Chinese shop and hear the Chinese
language as they communicated with each other.

4. Islam was not new to the Western Hemisphere but the coming of the immigrants
expanded the membership and presence of this religion. In addition Hinduism was
introduced.

5. New festivals were introduced. Some of these are Divali, Hosein and Holi. The
masses were attracted by the food and the color. Some of them joined the various
processions.

6. The Chinese opened restaurants and ice cream parlors adding to the variety of
recreational activities that the masses could enjoy.

7. In Trinidad, the number of schools increased as particular schools were built for
the children of East Indian immigrants. These were known as ward schools.
8. New foods were introduced. This includes the now famous curry seasoning, roti
and a host of Chinese dishes.

9. The Chinese and Indians made the eating of rice popular.

Despite the positive contributions of these new groups of people there were a few
negative effects of their coming. They themselves had a difficult time adjusting to
life in the Caribbean. They came from the east, different culture and different
languages. They arrived in a society that was largely controlled by the white
plantocracy.

The ruling class was very prejudiced. They practiced open racial discrimination.
They considered themselves superior to every other race and class. As a result the
newcomers faced basically the same kind of treatment that the blacks received:

 Restriction of movements made them feel trapped and enslaved on the

estates.

 Planters underpaid them. In some cases they owed them for long periods.
Some never bothered to pay the arrears at all.

 Partiality of the courts in favor of the whites

 Physical and verbal abuse on and off the estates. The East Indians in
particular were called some unkind names. The fact that they tend to stick to
their races only did not help the tension between the races at all.

 Tropical diseases were a serious challenge

 The planters did not provide adequate food or medical care. The housing
conditions were unsanitary.

 Some of the Indians were from the lower caste or the untouchables. Those
immigrants who were from a higher caste kept the caste system and did not
mix with them. A number of them dealt with their loneliness by becoming
drunkards.
 Effects of Immigration on the Sugar Industry

1. There was an increase in the supply of labor. Their coming definitely solved the
labor shortage problem.

2. There was a decrease in the wages offered to workers on the estates. This helped
to cut the cost of production dramatically since wages was two thirds of the cost of
production.

4. Sugar production increased particularly in Trinidad and British Guiana.

5. A number of immigrants remained and worked on the estates after their contract
expired. They did both skilled and unskilled jobs.

6. It is said that the Indian immigrants encouraged the use of mechanization

5. Evaluate the impact of the free village settlements in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The Role of Churches in Establishing Free villages

The Non-Conformist Missionaries played a crucial role in helping the ex-slaves to

form Free Villages. They either acted as bargaining agents for them, getting a ‘fair'
price for the land and or accessing loans from their headquarters Church in
England.

They bought large tracts of land, subdivided it and sold it in small plots to those
who wanted it. Jamaica had a number of Free Villages that were formed this way.
Most of them either bore the name of Abolitionists or places in the Bible or
Christian traits, for examples: Clarksonville after Thomas Clarkson, Bethany and
Harmony.

These Missionary established Free Villages each had a Church at the center of its
operations. During the week the Church building was used for school and even a
day care center. Some offered evening classes to working adults. From this early
the British government decided to allow the Non Conformist missionaries to
provide elementary education to the masses. They were given a small sum of
money to help them.

In British Guiana, the ex-slaves pooled their resources and bought entire estates
through a co-operative venture. They then subdivided the land and each person
received their share according to the money they had invested.

Assessing the Effects of These Settlements on the Labor Market

(a) Firstly it gave the homeowners a greater level of independence. They could
‘hold out' until the planter made a better offer.

(b) They could not be threatened with eviction from the estates hut anymore. This
meant that planter control over labor was severely weakened.

(c) It tended to help to keep the wage level high.

(d) This meant that once again the planters were faced with a big wage bill. The
cost of production was still high.

(e) Some females became homemakers. They preferred to stay at home or do jobs
from home such as washing and sewing rather than work on the plantations. From
the days of slavery women represented a significant percentage of the field
workers. This was a serious blow to the plantations.

(f) In some cases the effect was positive. Freedmen who lived in villages close to
estates tended to work on the estates even if it was only part time. Others worked at
planting and reaping season. These were

the times when the planter needed to have a large and sure supply of labor.

Free Villages

Free villages were settlements that were formed independent of the estates.
Majority of these were formed after Emancipation. Antigua and Jamaica has the
distinction of Free Villages being formed during 1834-1838.

What conditions gave rise to the establishment of these Free Villages?

1. The freed people wanted to be truly free. They wanted to leave the estates and
make a life for themselves. A man does not feel like a man until he is ‘turning his
own key'.

2. The availability of land. In some colonies land that was not suitable for sugar
cultivation was available for sale. The hilly colonies of Jamaica, St. Lucia and
Grenada are perfect examples.

3. In a number of the territories land also became available after the 1850's. A
number of planters responded to the challenges of Emancipation by closing down
their estates and returning to England. Some of these abandoned estates were later
sold in small plots to pay off debts.

4. The colonial authorities in some colonies offered Crown land for sale. Governor
Colebrook of Antigua in the 1840's saw this as a way to attract the emancipated
people to work on nearby estates.

5. During the Apprenticeship system some apprentices were able to work for
wages which they saved. Added to the savings from the Saturday market sales,
they were able to purchase small plots of land.

6. Assess the contribution of free peasants to Caribbean society.

Problems of the peasantry

 First of all they were charged high prices for what was more often than not,
hilly and or infertile land in remote areas.

 They had problem obtaining proper titles for their land. They were often told
that the land was not officially surveyed. What did this mean to an illiterate
peasant? The spiteful planters were trying to prevent the peasants from
exercising their right to vote. The right to vote was extended to persons with
a certain amount of property.

 The colonial authorities refused to allocate government funds to fix or

construct roads in the remote areas

The peasants had a hard time getting their produce to the market
  The colonial legislatures charged high land tax on the small holdings of the
peasants

 They further transferred the tax burden to them by charging more tax for a
donkey (cart) than a horse!

 They suffered from praedial larceny.

 Then were the acts of nature: hurricane, droughts and all sorts of plant
diseases

 Later on they received stiff competition or unfair prices from large

companies such as the United States Boston Fruit Company

 They often lacked the money to buy and replace fertilizers, small equipment
and tools such as machetes and hoes.

 They received no help from the local authorities or the Mother Country. In
fact they were indifferent to their plight. They clung conveniently to the
stereotype of the blacks as lazy.

The peasantry

The conditions or factors that gave birth to the Peasantry are similar to those for
the Free Villages. (See points 2,3 and 4 in the note called Free Villages under
Objective 4).

To begin with each of these villages was a socio-economic unit that is the land was
used for both housing and farming. Each person was sure to have even a garden
plot. That was their traditional way of providing food and extras for themselves
from the days of slavery.

When we speak of the peasants, we are speaking about that group of people who
owned (small) plots of land from which they earned a livelihood.

Conditions/Factors

(a) Much of the land was bought through the Free Village movement

(b) The freed people had the skill of producing and marketing ground provisions
and other crops for sale.
(c) There was an even larger market than during slavery. Now that the entire
population was free it was a certainty that the demand for foodstuffs and articles
would increase.

(d) It was seen as a way to earn additional income

(e) It was a sure way to feed the many mouths of a large family.

(f) The more peasants became successful and independent the more the movement
spread.

The planters reacted just as negatively to the Peasantry as they did to the Free
Village movement. The acquisition of land by the blacks threatened their
‘exclusive' ownership of land. They were worried that the blacks would become
eligible for voting rights and that worse yet they may want to feel themselves equal
with them. The ruling class jealously guarded their class. They placed a number of
obstacles in the way of the emerging peasantry.

7. Explain the reasons for the adoption of Crown Colony Government in the English
Caribbean in the 19th century.

The Dealings' of Governments After Emancipation

We have already pointed out that very little provisions were made for the newly
emancipated people. No public health system or housing scheme was put in place
to accommodate them. The laws did not address the matter of their legal and voting
rights. It was the Missionaries who gave them guidance and support in these
unfamiliar areas.

All of these problems and more led the peasants in St. Vincent (1862) and Jamaica
(1865) and Barbados (1876) to stage a rebellion in their respective territory.

The government felt that it had done enough. It had partnered with the Churches in
providing elementary education for the masses. For ten years through the Negro
Education grant, it helped to finance education. From 1835 to 1840 it provided an
annual sum of thirty thousand pounds to help finance education. The amount
decreased gradually for the next five years until it ceased in 1845.

In addition they took the initiative to use the Mico Trust Charity Fund of
$120,000, to open a number of schools. These were operated by religious bodies in
colonies such as Jamaica, St. Lucia, Dominica and Trinidad. By 1841, just three
years after emancipation there were about 196 schools throughout the British
Caribbean with a school population of about 1,500. Government inspectors were
appointed and commissioned to supervise the education system.

The truth is that after this very little was done. Once the Imperial Government
withdrew or ceased funding, the local government authorities refused to vote any
significant amount of money for education of the masses. It was in their best
interest to keep the masses ignorant. It would ensure labor for their estates and
enterprises and secure their class from any the entrance of any lower class people.
Primary education was not seen as necessary or compulsory (except in British
Guiana). How then could the masses reach any further?

The authorities had the same attitude towards public health and housing. The Old
Representative System of government was anything but representative. The
composition of it was mainly plantocrats and upper class whites with a few colored
members. These people did not care about the suffering of the masses.

The 1850's and 1860's brought further distress on the already frustrated masses:

 Cholera epidemic claimed the lives of thousands and left many children
orphaned and families without the main breadwinner (income earner)

 1861-1865 was the American Civil War. This meant that essential food
supply- flour and saltfish- was not available. The shortage of food sent the
prices ‘sky high'. Bread and flour went up by as much as 83%!

 1863-1865 were years of drought and other natural disasters

No relief was provided. What followed next is a prime example of how the
Representative government dealt with the demands of the freed people.
The people in the parish of St. Ann, Jamaica, sent a petition to the Queen Victoria.
She sent an unkind reply. She advised them to work hard for whatever wages they
were offered and find ways to help themselves. What an insult! The biased and
racist governor Eyre loved the response. It seemed to give him approval for his
draconian way of dealing with the masses that he treated with open disdain. He
published thousands of copies, held public readings of them and had them posted
all over different towns.

He treated Paul Bogle with open disdain. The peasants from St. Thomas dared to
seek audience with him. He had no time to listen to the grievances of peasants. It
did not matter to him that Bogle and his marching band had walked more than
sixty miles to see him! They returned to Morant Bay in St. Thomas were only a
few days later the Morant Bay Rebellion led by Bogle erupted.

The governor quickly proclaimed martial law. As usual their first response was
force and repression! The militia was called out to suppress the rebellion.
Ringleaders were caught, brutally and publicly flogged and then hung.

This forced the Imperial government to change its response. It effected a change
from the Old Representative System to Crown Colony government. All colonies
EXCEPT Barbados instituted this new form of government. It was more
responsive to the needs of the public but the attitude of control and superiority was
basically the same.

Reforms of Crown Colony Government

 Public works: roads, bridges etc.

 Police Force

 District Courts

 Social services : Boards of Health, Government Hospitals constructed