Author: MF

Emancipation allowed a small number of family members, who had been separated during enslavement, to be reunited. According to the Antiguan labourer Samuel Smith (1877-1982), ‘People badly want to unite with the family – particularly the womankind. I hear that the women was [sic] furious and desperate to find their people.’ There were strong feelings […]

With the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, planters anticipated a labour shortage even though the Apprenticeship system had forced former enslaved Africans to continue to provide free labour. Planters in British Guiana began to look overseas to obtain an additional work force. Despite the recruitment of African, Portuguese and other European labourers, […]

The rebellion in Jamaica was the largest in the British Caribbean, and it showed that enslavement could no longer be sustained there. The enslaved had believed that emancipation was about to happen. Baptist deacon Samuel Sharpe was the leader, and his plan was originally to refuse to work after Christmas 1831 unless wages were paid. […]

The trafficking of Africans by Europeans began in the 1500s. From the time Africans were enslaved in their motherland, to the time of their arrival in the New World, they sought ways to rebel, to fight back and escape. There is, therefore, a long history of resistance to enslavement that began before antislavery campaigners took […]