Caribbean History: From Colonialism to Independence
AM217
Lecture 9: Abolishing slavery
This lecture considers the challenge to the Caribbean plantation system that came
from abolitionists. Yet whilst opposed to slavery, this campaign was still bound up
with the perpetuation of racial discourse.
Lecture structure
1. The problem of slavery
i.
Why was slavery abolished?
2. The British campaign to abolish slavery (c. 1780-1833)
3. Abolitionist views of enslaved people
4. Abolitionist disillusionment and resurgent racism
5. Other abolitions
The problem of slavery
In the 1760s there was nothing unprecedented about chattel slavery, even the
slavery of one ethnic group to another. What was unprecedented by the 1760s and
early 1770s was the emergence of a widespread conviction that New World slavery
symbolized all the forces that threatened the true destiny of man [sic].
D. B. Davis, The problem of slavery in the age of revolution, 1975, p. 41.
A chronology of the abolitions of slavery, 1793-1888
1793 – Abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue (known as Haiti from 1804).
1803 – Prohibition of the slave trade by Denmark.
1807 – Prohibition of the slave trade by Great Britain and the importation of captives
and slaves by the USA.
1814 – Prohibition of the slave trade by the Netherlands.
1818 – The first French law prohibiting the slave trade.
1827 – The second French law prohibiting the slave trade.
1831 – The third French law prohibiting the slave trade.
1833-1838 – Abolition of slavery in the British colonies of the Caribbean and
Mauritius.
1846-1848 – Abolition of slavery in the Danish Virgin Islands.
1848 – Abolition of slavery in the French colonies.
1863 – Abolition of slavery in the Caribbean colonies of the Netherlands
1863-1865 – Abolition of slavery in the United States.
1866 – Spanish decree prohibiting the slave trade.
1880-1886 – Gradual abolition of slavery in Cuba.
1888 – Abolition of slavery in Brazil.
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Caribbean History: From Colonialism to Independence
AM217
Abolitionist views of enslaved people
One of the most identifiable images of the eighteenth century abolitionist movement
was a kneeling enslaved African man:
In 1787, the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade approved a design
‘expressive of an African in Chains in a Supplicating Posture’. Surrounding the man
was engraved a motto whose wording echoed an idea widely accepted during the
Enlightenment among Christians and secularists: ‘Am I Not A Man and A Brother?’
The design was approved by the Society, and an engraving was commissioned.
Josiah Wedgewood, who was by then a member of the Society, produced the
emblem as a jasper-ware cameo at his pottery factory. The medallions became a
fashion statement for abolitionists and anti-slavery sympathizers. They were worn as
bracelets and as hair ornaments, and even inlaid with gold as ornaments for snuff
boxes. Soon the fashion extended to the general public. That same year, the image
also appeared in London on the covers of a pamphlet addressed to Parliament.
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How do the image and words try to make a persuasive case in favour of
the abolition of slavery?
What do the image and words tell us about the abolitionists’ views of
enslaved people of African-descent?
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Caribbean History: From Colonialism to Independence
AM217
Resurgent racism after the abolition of slavery
Exeter Hall,1 my philanthropic friends, has had its way in this matter…and, far over
the sea, we have a few black persons rendered extremely ‘free’ indeed. Sitting
yonder, with their beautiful muzzles up to the ears in pumpkins, imbibing sweet pulps
and juices; the grinder and incisor teeth ready for every new work, and the pumpkins
cheap as grass in those rich climates; while the sugar crops rot round them, uncut,
because labour cannot be hired, so cheap are the pumpkins…
Thomas Carlyle, Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question (1849)
The paradox of abolitionism
Abolitionism itself, no matter how well intended, was not the same as the victory over
racism. The abolition of slavery was not the same as black emancipation.
Abolitionism promoted new stereotypes of blacks – the movement humanized the
image of blacks but also popularized the image of blacks as victims…The central
icon of abolitionism…carried a clear message. It made emancipation conditional –
on condition of conversion, on condition of docility and meekness, on condition of
being on one’s knees.
Jan Pieterse, White on black (1992), p. 60, emphasis added.
1
Exeter Hall was the headquarters of the British abolitionist campaign (as well as that of other
humanitarian and philanthropic campaigns that came later).
3