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Celebration of Emancipation on August 1, 1838 in the Square of Spanish Town, the then capital of Jamaica. There was a procession of the Baptist Church and Congregation of Spanish Town under the Rev. J.M. Phillips, with about 2,000 school children and their teachers to Government House. Amid tremendous rejoicing, Governor Sir Lionel Smith read the Proclamation of Freedom to the large crowd of about 8,000 people, who had gathered in the Square. The governor's carriage is seen in the foreground.
"The hour is at hand, the Monster is dying...in recounting the mood in his church that night he said- "the winds of freedom appeared to have been set loose, the very building shook at the strange yet sacred joy." - William Knibb, non-conformist Baptist preacher and abolitionist, at the dawning of Aug. 1, 1838
The tenets of 'apprenticeship' stated that the ex-slaves would work without pay for their former masters for three-quarters of every week (40 hours) in exchange for lodging, food, clothing, medical attendance and provision grounds in which they could grow their own food during the remaining quarter of the week. They could also, if they chose, hire themselves out for more wages during that remaining quarter. With this money, an ex-slave-turned-apprentice could then buy his freedom.
"The hour is at hand, the Monster is dying...in recounting the mood in his church that night he said- "the winds of freedom appeared to have been set loose, the very building shook at the strange yet sacred joy." - William Knibb, non-conformist Baptist preacher and abolitionist, at the dawning of Aug. 1, 1838
Freedom can be said to have arrived in two stages; the first being the early morning of Friday, August 1, 1834. On that day many slaves were said to have walked up hills and climbed trees so as to clearly witness the literal dawning of their freedom. Around the island thousands attended "Divine Services" to give thanks and praise. August 1, 1834, marked the emancipation of all slaves in British colonies but it was a case of freedom with conditions. Although the Abolition Act stated that slavery shall be and is hereby utterly abolished and unlawful, the only slaves truly freed were those not yet born and those under six years of age. All other slaves were to enter a six-year 'apprenticeship' during which they were to be 'apprenticed' to the plantations.
APPRENTICESHIPThe tenets of 'apprenticeship' stated that the ex-slaves would work without pay for their former masters for three-quarters of every week (40 hours) in exchange for lodging, food, clothing, medical attendance and provision grounds in which they could grow their own food during the remaining quarter of the week. They could also, if they chose, hire themselves out for more wages during that remaining quarter. With this money, an ex-slave-turned-apprentice could then buy his freedom.
Never thought of it that way.
Overall, though apprenticeship proved confusing for the ex-slaves - they were told they were free but they were not really free. Indeed, for many, the quality of their lives had not undergone any great change. In smaller islands like Antigua and Bermuda, there was no need for a system of apprenticeship as all of the land was under cultivation, so the slaveholders knew the ex-slaves would have no choice but to work on the plantations.
Apprenticeship ended two years short of its intended six-year term on August 1, 1838. This marked the second stage of freedom, * the day all slaves were made free. In Jamaica on that "full free" August morning, peaceful demonstrations and celebrations occured across the island.
A hearse containing shackles and chains that had been used to shackle rebellious slaves, was driven through the streets of the capital Spanish Town, and ceremoniously burned.
The road to full freedom was a long one, paved with rebellions and sermons by anti-slavery missionary preachers in the colonies as well as debates and the passage of crucial reforms in Britain.
Indeed, once full emancipation came into effect and free villages began to be established, the plantation system began to fall apart * wealth was increasingly determined by the amount of money a man had and not by the amount of slaves a man owned.
EMANCIPATION TRUTHS
Emancipation did not mean the beginning of good times. According to Sherlock and Bennett in "The Story of the Jamaican People" (1998): "Emancipation gave them the right to free movement, the right to choose where and when they wished to work, but without basic education and training many were compelled to remain on the plantation as field hands and tenants-at-will under conditions determined by the landlord, and for wages set by him."
Yet, in testimony to the impact of freedom, Joseph John Gurney, a friend of American statesman Henry Clay, who visited Jamaica in 1840, wrote letters to Clay contrasting slaves in the southern US and the freed slaves in the West Indies. Gurney was arguing for the benefits of freedom in economies of scale as well as in moral, religious and political terms. Particularly impressed with what he saw in Jamaica, Gurney described ex-slaves as working well on the estates of their former masters, their personal comforts having been multiplied, their moral and religious lives strengthened. He exhorted Clay that with freedom "The whole population is thrown on the operation of natural and legitimate principles of action, every man finds his own just level, religion spreads under the banner of freedom, and all its quietness, order and peace. Such is the lot of the British West Indian colonies: and such, I humbly but ardently hope, will soon be the happy condition of every one of the United States."
A hearse containing shackles and chains that had been used to shackle rebellious slaves, was driven through the streets of the capital Spanish Town, and ceremoniously burned.
The road to full freedom was a long one, paved with rebellions and sermons by anti-slavery missionary preachers in the colonies as well as debates and the passage of crucial reforms in Britain.
Indeed, once full emancipation came into effect and free villages began to be established, the plantation system began to fall apart * wealth was increasingly determined by the amount of money a man had and not by the amount of slaves a man owned.
EMANCIPATION TRUTHS
Emancipation did not mean the beginning of good times. According to Sherlock and Bennett in "The Story of the Jamaican People" (1998): "Emancipation gave them the right to free movement, the right to choose where and when they wished to work, but without basic education and training many were compelled to remain on the plantation as field hands and tenants-at-will under conditions determined by the landlord, and for wages set by him."
Yet, in testimony to the impact of freedom, Joseph John Gurney, a friend of American statesman Henry Clay, who visited Jamaica in 1840, wrote letters to Clay contrasting slaves in the southern US and the freed slaves in the West Indies. Gurney was arguing for the benefits of freedom in economies of scale as well as in moral, religious and political terms. Particularly impressed with what he saw in Jamaica, Gurney described ex-slaves as working well on the estates of their former masters, their personal comforts having been multiplied, their moral and religious lives strengthened. He exhorted Clay that with freedom "The whole population is thrown on the operation of natural and legitimate principles of action, every man finds his own just level, religion spreads under the banner of freedom, and all its quietness, order and peace. Such is the lot of the British West Indian colonies: and such, I humbly but ardently hope, will soon be the happy condition of every one of the United States."
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