Decolonization of Jamaica

    The Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 made Britain strength the control of Jamaica through makeing Jamaica a Crown Colony of Britain in 1866. Under the Crown Colony system, the nominal government was consisted of the legislative Council and the executive Privy Council members of both chambers of the House of Assembly. But the governor appointed by British government exercised effective power overh the island. Although British government reintrouduced limited self-rule to Jamaica after 1884, the highest power was controlled by governor. In fact, it was British officials and upper-class whites who ruled the island.

     In the twentieth century, a growing mulatto middle-class with increasingly impressive education and property began to opposed the Crown Colony rule and demanded for reponsible self-government. They thought that the colony office didn't protect their economic status efficiently and was indifferent to hear their demands of politic rights. These dissatisfaction with colony office and racism led to the rise of nationalism in Jamaica. More and more people of color realized that they should set up a responsible self-government to protect their benefits from the white upper-class. In the meantime, industrial revolution created a growing working class and they began to unionized themselves to demand a self-government to protect their political and civil rights. The Great Depression exacerbated the working class's living condition and made them be more eager to overthrow the repressive government. The Riot of dock and sugarcane plantation workers in 1938 accelerated the unionization of working class and forming of politic party. The People's National Party was founded in the same year of the riot by Norman Manley and the Jamaica Labour Pary was established five years later by William Alexander Bustamante. Both parties struggled for self-demernation and self-government of Jamaican.

     The Riot of 1938 also made British gave more rights of self-government to Jamaica. In 1944, the first universal adult suffrage elected a autonmous governemnt in Jamaica. Bustamante became the first premier of the autonomous government. However, the ultimate power remained in the hands of the governor.

     From 1944 to 1962, Jamaica was in the period of constitutional decolonizaiton. It meant that Britain gradually granted the colony more self-government under periodic constitutional changes. For examle, the admendment to the constitution granted the right of electing ministers to the House of Representative in 1953. In 1957, the cabinet government was established.

    Jamaica joined the West Indies Federation in 1958 but withdrew in 1961. In 1962, Jamaica became a full independent country from Britain and Bustamante became the first prime minister.

    However, Jamaica still kept some special relationship with Britain. It was a member of Commonwealth of Nations and the British queen Elizabeth II was recognized as the head of nation.

Source:

1. Jamaica-history, Countries Study. www.country-studies.com/Jamaica-history.html

2. Munroe, Trevor, The Politics of constitutional decolonization: Jamaica, 1944-1962, University of the West Indies, 1972

post slavery society in Jamaica

     When the British parliamanet issued the emancipation to the slaves of British West Indies in 1834, the slavery of Jamaica was abolished. The former slaves, however, had to be controlled under the apprentixceship in which the freed people must worked continually for their former master for six years, The period of apprenticeship was described as "a legally mandated transition period between slavery and freedom" byThomas Cleveland Holt, a historian for stuying the history of Caribbean regions. Under the apprenticeship, the relationship between the planters and workers was much the same as thaat between master and slave for forty and one-half hours of the work weeks, but during the balance of the week they were to assume the respective status of employer adn employee freeely negotiating condiditons of work and wages. Therefore, apprenticeship was the residues of slavery and the slavery actually disappeared in 1838 when the apprenticeship ended.

     After getting rid of slavery, African Jamaicans could be free to find their employers and employ themselves. They didn't think that freedom just meant the end of slavery. In fact, they wanted to get rid of reliance on whites and to be independent economically. They left the whites' plantation, set up their own free villages.In addition they often form cooperatives to buy abandoned supar estates to cultivate the food crops. In Jamaica, black freeholders increased from 2,014 in 1838 to 7,800 in 1840 and more than 50,000 in 1859.

     The meaning of freedom to former slaves was not only the independent on aspect of economy, but also the acquirement of political rights. When the emancipation was passed, Lord Glenelg, the colonial secretary of Britain, advocated the idea of racial equally in politics and society. The Emancipaiton gave the right of vote to black Jamaicans on paper. A decate later, however, the British colonial office mounted the anxiety of the rise of black power in Caribbean regions. They worried that blacks would control the British West Indies becaue the majority of populatin was blacks. As a result, they made a poll tax on voters in 1859 and abolished Jamaicanm self-government in 1866. The most of former slaves were desperately poor and suffered the racial discrimination. They lived hard lives and made Morant Bay rebellion in October 1865.

    The black women suffered more than men. They received not only the racial discriminatin from white, but also the gender discrimination. The traditional view of Jamaicans was that women were inferior than men. Today, the unemployment rate of women was about thirty-nine persent, twice higher than that for men of sixteen percent. Besides, women received less wages than men and they often suffered the domestical violence and sexual abuse. The meaning of freedom  to women included the independence from men.

    When slavery eanded, formet slaves became freeholders. To supplant the former slaves in the plantation, the colonists imported thousands of indentured servants from China, India, and Africa. For example, there were about 21,500 East Indians migrated to Jamaica to work as indentured servants between 1838 to 1917. These indentured servants brought new kinds of culture to make the society more diverse.

      In conclusion, the meaning of freedom to former slaves was not just the abolishment of slavery. Being independt on economy and gaining the politic rights were also important part of meaning of freedom. For women, getting rid of gender descrimination was a significant meaning of freedom. In the post slavery society in Jamaica, former slaves became freeholders and indentured servants from Asia replaced them in the plantation.

  

Sources

1.Holt, Thomas Cleveland, The problems of freedom : race, labor, and politics in Jamaica and Britain, 1832-1938, page 55-61. Johns Hopkins University Press: 1992

2. Stone, Thalia S, Jamaican Women: Their Politics, Economics, Roles, and Religions, The Dread Library.

Impacts of Haitian Revolution on Jamaica

     The Haitian Revolution was a significant event in the history of west hemisphere  The revolution threw down the rule of French colonists in Saint-Domingue, created the first black republic in the world, and issued the first general emancipation of slaves, as well as the first declaration for racial equality. It not only influencend the history of Haiti, but also had great effects on the historical progress of United States and whole Caribbean region, including the neighoring island, Jamaica.

     When the news of Haitian Revolution came to Jamaica in September, 1791. It inspired the slaves, who "sang songs about it" (Geggus, 2001, p.X). Hence, the slaveowners of Jamaica feared that their slaves would rebel agasit themselves like the slaves in Saint-Domingue. The governor of Jamaica, Earl of Effingham, sent three or four vessels of war to provide ammunition and supplies to the planters of Saint-Domingue for stopping the revolution. Actually, most planters of Jamaica realized that the security of their plantation was linked to the security of societies in the Saint-Domingue, for the Haitian Revolution would inspire the slaves of Jamaica to run to Haiti, or even take an armed rebellion against their masters. One of the prestigious planters of Jamaica, Bryan Edwards, thought that Jamaican planters should try to assist French islands of Saint-Domingue to prevent the revolution form spreading to Jamaica and other British West Indies Islands. He appointed that results of Haitian Revolution were just ruin of economy and massacre of white people. As the revolution progressed, the fear among slaveowners was higher and higher. They thought that their African and creole slaves gained confidence form the success of former slaves in Saint-Domingue to throw down their masters. Therefore, they called out militia, established committees of security in each parish, and requested more troops from Britian.They also declared martial law in December, 1791, for they thought that Jamaica was on the brink of its own slave revolt (Geggus, 2001, p.46). For example, Thomas Barritt noted that a body of slaves plotted to set fire to Kingston, Spanish Town and Port Royal. In fact, negroes had been found with cartridges and firearms. This phenomenon meant that slaves of Jamaica were actually encouraged by Haitian revolution to seek their own freedom. The outbreak of war between Britain and France in 1793, and the slave emancipation of Haiti issued by French rolutionary edict in 1794 made slaveowners feared not only the internal slave rebellion inspired by Haitian Revolution, but also the outside attack from France and Saint-Domingue. The slaveowners did their best to reinforce their plantation to thwart any possible of slave revolt. The strategy was stronger during the Maroon war of 1795, which was considered as an effect of Haitian Revolution by Earl of Balcarres, the governor of Jamaica at that time.

        On the other hand, some slaveowners including Bryan Edwards, thought that they should improve slaves' condition to relax the tense relation between slaveowners and slaves. This view let the pass of new Jamaican Consolidated Slave Act of 1792, which nominally banned many cruelities. The abolition process, however, was slowed down by Haitian Revolution in some ways. It was because many anti-slavery thinkers feared that abolition of slave trade and slavery might lead to ruin of economy and massacre of white people as  that in Saint-Domingue.

       In addition to fear, slaveowners saw the revolution as an opportunity of profit because their former French rivals were destroyed by the revolution. The devastation of plantation society in Saint-Domingue let planters of other islands gain more opportunity of importing slaves and exporting sugar and coffee. For example, coffee production increased in Jamaica after the Haitian Revolution because of the less of former competitors of Saint-Domingue. The development of plantation economy and the reduction of abolition activities actually strengthened the slavery in Jamaica in some ways.

        In conclusion, Haitian Revolution inspired slaves of Jamaica to seek their own freedom. Hence, the slaveowners of Jamaica worried about the potential slave revolt and took actions to maintain their security, such as reinforcing their defense and restrict the activities of slaves. They also took actions to improve slaves' conditions for relaxing the relation between them and slaves. On the other hand, slaveowner of Jamaica made more profit after revolution because of the devastation of their important rivals in Saint-Domingue. Such profit combined with the reduction of abolition activities and they strengthened the slavery in Jamaica.

Sources:

1. David Patrick Geggus, The Impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World, University of South Carolina Press: 2001

2. William James Gardner, A History of Jamaica, London: 1873

Novel: A Life of an enslaved woman in Jamaica

       My name is Nanny Jones and I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1789. My first master Mr Williams was a excellent lawyer and he was kind to his slaves. My mother was born in Barbados and she was sold to Mr Williams when she was at the age of fourteen. She had worked as a domestic servant for about thirty years when she died of tuberculosis. According to my mother's narration, my father was a slave of another planter and he used to behired by Mr Williams as a cooper. I have never seen him when I was sensible, because the marriage between him and my mother was illegal and he was sold to Antigua soon after my birth.

        I lived with my mother and became a player of my little master Anne, the daughter of Mr Williams. That time was one of my happiest time in my life and I doesn't know the distinction between Anne and I. When I was twelve years old, however, the misfortune came down on me. Mr Williams died and Mrs Williams had to sell me and several other slaves to pay for the fees of funeral. I remembered that how I wept for parting with my mother and Anne.

         I was sold to a sugar planter and began to suffer a great number of adversity. I worked as a field worker, which was considered the most terrible work to slaves. The most field workers were women and they were divided into four gangs according to the age and physical ability. The first labor gang was the most important labor gang and the members of it were at ages from 16 to 54. They digged cane holes, planted the canes, and cut off the stalks. Children like me picked up the stalks and bunched them. Yonger children were responsible for weeding. I became a member of first gang at age of 16 and was much busier than before. During the out-of-crop season, I worked from daybreak to sundown, 5:00 am to 7:00 pm, or eleven and one-half hours, excluding meal breaks. There was a half-hour midmorning break for breakfast in the field and a two-hour break at noon for dinner. The work was much busier in the havest period. The work time expanded to about seventeen hours. Sometimes I even worked for twenty hours every day. In addition, we usually received severe punichment for just a little fault. I had been tied up in a tree and recieved the whip for several hours because I trampled on some stalks carelessly.

           That time was really a terrible time. I desired to get freedom every minute. I heard that some female slaves collected money to earn their freedom through selling something at the absent of master. Some even earned money through prostitution. I had not such thought and chance to do that, however. I had worked for the field for eleven years when I met a free person of color, James Davis. He was a carpenter and we fall in love. He bought my freedom from my master, and we married. I was a free woman now.

Cited: Thomas Cleveland Holt, The Problem of freedom, race, labor, and politics in Jamaica and Britain 1832-1938. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore and London, 1992.

labor in Jamaica from seventeenth century to nineteenth century

       Jamaica was a relatively desolate island when British captured it from Spanish in 1655. Compared with Cuba and Hispaniola, there were few settlements and plantations in Jamaica. To exploit the island, British government demands a lot of manpower to be imported to Jamaica. The first wave of immigrants were mainly British colonists who came from other British colonies of West Indies such as Barbados. These British immigrants built up a series of new colonies and decided to set up a plantation system as Barbados. At the beginning of the period of British rule, many Irish prisons banished by Oliver Cromwell from their hometown were shipped by government to the Jamaica. These group of Irish were mainly young people and they were mostly servants, bondsmen, or indentured servants. Irish and indentured servants from other parts of Europe usually had to bear the hard work and terrible condition as slaves, however, they themselves were not chattel and they could get freedom when the contracts were finished. 

      From seventeenth century the, sugar were popular and profitable in Europe and British made Jamaica gradually become one of the world's leading center of sugar production. Sugar production required a greater labor supply than the available European servants. Therefore, British decided to import a great number of African slaves regularly. As a result, African slaves became the major labor in the sugar plantations and persons with African ancestry became the majority of Jamaica population in the late seventeenth century. In the early nineteenth century, for example, fewer than five percents of the population in Jamaica were whites while the blacks made up of more than ninety percents of population of Jamaica.

       Sugar cultivation was both an agricultural and an industrial regime and there were some special processes which demands workers with professional skills. Hence, the workforce of the field was divided into four field gangs, constituted according to age and physical ability. For instance, digging cane holes with crude hoes in often hard and rocky soil was too difficult for ordinary slaves to do. Therefore, a gang of professional workers were assigned for such work specially. At the usual time, slaves worked from five o'clock in the morning to seven o'clock at night, or eleven and one-half hours, excluding meal breaks. There was a half-hour midmorning break for breakfast in the field and a two-hour break at noon for dinner.  During the harvest season, slaves were much busier than usual because they had to cut stalks,extract cane juice, and processed the cane as soon as possible. In the mean time, they also had to replant for future crops. As a result, work day extended to about twenty hours during the four to five month harvest season, or a minimum of eighty hours a week, excluding meal break. 

           The hard work and cruel treatment from planters made slaves rebel to challenge the slavery. The slave rebellion of 1831 made whites think about the abolishment of slavery. Many antislavery societies appeared in Europe and West Indies in eighteenth and nineteenth century and they used reason to challenge the moral and legal basis of slavery. At last, the slavery of Jamaica was abolished in 1834. ex-slaves gained freedom, however, they were controlled under apprenticeship which was considered by whites to help ex-slaves transform from slaves to competent citizens. Under apprenticeship, ex-slaves must bear hard work for forty and one-half hours of the work week as slaves, except being recognized as employee who could freely negotiate the work conditions and wages. In the rest time, they could do what they want. In addition, British brought a lot of East Indians and Chinese indentured servants to make up the shortage of slaves.

              In conclusion, when British occupy Jamaica. the main labor were indentured servants from Europe, including a great number of Irish. Nevertheless, the set up of sugar plantation made African slaves quickly became the main labor and Jamaica had been a slave-dependent island for about two hundred years. After abolishment of slavery in 1834, ex-slaves worked as "apprentices" at a short time and then became free workers while a lot of East Indian and Chines indentured servants migrated to the island.

Sources 

     1. Thomas Cleveland Holt, The Problem of freedom: race, labor, and politics in Jamaica and Britain, p.55-62 

        2. Rob Mullally, A short History of the Irish Jamaica, Part 1 of 3,

        3. The Sugar Revolutions and Slavery, US. Library of Congress

Racial development in Jamaica

      Jamaica is a multiracial country and it has a population of 2.8 millions revealt in the latest census. African Jamaicans is the largest ethnic group in the island and it comprises more than 90 percents of the population of the island. People with mixed ancenstry is the second largest ethnic group. There are around 6 persents of Jamaican in this group. Besides, East Indians comprises 1 persent of population and there are also a few whites and Chinese reside in the Jamaica. How do these ethnic groups appear and develop in the island. Now I will find the answers through looking back to the history.
      The original residents of Jamaica were Tainos, a large group of Indians residing in the West Indies. They lived for thousands of years in the island when Christopher Columbus arrivied at the island in 1494. The first European immigrants were Spaniards and they built their first settlement in 1509. At that time, Jamaica became a Spanish colony and whites began to reside in the island. The native people suffered disease and Spaniards' coercion and they had to flee to the mountains. As a result, the group of natives gradually disappeard in the island.
      In 1655, British catched the island from Spanish and found that the island was not comfortable residence for Europeans as well as other islands of West Indies. Instead, they made the island become a base of sugar plantation. Hence, British brought a great number of black slaves from Western Africa to work in the plantation. Blacks soon became the major population in the island after 1670. Actually, Jamaican economy and society relied on large planation and slavery heavily for near 200 years and blacks outnumbered whites by a ratio of almost 20 to1 at the beginning of 19th century. When the slavery was abolished in 1834, there were about 316,070 blaks, 15,000 whites, and 40,000 mixed race. The mixed race has mixed ancestry of white and black. In fact, many mixed-blood have ancestry of Irish. In fact, many Irish indentrued servants has migrated to Jamaica since 1655 and they were easier to marry with blacks than other whites because of their lower status. People with mixed race usually identified themselves as a nation of "Jamaican" and now they comprise the second largest group in the islands, just next to African Jamaicans.
       When slavery was abolished in 1834, British Brought East Indians and Chinese indentured servants to supplement the laboul pool in the plantation in the latter half of 19th century. The descends of these indentured servants continue to live and become influential groups in the island.
        Nowadays, Africans Jamaicans are much more than other ethnic groups and they make the fundation of Jamaican society. They work in all types of jobs, including the highest political, professional, and commercial activities. Most African Jamaicans, however, live a relative poor and unhealthy life and their skin color is still considered as a symbol of uncivilized, ignorant, lazy, and untrustworhy. The bulk of national wealth is owned by the few white families. In addition, East Indians and Chinese usually live as middle class. East Indians move gradually from agricultural labor into professional and mercantile activities while Chinese usually engage in retail and wholesale activities.
 
Resources
1. Countries and their Cultures: Culture of Jamaica, Advameg.Inc, 2011

2. Rob Mullally, A Short History of the Irish in Jamaica, Port 1-3. 2010

British-Spanish conflict in Jamaica in the seventeenth century

     In 1654, Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of Britain, sent a fleet to capture the Spanish colonies of West Indies. There were several reasons for Cormwell to undertake the naval expedition. Spain had been a traditional enemy of Britain since 1588. The religious disagreement exacerbated the relations between two countries when Cromwell, a pious Puritan, took into power in Britain while the Spain is a stubborn Catholic nation.The citizens of two counties also disliked each other. Cromwell's advisor John Milton recapitulated that Spaniards often inflicted cruel wrongs upon British traders and colonists at the West Indies, such as the massacres at St. Kitts in 1629. Besides, Spanish usually attacked on English vessels, plundering and killing the crew. Therefore, British government decided to take an attack on Spanish colonies of West Indies for a vengeance and a glory of country.
      In addition, Spain was a commerical rivalry of Britain. Cromwell wanted to attack on Spanish trade and treasure. At that time, sugar replaced gold and silver to be the most valuable commdity. Hence, British must occupy a proper island of West Indies to produce sugar.
      Cromwell's expedition to the West Indies, which was called Western Design, began on December 26th in 1654 when a fleet left Portsmouth. The fleed included about six thousand soldiers and sailors, and it was commanded by the Admiral William Penn and the General Robert Venables. Their original object was Hispaniola, the most valuable Spainsh colony at the West Indies. The British fleet got reinforcement at Barbados and they attacked Hispaniola in April 1655, but they failed at last. Therefore, they decided to capture the most defenceless Spanish colony in the West Indies, Jamaica. The British fleet arrived at Jamaica in May 1655 and anchored on Passage Fort. They landed on Jamaica on May 10th, and captured the Spanish Town (the capital of Spanish Jamaica) through little conflict. The Spaniards' strength was so weak in Jamaica that the Governor Cristobal Arnaldo Isasi had to capitulate on May 17th. Although Penn and Venagles occupied Jamaica successfully, they were put into the Tower of London because their failure to capture Hispaniola. Actually, Jamaica was little useful at that time. Nevertheless, British decide to hold the island because they thought that Jamaica could be a base for British force to attack Spanish colonies and vessels in the Caribbean.
    Spanish didn't want to give up the island. The native Spaniards retired to woods and hills with the runaway slaves (maroons). They were under the command of the former governor Isasi and continued to resist the British garrison. At the same time, Bristish soldiers suffered significant diseases and they were weakened. In 1657, Isasi gained reforcement from Cuba and decided to occupy the island again. The British governor, Edward D'Oyley, sailed north, taking nine hundred militia to the Ocho Rios. He defeated Spanish army and made Isasi flee back to the hills. Isasi tried again in 1658 at Rio Nuevo with reforcement from Mexico, however, he was defeated again by D'Oyley.
     To defend the Jamaica from Spain, the governor of Jamaica invited the pirates to base at Port Royal in 1657. Port Royal became the capital of Caribbean pirates and many great pirates such as Henry Morgan, sailed from here to attack Spanish colonies and vessels. At last, Spain recognized the British possession of Jamaica at the treaty of Madrid in 1670.

Citation
1. William James Gardner, A History of Jamaica, London: 1873, page 28-40

2. Robert Venables, The narrative of General Venables: with an appendix of Papers Relating to the Expedition to the West Indies and the Conquest of Jamaica, 1654-1655, London: 1900