Do the members here know about the Johnny Newcombe Cartoons?

[Tropicana]

johnnynewcome.jpg

Let me know. If you don't, I'll post some.

Typo it should be Johnny Newcome.

[j-kid]

No.

[Tropicana]

Okay it was a Jamaican cartoon series in the early 1800s making fun of the White people who had come out from England and their strange ways. There were some books. Here are a few with commentary.

Newcomers = Johnny Newcome.

This explains a LOT!

johnnynewcome.jpg

newcomefamily.jpg

Johnny Newcome, like so many white planters of his time, had a harem of ladies, a mix of enslaved women and free mixed race women, ranging according to the particular man's tastes from girls as young as twelve years old to as old as he wished. Jamaica's sexual consent laws were only changed in the late 20th century, from 12 years old to 16 years old. These women and young girls were often provided for variously, from the lofty status as Mistress of the Great House , if indeed there was no official wife present, to the well maintained enslaved girl who was allowed a small or large hut of her own on the estate, or the well looked after mixed race lady , with her beautifully constructed town cottage, however most only received minor financial assistance and a modicum of gift giving to appease the ladies heart. Such were the pleasures of Jamaica in the 17th -19th centuries, for a man of means or should I dare say just a man, for even the Overseer, Estate Carpenter, mason, or whatever trade to the lowly Book keeper could have his fair share of ladies. As long as his pocket could oblige.

[Tropicana]

Now this is odd behaviour:

segarsmoking.jpg



Segar Smoking Society in Jamaica. An Early 19th Century British Satirical Cartoon lampooning the luxurious nature of British Colonial life in Jamaica. This languid habit of lounging by pushing one's chair back and elevating one's feet on another chair, on the table or against the wall was called Creolizing and was a very distinctive social custom that was widespread amongst the White Creole Plantocracy in Jamaica. It was simply a way of coping with the heat and the mosquitoes that were a constant and unpleasant feature of Colonial life in Jamaica . This Cartoon is particularly important because it is one of the earliest known views of the interior of an 18th Century Colonial Mansion in Jamaica. The large and airy Dining Room with its high ceiling, plain white walls and long open windows, partially filled with green wooden jalousies, is typical of the rather spartan Jamaican Colonial interiors of the period when the emphasis was primarily on "coolness and comfort" and not " the display of elegance". This Cartoon has also attracted much attention in recent years from Decorative Arts, Furniture and Glass Historians since it is also one of the earliest depictions of 18th Century British Colonial Lighting, Furniture and Glass in Jamaica. Note the 18th Century Brass Chandelier and Wall Sconces, with their elegant fluted glass shades, a distinctive Colonial style which was also widely used by the British in India. The 18th Century Windsor Charis shown in the Cartoon were very typical of the type of Dining Chairs found in almost every Town House and Plantation House in Jamaica and they have become ubiquitous examples of the Jamaican Colonial style. The huge 18th Century Glass Hurricane Shades and Sangaree Glasses displayed on the long Dining Table are also rare examples of 18th Century Jamaican Colonial style and are now much sought after by both Antiques Dealers and Collectors in Jamaica. From an Aquatint by William Holland after an original Drawing by A. James. 1802.

[Tropicana]

Johnny Newcome in Love in the West Indies. An Early 19th Century British Satirical Cartoon lampooning the Custom of Concubinage in the West Indies. Most British Colonists in Jamaica had Black or Coloured Slave Mistresses with whom they had illegitimate Coloured children. These Mistresses and their Children were almost always given their Freedom from Slavery and the Children were often educated, sometimes even being sent sent to school in Britain. From these Interracial relationships there arose an educated Middle Class of Free People of Colour that soon outnumbered the Whites by two to one. The Free People of Colour in Jamaica were allowed to own property, including land and slaves, and many of them became quite successful. In 1830 it was said that they owned nearly all of the Pimento plantations in Jamaica and more than 50,000 slaves. However they were not allowed to vote or hold public office and could not hold commissions as Officers in the Militia. In 1831 all of these Disabilities against them were finally removed by an Act of Parliament and the Free People of Colour became an important and upwardly mobile section of Post-Emancipation Society in Jamaica. From an Aquatint by William Holland after an original Drawing by James Sayers, 1803. Collection: National Library of Jamaica.

[Tropicana]

Okay J-Kid...where are you. I posted the cartoons.

These are Jamaican cartoons from the early 1800s. They explain a lot about how the society has evolved.

[Tropicana]

I was not intending to turn this in to a serious thread. Just sharing some vintage cartoons and making fun of the ancestors.

After J-Kids question in the Cosby thread perhaps we should move this to serious discussions.

Many of us have forgiven the race that held our ancestors captive and raped them for many years, and continued even after it was illegal, but we forgave them.

As for the sins of the ancestors...white and black, seems we were only given part of the story. Definitely a lot of this went on....

Many of us have forgiven the race that held our ancestors captive and raped them for many years, and continued even after it was illegal, but we forgave them.

...but I am also coming across sources that talk about conceptual relationships. My brain for the life of me can't process this. I did share a post a while back about the quadroon and mustee women who preferred to be the mistress of a White man than marry a Black man during slavery and post emancipation. These women many of them free were referred to as "housekeeper". They had the man's children and were often given property. Some inherited property and "slaves" and became slaveowners.

I don't know if this was taught in history books in Jamaica but I have been shocked to learn about all of this relatively recently.

But even if slavery and its attendant abuses did not exist here, no great additional improvement in the state of society could be expected, while the most gross and open licentiousness continues, as at present, to prevail among all ranks of the whites. The males, of course, are here exclusively meant; for, as to the white females, it must be said, to their honour, that they are in general unexceptionably correct in their conduct: so particular are they on this point of character, that the white female who misconducts herself falls instantly, from her grade in society, below even that of the women of colour, in whose vocabulary of virtues chastity has no place.

Every unmarried white man, and of every class, has his black or his brown mistress, with whom he lives openly; and of so little consequence is this thought, that his white female friends and relations think it no breach of decorum to visit his house, partake of his hospitality, fondle his children, and converse with his housekeeper-as if that conduct, which they regarded as disgraceful in their own class, was not so in the female of colour. The example of a few ladies of a juster way of thinking has little weight in discountenancing this levelling sort of familiarity.

But the most striking proof of the low estimate of moral and religious obligation here is the fact, that the man who lives in open adultery,-that is, who keeps his brown or black mistress, in the very face of his wife and family and of the community, has generally as much outward respect shown him, and is as much countenanced, visited, and received into company, especially if he be a man of some weight and influence in the community, as if he had been guilty of no breach of decency or dereliction of moral duty!

This profligacy is, however, less common than it was formerly; for among the old Creoles, a brown or sable favourite, and sometimes even a haram of these ladies, was considered as an indispensable appendage to the establishment of a married man. In no country, however, are examples of female infidelity more rare than in Jamaica. The wedded fair, with whatever lack of patience she bears the insults of an unfaithful partner, has too lively a sense of the enormity of his crime to resent it by retaliation. If a gentleman pays his addresses to a lady, it is not thought necessary, as a homage to her delicacy, to get rid, a priori, of his illicit establishment, nor is the lady so unreasonable as to expect such a sacrifice; the brown lady remains in the house till within a few days of the marriage, and, if she is of an accommodating disposition, even assists in making preparations for the reception of the bride; in which case there may be a tolerable good understanding between them, and the wife may even condescend to take in good part the occasional calls, inquiries, and proffered services of the ex-favourite, and make suitable returns of kindness to her and her children.

Nothing is more common than for the brown mistress of a white man to apply to a respectable married lady to become godmother to her female infant,- a request which is not often refused, though the sponsor must be well aware that this child is destined, from the way in which she is brought up, to follow the footsteps of her mother. But it is thought to be only a form, and the kind-hearted white lady could hardly refuse so slight a favour to a decent, well-behaved brown woman, who would consider such refusal as a most grievous affront, for they do not consider the sponsorship of one of their own class as at all desirable or creditable.


These semi-barbarous customs and practices, as they may well be called, will sufficiently show that this is not the happiest country in the world for a virtuous and well-educated female. The young ladies who are sent early in life to Great Britain to be educated readily perceive this, on their return, and often think with a sigh on the happier and more civilized country they have quitted. This alienation of attachment for their homes, and even their friends, the parents dread as one of the evils of an elegant and accomplished education in England, and not perhaps without reason; for a young lady, so educated, cannot help feeling dissatisfied, and disgusted with many things she sees around her; and, however a sense of duty may dispose her to act, she must see, and be too prone to despise, the inferiority even of her nearest relatives. There are few females, so situated, that would not consider a permission to live in Great Britain, instead of Jamaica, as the greatest boon on earth.

http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples2/BStewart.htm

Read this too:

...few marriages took place among people of color because many females believed that it was more reputable to be the kept mistress of a wealthy white man than to marry a “Negro” or another person of color. Beautiful women of color were “fortune-made if they got a place in a white man’s harem.” When females of color were asked why they did not generally intermarry with men of their own class, the typical response was that most brown men were either too poor or indolent to support a wife and children and that as husbands they could be jealous and tyrannical. Many women also disliked the idea of marriage and viewed it as an unnecessary and unnatural restraint. Yet numerous females of color found themselves as a “housekeeper” to white men, while men of color found for themselves the comfort of a black woman.

http://scholar.library.miami.edu/emancipation/culture4.htm

For the life of me I can't understand, relate to or account for this disgraceful behaviour but it was quite common. So a "blame the white man" approach only tells part of the story. Some of the women were just as guilty.

So where does the forgiveness come in. Who is to be forgiven?

The white ancestors, the black and light skinned women who willing to get freedom and benefits for themselves and their children?

It is a very complex issue.