CSEC CARIBBEAN HISTORY SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT (S.B.A) Candidate Name: Naima Neutville Candidate No.: 1001293115 School: Wolmer’s Trust High School for Girls School Centre No.: 100129 Territory: Jamaica Teacher’s Name: Mrs, Donnaree Bailey-Marshall Examination Year: 2023 Title: Did the British West Indies Apprenticeship System of 1834-1838 fail to assist in the transition from slavery to freedom?TABLE OF CON Acknowledgements. 1 Statement of the Problem. 2 Research Proposal ...unnssnnnnnnnnnnnnnmnninnnnnnnnnnnnne 3 Rationale sone Introduction Body of Research. Conclusion 8 Bibliography 9ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Undoubtedly, I would like to give a sincere heartfelt thank you to the grace of God who has brought me to this very point, He has kept me safe and was there to help me retain the knowledge that will be used to complete this SBA. Secondly, I would like to give a big thank you to my teacher for her guidance and the great, amount of encouragement she has provided. She has prepared me very well and I know for sure I couldn’t have done this without her. At last, T want to thank my family and friends who have continued to encourage and support me every step of the way. 1| PageSTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Theme ~ “Metropolitan Movements Towards Emancipation” Topic = “The Apprenticeship System 1834-1838” Research Question - Did the British West Indies Apprenticeship System of 1834-1838 fail as a system to assist in the transition from slavery to freedom? ‘Thesis Statement = The researcher will discuss what exactly was the Apprenticeship System and the purpose, the role of the stipendiary magistrates and the difficulties they faced and then conclude did the Apprenticeship System of 1834-1838 fail of succeed in the aid of assisting in the transition of slavery to freedom, 2 | PageRESEARCH PROPOSAL CARIBBEAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL CARIBBEAN HISTORY (SBA) RESEARCH PROPOSAL To be attached to each requested sample seript Teachers are advised to make a duplicate copy for each student. To be completed by April 1, 2023 NAME OF CANDIDATE: Naima Neufville. CANDIDATE’S NUMBER: 1001293115 NAME OF TEACHER: Mrs. Marshall. NAME OF SCHOOL: Wolmers Girl School YEAR OF EXAMINATION: 2023 SCHOOL CODE: 100129 AREA OF RI ARCH: Metropolitan Movements Towards Emancipation BASIC OUTLINE OF STUDY: (a) What is the rationale/aim of your study? To determine whether or not the Apprenticeship system fail to assist in the transition of slavery to freedom, (b) How will you obtain your data? From information provided in text books as well as the web. (c) How do you intend to present the data? In the form of a research more specifically in the form of an essay. TEACHER’S SIGNATURE: CANDIDATE’S SIGNATURI . Neufville PRINCIPAL'S SIGNATURE: DATE: 3 | PageRATIONALE The ssearcher chose this issue in order to more thoroughly and accurately examine and interpret whether the Apprenticeship System genuinely failed or whether it was successful but we were unaware of it. The researcher will also ensure that only factual data and supporting evidence will be offered to adequately support the conclusion we will reach. The researcher's topic is highly intriguing because it had an impact on the fight for slaves liberation and how our forefathers were treated. With the data that is going to be discussed ‘throughout this study, the researcher will be able to connect the dots on how the society she is part of today is being influenced by the past. | PageINTRODUCTION The apprenticeship really gained the researcher's interest as it looked into how our ancestors ‘were treated and how it also impacts our lives now. For one the researcher is one who for sure opposed the system of slavery. The researcher chose this topic for one to also look into how the British tried to hide and cover up the truth behind the unjust and unfair treatment of our ancestors. As well as the fact that the researcher has a very strong interest in the past and how her ancestors were treated and how it now influences the society of today. The researcher will discuss what exactly was the Apprenticeship System and the purpose, the role of the stipendiary magistrates and the difficulties they face and aftermath of the Apprenticeship System and then conclude if the Apprenticeship System of 1834-1838 fail or succeed in the aid of assisting in the transition of slavery to freedom, The information will be accessed via the Emancipation to Emigration text, the Caribbean Story book 1, a journal written by James Latimer and other online articles, 5 | PageBODY OF RESEARCH in 1834 after the British abolition of slavery act was given the royal assent on August 1 1833 the British government passed the system of Apprenticeship. With this system the ex- slaves were not completely free but they were given more uncontrolled freedom of their movement, The Apprenticeship system was used in aid of the transition from slavery to freedom. In other words, this system would help to teach the ex-slaves how it would be like living in the free world. The system stated that domestic workers were supposed to work for four years while field workers were supposed to work for six years. In essence overall the system was to last for a period of six years but instead only lasted for four years. The apprenticeship system had three main purposes, which were: to provide an easy and peaceful, transition from slavery to freedom, it sought to guarantee the planters an adequate supply of labour and to train the apprentices for the responsibilities of freedom. With providing the labour the apprentices were only required to work a total of forty and a half hours per week for free and if they were to go over that given amount, they were to be compensated in other ‘words they were to be paid depending on how much longer they had to work for. In addition to the Apprenticeship system there were these special people who were responsible for the running of the Apprenticeship system called the Stipendiary Magistrates also known as “Architects of Freedom”, The persons were ex-navy or army officers who were sent to the Caribbean working on two-year contracts, in total there were one hundred and fifty in the British West Indies with sixty of them being in Jamaica alone, as said before ‘they were used to maintain the running of the Apprenticeship system to avoid any injustice and to maintain peace among the ex-slaves and planters. They chose these persons as they were to be of loyalty, justice, discipline and free of bias to avoid any special treatment for either the ex-slaves or the planters. “The magistrates had two main functions which were to help preserve public peace and order and to supervise the operation of the Act of Emancipation, Some of the other purposes included: dealing with minor offences, settling differences, ensuring no one was imprisoned without their orders, different cases made against the apprentices, medical attention was provided to apprentices who were hospitalized Dookan, 1988, “A Pre-Emancipation History ofthe West Indies”, Pages 93-102 2 Claypole and Rabottom, 2001, “Caribbean Story Book I", Pages 164-169 ® Dye, Greenwood and Hamber, 2008, “Emancipation to Emigration”, Page 79-81 6 | Pageand assisting ex-slaves who wanted to buy their freedom. In conclusion, it was intended that in order to keep the Apprenticeship System running smoothly and fairly they sent these ‘magistrates to the different islands in an effort for them to carry out their different responsibilities to ensure what was planned was what was done. ‘In addition to all that the Stipendiary magistrates did face a few difficulties some which included the fact that upon arriving they were responsible for providing their own homes, food and even their own travel expenses to get to the Caribbean. As well as the fact that they had to be working on low wages under poor conditions in which they had no control. Additionally, the Stipendiary magistrat. s were overworked due to the fact that they had to deal with so many apprentices and employers while also having litte time to come up with answers to the problems they were facing. With the fact that there weren't many of them, they couldn't always guarantee that the slaves received justice. However, some of them were quite sly and sided with the planters against the slaves. *This made an issue in dealing with disputes and some planters would try to bribe them. Maybe it was harder to make a fair judgement for the slave to also receive justice. This would lead to slaves being punished for the satisfaction of the planters which was another way in which it was harder for other magistrates to make a fair call for judgement. In essence though the government had removed ‘these people from their homes in effort to assist in the Apprenticeship System they refrained from providing them with the basic human necessities which they would have expected to receive but in retum they were poorly treated and weren’t treated far different from the ex- slaves. * Latimer, 1964, “The Apprenticeship System in the British West Indies”, Pages 52-57 tceship system (1834-1838)- Slavery in Disguise”, thingsguyana.comCONCLUSION From the information that the researcher had discussed she is now able to come to the conclusion that indeed the Apprenticeship of 1834-1838 was a failure in aid of the transition of slavery to freedom. This was proven in many ways some of those ways included; the fact, ‘that planters still wanted to treat the blacks as slaves even after the blacks made it clear that they no longer wanted to be working on the plantation. They blacks were also mistreated and were being paid on extremely low wages in which this resulted in the apprenticeship system being unable to comfort the apprentices nor the planters it was then the apprentices wanted their full freedom to no longer be a part of the unfair system that was put in place to help ‘them but the planters insisted on keeping them as slaves no matter how much they tried to resist, It was then later were there was an investigation carried out by the government of the British to really sce what the apprenticeship system was doing in which they found out the system was not working towards the benefits of the ex-slaves/ blacks with all the negative, unfair and in just treatments they received and was then deemed a failure to the transition from slavery to freedom was also the reason why it ended in 1838 instead of 1840. 8| PageBIBLIOGRAPHY Dyde, Brian, Greenwood Robert and Hamber Shirely. Emancipation to Emigration. Between ‘Towns Road: Macmillan Education, 2008. Print Latimer, James, "The Apprenticeship System in the British West Indies." The Journal of ‘Negro Education (1964): 52-57. PhD., Isaac Dookhan, A Pre-Emancipation History of the West Indies. Kingston: Carlong, Publishers Ltd, 1971. Print William Claypole, John Robottom. Caribbean Story Book 1. Kingston: Carlong Publishers (Caribbean) Limited, 2001. Print. Prasad, S. (2020, March 11). The Apprenticeship System (1834-1838)- Slavery in Disguise. Retrieved from Things Guyana: https://www.thingsguyana.com/the-apprenticeship- system-1834-1838-slavery-in- disguise/#:~:text-Failure’%2001%20the%20A pprenticeship%20Systeméetext=In%20t he%20end%2C%20the%20A pprenticeship,be%20the%20same%20as%20slavery. 9 | Page