QUESTION:What evidence is there to prove that the Africans, who arrived in the British West Indies between the years 1655 and 1807, were ill-treated ?THEME:Caribbean Economy and SlaveryOBJECTIVES:♣To examine the horrors of British West Indian Slavery♣To assess the conditions that slaves worked under in British plantation slavery♣To discuss the reason slavery was fought against by humanitarian groups♣To investigate why slavery was overly detested by slaves♣To see how British West Indian planters abused slaves to the point where they were treated like animals

RATIONALE: Slavery was an interesting period in British West Indian History. It was comprised of various sectors aimed at one goal, which was to make a profit, no matter what. Slavery was nothing to be adored because it only wrought bitterness for the enslaved individuals. A simple prognosis is found in the words of the great poetic philosopher and journalist, José Martí, in one of his writings, “Hatred, slavery's inevitable aftermath”. The Hinterlands of West Africa was where it started, and it followed through with a lot of suffering and peril before finally ending in catastrophe for the planters and initial exultation for the slaves. This research will educate the reader about the conditions under which slaves produced the various cash crops in the British West Indies.

INTRODUCTIONThe horrible treatments of slaves will be forever engraved in the history books. The obvious effects have been past down to generations and have been expressed through racist evil behaviors. The hatred spread down through generations like wildfires on a hot summer day in a wild bush. The evils of slavery were so major that the half could never have been told. But how all this ill-treatment come to “a head”, was out of the want for a new labour source in the Sugar Revolution. Planters wanted to invest in free labour and did not care as much about the black workers as they did the work they yielded. This low cost, high efficiency production, when finally achieved would have made them rich and could even secure their place

somewhere in the European aristocracy. Taking the slaves as personal property, planters used and abused them in the most despicable ways possible. The slaves also fought back, but not ever in a British Colony, were slaves successful in a resistant action against planters. When slaves slipped up or fought back, the real wrath of the planters was unleashed. The punishments for certain simple mistakes were horrible and just furthered the already atrocious conditions under which these individuals tried to survive. Spain ruled over most of the islands until around1655, when the British took over some. The change in power also resulted in a change in laws, and thus slave laws. The evil had just started since the “La Siete Partidas” (Spanish Laws) were more compassionate in their approach to the dealing with the slaves than the Police Laws of the British (developed between 1662 and 1705)

After the takeover of the islands by the British, the Slave Trade continued until1807. Because of the trade, planters found it easy to replace slaves and thus could treat them anyway they liked. After the trade, the hope of the abolitionists was not made any better as the planters realized that buying was not really important as long as the slaves reproduced, because the children would be property of the planters. The different methods of punishments continued and were upgraded time after time in order to keep slaves in order. Some of these included whipping, being put in the stocks and being put in the plantation’s “hospital”. Slave revolts and risings were ever anticipated because man simply wasn’t made to live without freedom and would generally fight anyone who tries to contravene such a right. In these slaves’ cases, there were no rights such as freedom which belonged to them, because the color of bond slavery was black.

THE BRITISH LAWSThe British colonies of the 1700s passed laws to control slaves. No slave was free to marry, vote, move about freely, or meet with friends. On the other hand, slaves legally could be whipped, starved, tortured, mutilated, or branded. The British took so many of the slaves’ freewill that the slaves could be forced to have children or to work eighteen hours a day. Slaves could be abused or murdered or sold at any time since they were regarded as a piece of property. In spite of the strict laws and punishments, slaves did rebel against this treatment. From the 1500s to the 1800s, there were more than 250known slave revolts. The word “chattel”, used to describe the slaves, is derived from the Latin word “capitale” which means “property”. The slaves were like objects and were treated like objects. A scenario that could be related to the slave to master relationship is a man owning a chair. That man can destroy his chair as much as he wants because the chair is his. The Codes stated clearly that all slaves were under supreme rule of GOD followed by the King and their masters and his household.

PUNISHMENTSWhenever slaves were accused of doing wrong they were punished either immediately or after their court hearing. In the courts, a slave accused of any crime against a white person was doomed. No testimony could be made by a slave against a white person. Therefore, the slave's side of the story could never be told in a court of law and of course, slaves were never members of juries as well. The punishment varied on the type of charge and the zone where they resided (rural or urban).Punishments for disobeying colonialists, (according to data from records kept on numerous plantations) differed between men and women. When male slaves were punished, they received on average 15 to 20 “stripes” from the driver (slave who was given whip to direct other worker slaves), or by a “Jimmy Jumper” (a slave randomly appointed by the driver to use the whip). Common punishment for women included a varied period of time in the stocks, solitary confinement and even whipping. Whipping was finally abandoned for females in the late 1780’s. The punishment for Caribbean slave women was generally less physically demanding than that of Caribbean slave men. If a planter had a slave who was always running away, he was allowed to fit him with an iron yoke that had three long hooks projecting from it to hinder his future escapes. Some slaves were forced to hide meat in their cabins. If the planter discovered that the slave was stealing food rations, he is directed to cut off the culprit’s ear or brand the letter “S” in his/her forehead or cheek. Any enslaved person was put to death if found guilty of committing serious offences or even suspected of doing so: for example plotting slave risings. For offenses such as the destruction of goods, the slave, if convicted and found guilty, was to "be publicly and feverishly whipped, not exceeding forty lashes." If the slave repeated the said offense they could have the tip of his or her nostrils cut, and be branded in the forehead with a hot iron, that the mark thereof may remain. If a slave was found guilty a third time, then that slave shall be judged and be put to death. Wounds were normally left open and bleeding to bacteria and slaves who were too severely battered were just finished of with. These kinds of justified killings they did to spend as less on labor as possible. On certain plantations, mutilation wasn’t allowed but on others, the deeds done to put slaves in “order” were endless. Most of these mutilations were instituted to make examples of the slaves who had tried to escape, and normally in these cases, whole body parts would have been lost. In the urban areas especially, slaves would be punished sometimes by public humiliation. Some of these punishments included: being put in stocks, being put in the pillory, hanging high in an iron gibbet until dead and hanging by body parts (hands, feet, ribs). Slavery was an establishment of terror, made to drive fear into slaves so that they would obey their superiors. Whippings

were normally done with the culprit tied to a post or a cartwheel. There were also incidents where a slave who struck a white person was burnt to death.

DUTIESThe slaves all had to do some unpleasant jobs for their masters at some time or another. Domestic slaves used to have to act as mimes for the entertainment of guests and children and would normally be sent back to field duties if the masters didn’t appreciate the act. The field slaves got the worst of the planters’ wrath, because they did the hardest work on the plantations. Artisans were normally hired out and received some percentage of the money paid for their services. In the fields, whipping was very common as slaves used to try to take breaks. They always showed their resistance to the masters and were punished dreadfully. If a slave worked too slowly, the only method used to speed them up, was whipping. This sometimes resulted in them dying of fatigue. The only breaks they got were breakfast and supper. The food they received was not much either, so they got tired after sometime in the field. 

 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, slaves were badly treated by their undeserving, iniquitous, ruthless masters. The slaves had done nothing to deserve such treatments. As the ancient Greek fabulist and author, Aesop said once, “Better to starve free than to be a fat slave”. Slavery encompassed both the mental and spiritual boundaries. Slaves tried to use “Obeah” and“ Voodoo” to try to release their minds from the clutches of slavery. It is said that the slaves’ resistance to their condition was similar to, and influenced by, the response of the Amerindians to being enslaved by the Spanish. This is said because they not only refused to work but also tried to run away to join other bands of people to help fight the whites. They would both prefer death to bondage.

 

 

 

BibliographyMiami Education FoundationHistory.comEncarta OnlineWikipedia.comRecovered Histories.orgVirginia.edu