CANDIDATES’ NAMES AND NUMBERS:

I-yana Dinzey 1600620555

Nia Rosado 1600621004

SUBJECT: Caribbean History

CENTRE NAME: St. Francois Girls’ College

CENTRE NUMBER: 160062

TEACHER’S NAME: Ms Jemima King

TERRITORY: Trinidad and Tobago

YEAR: 2024

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Table of contents-

Question -................................................................................................................3
Thesis statement -...................................................................................................4
The Rationale -....................................................................................................... 5
Introduction-.......................................................................................................... 6
Conclusion-............................................................................................................. 9
References-............................................................................................................10

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Question -
To what extent do you agree that enslaved women in the Caribbean played little or
no role in the enslaved resistance during the 18th and 19th Centuries?

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Thesis statement -

Enslaved women in the Caribbean played an important role in the enslaved

resistance during the 18th and 19th centuries.

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The Rationale -
The objective of this research is to better understand the impact that enslaved
women in the Caribbean had on enslaved resistance during the 18th and 19th
centuries and the roles they played. The way we intend to obtain this research is
by using textbooks and online resources. We are intrigued to learn the resistance
methods by which our female ancestors used to gain freedom. We expect to gain a
greater knowledge of how enslaved women constructed plans to resist their
masters.

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Introduction-
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, slavery was the most lucrative business in
the Caribbean. The buying and selling of slaves both male and female were the
way to make your fortune. However, trouble arose during the 18th and 19th
centuries when the British abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1807, this
meant that it was now illegal to trade or purchase slaves in the British territories.
Simultaneously many slave revolts took place and news of resistance spread
among the islands. Thus the Amelioration proposals came about in 1823, this was
set up to help improve the lives of slaves in hopes that they wouldn’t run away or
start riots, some of the proposals included; that pregnant women and infants
should receive a better diet and nutrition, enslaved females should no longer be
whipped and that overseers and drivers should stop carrying whips. The majority
of planters hated the idea of the amelioration proposals and as a result, they
refused to implement the majority of the proposals.

However the ones whose burden of maintaining the slave population were the
women, and planters put extra pressure on the enslaved women as there was no
longer a 'buying policy' but a 'breeding' policy, this social reform marked the 'age
of amelioration'. Their bodies were used as a factory almost solely to produce
children. At this time there was an awareness of freedom amongst the enslaved,
and they did not want just a 'better life' but they wanted to be free, as a result of
this longing for freedom they decided to resist orders from their masters and plan
revolts, this was met with a lot of violence.

The female enslaved used both insurrectionary and non-insurrectionary forms of

resistance because they knew that their enslavers were dependent on them to
upkeep the slave population they would use their sexuality and diplomacy as

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non-insurrectionary forms of resistance. Using their knowledge of plants and
alternative medicine, they would consume various herbs and roots to prevent
pregnancies, induce abortions or miscarriages, they would also deceive their
enslavers by telling them that they were pregnant, this means that their workload
would be shortened and when the term of pregnancy is near they would claim that
they miscarried, which was not uncommon due to the strenuous work the women
had to often do. For the ones who did conceive and bore children, they would
delay weaning as near as the 2nd birthday of a child when masters questioned
such they would reply that not weaning could lead to the death of the child, and
this translated to having one less slave in future. They did not only rebel by using
their sexuality, but they also rebelled by injuring themselves for example; an
enslaved woman in the British Virgin Islands who, in 1793, took a cutlass and
severed her hand in protest against her enslavement. The severed hand is a symbol
of frustration, the hand expected to work, feed the young and bear children being
cut off symbolizes the way the women felt about being exploited. Some women
used a diplomatic form of communicating requests for freedom. An example of
this would be a letter written by an enslaved woman in Barbados, Jenny Lane, a
Creole Black woman, in 1804 addressed to her owner, Thomas Lane who lived in
London, “My honoured master, I hope you will pardon the liberty your slave has
taken in addressing you on a subject which I hope you may not give you the least
displeasure or offence”.

Some other enslaved women used insurrectionary forms of resistance by

partaking in revolts and giving a tongue-lashing to their owners. Other influential
women like Nanny of the Jamaican Maroons, an Ashanti woman who was an
important religious and political leader of the Maroons in the 1730s Jamaica, had
set up her village called Nanny Town established in the 1730s, the village

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consisted of runaways called maroons. She was a runaway slave who was
regarded as an African woman who was a spiritual icon and freedom activist. Her
village often went to war with British troops, in 1732 after a bloody battle, the
British troops took took Nanny Town, the heart of the Windward Maroon. The
Maroons counterattacked and recaptured their town the following year, they went
on to capture and occupy three plantations. However in 1734, the British struck
back after several encounters in which they lost several soldiers, the British went
on to capture Nanny Town in 1735. The inhabitants of Nanny Town fled and built
a New Nanny Town to the east above the Rio Grande and renamed it Maroon
Town in 1768. Another influential African enslaved woman was Nanny Grigg an
enslaved woman who worked in the house and had taught herself to read, she
collaborated with General Bussa in a revolt which took place in 1816 in Barbados.
The rebellion started in the evening in the southeast parish of St Philip, spreading
to most of the southern and central parishes of Christ Church, St John, St Thomas,
St George and parts of St Michael.

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Conclusion-
Enslaved women in the British Caribbean have played an essential role in the
antislavery movement; their resistance, whether insurrectionary or
non-insurrectionary, is utilised as a symbol of discontentment. The resistance
tactics paved the way for slaves to gain their freedom and rights, resulting in
significant changes in both the social and economic elements of the British
Caribbean.

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References-

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