Jamaica's history before emancipation had been influenced mainly by the British colonization of the island. The British colonized the island in order to turn it into a sugar colony. In the process of doing so sugar and the slave trade brought great wealth to many whites who were eager to make a fortune at the expense of the enslaved Africans. Life for the slaves was an absolute nightmare. But with the announcement of emancipation, life soon became easier. Many families moved off the plantations and built houses oTrinity Estate, St. Mary'sf their own. Villages sprang up all over the island. While the ex-slaves were rising up and bettering themselves the plantation owners were losing money and many plantations eventually folded. Many churches were built and so were several schools. Their religions can be seen as a trait which seperates the people of Jamaica and the island itself from any other society past or present. Many young men and women attended the local schools and some would become teachers. Thus while the British colonization did harm to many blacks it also shaped them as a unique people. No more did blacks have to work eighteen-hour days. With the new forty-one hour work week many families spent more time together and became closer.
The emancipation proclamation was read on August 1, 1834. From that that day forth labor opportunities and experiences changed for the better. But there was a huge problem that confronted the slaves after emancipation. Mandatory apprenticeship was now a new obstacle for them. They had to serve an apprenticeship of four years—a turn from slave labor into a more tolerable wage labor. But the planters abused the new system and failed to keep the many promises they had made to obey the new laws. Because of the behavior of the plantation owners, apprenticeship was abolished after only three years.
While many ex-slaves did well others were left in dire poverty, often starving and naked in some villages on the island. Their elected governemt was supposed to be representing them and looking out for their well being, yet the whites on the island were almost exclusively the ones who could vote. Many tried to contact the Queen, they were promptly told that it was not the government’s fault but rather the laziness of the people that led to their poverty. The people were fed up with the conditions, which was almost as bad as it had been during slavery and only a small incident was needed to lead to an outburst of violence. Thus in 1865, after two years of severe drought that worsened the blacks already miserable conditions, the masses reached their boiling point in the small town of Morant Bay. A man unjustly imprisoned for trespassing on a long abandoned plantation. Many came from a small village nearby and broke him out leading to the order of more arrests. Within days a large mob returned to massacre the justices , and thus the Morant Bay Rebellion broke out. A large portion of the plantations on the eastern half of the island would be destroyed and many whites were killed. Yet the government repercussions were far more severe, with hundreds of blacks rounded up and executed. The people of Britain were outraged by the actions of their own government in Jamaica and public sentiment finally turned in favor of the masses of poor blacks. The incident in Morant Bay turned out to be one of the defining points in Jamaica's struggle for both political and economical enhancement.
quote: AFRO-CARIBBEAN ART OF JAMAICA
Art history consists of a series of styles and movements reflecting the social and political conditions of the period. The art created during a period carries with it the identity of the culture in which it is created. Afro-Caribbean art is no exception to this trend. Its humble beginnings precede the slave trade, primarily in the form of the art of the native Indian tribes. The slave period led to minimalist work created, and was followed by the more profound movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The line of creative energy known as Afro-Caribbean art represents a people who have struggled to find their own identity while living with the intense influences of various “mother countries.” Jamaica exhibits this process through which these island cultures have defined themselves as distinct through, among other things, the creation of an artistic identity. Primarily depicting the concerns of the island, its flora, fauna and people; the Jamaican artist has used a style containing African characteristics as well as passion for the island.
Jamaican art has produced many recognized artists who have depicted the island through media ranging from sculpture to painting. The beginnings of this art movement were not easy. During the slave period, art was not a profitable commodity and therefore was not encouraged by the overseers and plantation owners. The creation of art was considered a slothful occupation. The creation of art hindered efficiency, causing plantation owners to loose money. “Plantation economies could ill afford art in the leisurely sense, so their early forms of expression were manifested in performance art such as carnival.” [1]
Following slavery, the arts were still not supported although there were many visiting artists to the island who adopted a few locals as apprentices and guides. However, the art of these Europeans were merely that, European. They did not exhibit the quality and character of the island peoples. In her essay, Afro-Caribbean Art: 1914 to Present, Dr. Petrine Eleanor Archer-Straw states:
Early Caribbean art was an uneasy mix of styles. Loosening colonial ties and more rooted Creole community’s desire for autonomy, encouraged local themes. . . Often all of these styles converged in a single artwork. The result was a cultural expression that was tense, inelegant, technically incompatible but nevertheless challenging.
Within Jamaican art one will find all of these characteristics of the Afro-Caribbean art movements. During the early half of the twentieth century, many Europeans began turning to the Caribbean and Africa searching for inspirations. With this came the immigration of professionally trained artists with cultural ties to the island. These newly arrived artists brought in a passion as well as knowledge to the island that would make it possible for local artisans to soar to new heights. In addition, the indigenous people possessed an inherent passion for the land, even in the days in which they were forced to work the soil as slaves. Even with the oppression of slavery, by the beginning of the twentieth century ideas of Africa were retained and translated into the sculpture and paintings which focused on Jamaica as home. [2]
The “spiritual concerns inherited from African art” act as the basis for the “primitive” movement in Jamaica. Also known as “intuitive,” the primitive artists took an approach to art that was evolved through the creation of pottery and other functional objects. These artists were originally of the lower classes. These “self-taught” artists would eventually embody the spiritual tie to Africa within their artwork.
Self-taught artist movements in all the islands share affinities. Their creativity was clearly suppressed during the colonial period. European "discovery" and patronage (as with Dewitt Peters in Haiti) was a big factor. Significant international success and the attendant problems of kitsch commercialism (especially where the art market is tourist based) compromised their integrity. [3]
The intuitive approach to art was balanced by the scholarly approach. Included in this movement were those within the island art scene who were creating artwork based upon formal study as well as formal subject matter. These artists primarily consisted of the upper classes that had the resources necessary to study the methods used by the European masters.
However, during the mid-twentieth century, the art movement made a Albert Hute. Woman in the Sun.change following the evolving self-image the island people had of themselves. It was during this period that the
Institute of Jamaica, a long established office of the colonial government responsible for the promotion of arts, sciences and literature, came under new leadership. The new leader, H.D. Molesworth, took a much more active role in the development of artistic talent. Where his predecessor Frank Cundall was more concerned with documentation and research, Molesworth was more concerned with the ability of the local artistry. This combined with new cultural ideas that celebrated Afro-Jamaicans’ African ancestry, especially Marcus Garvey’s movement, international Pan-Africanism, and later, Black power and Rastafarian beliefs, resulted in a more confident black race. Furthermore, the rekindled interest in African heritage brought many to take to art as a form of both expression and exploration.
The artwork resulting from this cultural phenomenon was similar in characteristics. Much of the art was created in the style of African carvings and drawings. Moreover, the media used were basic and natural in physicality. During this period, prominent sculptures and potters emerged, bringing into the national and international limelight the work of the Jamaican artist that harkened back to the African heritage and self-image retained throughout slavery. This artwork would become known as primitive and intuitive. Although primitivism had had an influence on much of the artwork produced in Europe during the 1930’s and 1940’s, the style found in Jamaica and the Caribbean was one that was intuitive and not taught or researched for effect.
Through the involvement of H.D. Molesworth and the Institute of Jamaica, young local artisans were referred to established artists in Jamaica, creating an apprentice-master system that allowed for a formal training in the arts with the resources available the island. One such master was Edna Manley. Edna Manley. Pocomania. Considered a key figure in the Jamaican art movement, Edna Manley was born in
Britain of a Jamaican mother, and emigrated to Jamaica in 1922. Having been trained in art formally at St. Martin’s School of the Arts in London, Manley had been sculpting prior to her arrival in Jamaica. “Her sculpture to that date was mainly of animal forms chiseled in the romantic vein emphasizing dynamism and movement. Upon arrival in Jamaica, she was quick to incorporate in her work an understanding of mass and African forms together with Jamaican archetypes.” [4] Edna Manley’s husband, Norman Manley, was a central figure in the Jamaican politics at the time, a key figure in the organization of national labor parties who eventually became prime minister. Edna was highly active in Norman’s campaigns and governing and through this involvement became a cultural icon. Edna Manley also worked closely with Molesworth to establish a schedule of classes at the Institute of Jamaica in which aspiring artists could come to listen to lectures and partake in the numerous activities. Through Manley’s work and the teachings at the Institute, Jamaican art in all aspects began to flourish with young and new talent.
Manley’s artwork embodies the essence of the Afro-Caribbean male. Through her sculpture she took the African figure and adapted it to the medium, Kapo (Mallica Reynolds). Heaven and Earth.creating works that are primarily monolithic and iconic. Where Manley adapted the African figure to the three dimensional, many other artists have chosen to capture the essence of African heritage through the style of painting as well as the subject matter, primarily village scenes, portraits and landscapes. All of these subjects are at the root of African society.
The island’s artists were now, in many cases, being schooled at the institute, and the mentors and lecturers participating there were the islands’ primitives. As a result, the images that were seen began to be very African in their representational style. This idea of Africanism was one that was not lost through the Middle Passage or the numerous years’ slavery existed on the island. Although the practicing of art making was suppressed for much of the beginnings of the island history, the skills eventually began to thrive and finally express the African heritage that laid dormant throughout those early years. This was made possible through the celebration of religious holidays that involved the performance art and acted as the vehicle of preservation of heritage. Although the artists of the early twentieth century movements were not specifically addressing the issues of slavery, they did celebrate the African-ness within their selves through the subject matter. Many of these works consisted of images that glorified the African figure both visually and within the title of the work.
Works cited
Archer-Straw, Petrine & Robinson, Kim. Jamaican Art: An overview with focus on fifty artists. Kingston: Kingston Publishers Limited, 1990.
Nettleford, Rex. Caribbean Cultural Identity: The Case of Jamaica. Los Angeles: Center for Afro-American Studies and UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1979.
A courthouse filled with white planters and judges, is surrounded by a mob of hundreds of black laborers, and set ablaze. A white flag calling for peace is put out, at which the people scoff. Anyone trying to flee is hacked to pieces. In the end twenty-five people are dead, including eighteen justices, magistrates, and volunteer guards from inside the courthouse, and another thirty-one people are injured. What could possibly have enraged this mob to the point that they would massacre a group of local politicians and innocent people in such a horrific manner? The causes go much deeper than the simple explanation offered by the colonial government: a mob rescuing a fellow black man who was charged with trespassing on an abandoned plantation. The origins of what took place on October 11, 1865 are much larger than any single event that immediately preceded the ‘Morant Bay Rebellion.’ They included years of neglect by a government that by no means represented the masses of former African slaves, an economy that was sliding out of control, leading to enormous unemployment rates, and high prices of any imported food or clothing, which left people practically nude and starving in every city and town on the entire island of Jamaica. All these causes directly or indirectly led to the violence that spread out of control in the once quiet town of Morant Bay.
A government must have the ability to care for the governed masses through institutions such as healthcare and to manage the economy in a responsible manner that benefits not only the upper classes, but the entire populace. Too, a democratic government must represent the people it is attempting to govern. In Jamaica none of the above were true. In Jamaica the population ratio of blacks to white was thirty-two to one at the time of the elections of 1864. Yet, out of a population of over 436,000 fewer than 2,000 were eligible to vote, and those were almost exclusively white, due in part to a large voting fee that blacks had to pay in order to participate. [1] As one obsserver stated, “they possess no effectual voice in the making of laws which touch their interests.” [2] George W. Gordon, a wealthy George W. Gordonson of a white planter and slave woman, was elected to House of Assembly in 1865 as an advocate for the impoverished blacks in Jamaica. The now infamous governor Edward Eyre publicly denounced him as, “the most consistent and untiring obstructer of the public business in the House of Assembly.” [3] Gordon shot back, saying of Eyre, “…he is devoid of justice and humanity.” Gordon’s disgust for Eyre’s policies can be seen when he stresses in a letter to a friend, “…he will not admit reforms…there is fast being created a second bondage in Jamaica.” [4] Gordon had perceived not only the deteriorating state of Eyre’s Government on the island, but also the poor slave-like conditions in which the masses of emancipated blacks lived. Even the most basic institutions such as hospitals or housing for the old and poor were neglected. There were reports from bishops and charitable samaritans that poor houses, void of doors and windows, were filled with dying people who would lie on the floors without food or water. The dead would go unburied, sometimes for days at a time. [5] When the government had so little respect or care for the people, the disregarded masses would rise up at the slightest provocation, against any figures of authority. That is exactly what happened at Morant Bay.
For years the populace had been over-taxed, yet when a recession hit the entire island of Jamaica the government did nothing to ease the pain of the people. As the prices of imports such as food and clothing exploded, due to extraordinarily high tariffs and the loss of American suppliers and markets due to the American Civil War, the government turned a blind eye. [6] Then, when a drought struck from 1864-5, the people could no longer even continue with their meager subsistence farming which had just barely been keeping them alive, and the sugar crop was decimated putting many more people out of work. Of a population of over 400,000, only an estimated 60,000 blacks were employed, while as many as 130,000 capable adults went jobless. [7] It would be only a matter of time until these people became fed up with their condition and acted on their own against the authorities who were doing nothing to improve their miserable states of being.
Edward Underhill, a Baptist missionary, who had been working to help the common people, wrote a letter to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies describing “the extreme poverty of the people” which was proved, “by the ragged and even naked condition of the vast numbers of them (blacks).” [8] To make the whole situation worse large numbers of “coolies” or Asian and African indentured servants were brought in to replace the former slaves. This was due to the belief that the servants would work harder because they had their freedom to work toward, while the ex-slaves were slothful and ungrateful for their emancipation. One planter remarked, “Work is freely offered, but not easily obtained owing to the increasing idleness of the Creoles. Were it otherwise, African immigrants would not have been sought after and obtained.” [9] Underhill suggested that a survey be handed out to all the parishes on the island to establish what the true state of the people was. The result was a list of the appalling conditions under which many Jamaicans lived. As a list of their reasons for poverty and distress by a Baptist minister Thomas Lea shows, “1)Want of work. 2)Want of rain. 3)Want of industry. 4)Unreasonable demands in some instances as to work , and also unpunctual payment on the part of some planters. 5)High prices of, and exorbitant duties on the articles of which the poor consume.” [10] When the Underhill survey was complete, a meeting held in the colonial capital of Spanish Town adopted a resolution that “deplores the present depressed state of the inhabitants of this colony…who are suffering from the injustice done to them by the Legislature…” [11] In April, “An Humble Petition of the poor people of Jamaica and the parish of St. Ann,” as it was called, was sent to the Queen of England, in which the people meekly asked the Queen and the Colonial Office for some sort of relief from the heavy taxation which the colonial government was assessing them. [12] They also asked for the Crown to lease them land at low rates so they could “put our hands and heart to work and cultivate.” [13]
The response enraged the people. It stated: “The prosperity of the Labouring Class depends…upon their working for Wages…steadily and continuously, at times when their labour is wanted, and for so long as it is wanted.” [14] This blamed Jamaican blacks for their own condition. In July of 1865, governor Eyre had 50,000 copies of this document circulated to all parts of Jamaica. It became known as ‘The Queens Advice.’ Soon the irritation of the people was visible and certain ministers and missionaries refused to pass copies of the ‘Advice’ on for fear of further enraging the populace. [15] Yet, the stage had already been set and only a small incident was needed to turn quiet bickering amongst peasants into a massacre that would change the way the colony had been brutally run.
That incident occurred on October 7, 1865 when a court session held in the eastern town of Morant Bay charged a poor black man accused of trespassing on a long abandoned plantation. A band of blacks from the small village of Stony Gut, about four miles away, entered the town of Morant Bay armed with bludgeons, protesting the man’s unjust detention. When one of the band was arrested the group became unruly and attacked the police, freeing the man from custody. Two days latter the magistrates ordered twenty-eight people detained for questioning. Yet, when police entered the village of Stony Gut they were surrounded by hundreds of poor blacks and handcuffed. [16] Here Paul Bogle, one of the respected leaders of the Paul Boglepeasants in the area, wrote a petition to the Governor and declared that “an outrageous assault was committed upon us by the policemen of this parish, by orders of the justice…of which we were compelled to resist.” [17] The next day, October 11, as many as five hundred blacks entered Morant Bay in columns, blowing horns and carrying flags. They were armed with cutlasses, sharpened sticks, and a few older guns. One man was heard chanting, “we will kill every white and Mulatto man in the Bay, and when we finish, we will return and go to the estates.” [18] They soon confronted a hastily put together volunteer militia, of not more than thirty men, guarding the courthouse. Verbal bickering turned to projectile throwing until the mob actually moved in and tried to overrun the militia, at which time the order to fire was given. Seven members of the mob fell. The militia quickly retreated and barricaded themselves inside the courthouse, which the mob then set ablaze. A few people escaped through the side windows, but most tried to run through the mob and were killed. Those who had unfairly treated the blacks over the years, such as the corrupt magistrates and leaders of the local parish, became particular targets.
The so-called rebellion spread to the surrounding plantations, but only Jamaica courthouselasteda few days and fewer than a hundred white people would be killed. However, Governor Eyre’s reaction was swift and brutal. Hundreds of blacks, most innocent bystanders, were rounded up and executed by firing squads or hangings, most without any sort of trial, “we slotered all before us…man or woman or child,” as one soldier recalled. [19] They were strung up in the burnt out archway of the Morant Bay Courthouse as a warning to future trouble-seekers. [20] In the end some 439 blacks were executed and over 1,000 of their homes were burnt down in retaliation. [21] The most prominent figure to be executed was George Gordon, who was many miles away in Kingston when the whole rebellion started. The execution of a member of the Jamaican Assembly led to outrage back in England. A Royal Commission held an inquiry into Governor Eyre’s actions. Eyre was subsequently removed and replaced by Sir Henry Storks, who presided over an inquiry into the rebellion and its aftermath. [22] As a whole Jamaica did improve somewhat under the new governor, as progress was made in the basic infrastructure of the island and the educational institutions there. There was now a fear amongst the whites that another rebellion could break out at anytime, which gave the blacks a sort of bargaining tool. They would not be stepped on so easily anymore. However, it also led the British Empire to all but ban any blacks from political life, and to bring an end to the Jamaican Assembly’s role as the representative government of the island. Now Jamaica would be governed directly by the crown. [23]
When the people were pushed to the breaking point they rose up and rebelled against the authority. While at first glance it might appear that the whole rebellion was set off merely from one man being improperly incarcerated, if you look deeper, many deeper reasons appear. The poor government on the island under the leadership of Governor Eyre, the desperate economic conditions of the vast majority of people on the island, and the high prices of bare necessities all led to thrusting the blacks of Jamaica to the breaking point. The events in Morant Bay could have happened anywhere on the island, and only coincidence made this particular town the boiling-over point for the blacks of Jamaica.
Endnotes
1. Edward Bean Underhill, The Tragedy of Morant Bay: A Narrative of the Disturbances in the Island of Jamaica in 1865, (London, 1895,) 3.
2. Parliament, Papers Relating to the Disturbances in Jamaica Part II, (London, 1866,) 9.
3. Underhill, 90.
4. Duncan Fletcher, Personal Recollections of the Honourable George W. Gordon, Late of Jamaica, (London, 1867,) 86.
5. Fletcher, 96.
6. Gad Heuman, “The Killing Time”: The Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica, (Knoxville,1994,) 44.
7. Edward Bean Underhill, Dr Underhill’s Letter. A Letter Addressed to the Rt. Honourable E. Cardwell, with Illustrative Documents on the Condition of Jamaica and an Explanatory Statement, (London, 1866,) 12.
8. Heuman, 45.
9. Underhill, Letter, 70.
10. Underhill, Letter, 66.
11. Underhill, Tragedy, 20.
12. Underhill, Tragedy, 26.
13. Heuman, 49
14. Heuman, 54.
15. Heuman, 55.
16. Fletcher, 145.
17. Heuman, 6.
18. Heuman, 4.
19. Jamaica Committee. Facts and documents relating to the alleged rebellion in Jamaica, and the measures of repression. London: Jamaica Committee, 1866, pp.27.
20. Parliament, Papers Relating to the Disturbances in Jamaica Part II, 4.
21. John Gorrie, Jamaica Papers No. VI: Illustrations of Martial Law in Jamaica, (London, 1867,) 9-10.
22. Parliament, Papers Relating to the Disturbances in Jamaica Part III, (London, 1866,) 7-9.
23. Heuman, 177-179.
quote:
LABOR IN JAMAICA AFTER EMANCIPATION
After emancipation, labor opportunities and experiences changed for the better. Before emancipation a slave was lucky if he lived nine years after being captured. Some died from diseases, but many of them died from simple overwork. Plantation owners found it cheaper to work slaves to death and buy new ones than to give them the food and rest they needed to survive and reproduce. Slave life on the plantation was an absolute nightmare. Some slaves worked up to twelve hours straight without a break, under a Jamaican sugar plantation very hot tropical sun. And the process of sugar making was not just hard work but it was also dangerous. Because of the long hours worked some slaves would fall asleep on the job. If that job was in the sugar mill they could end up severely injured. A visitor to a plantation wrote about how they handled serious injuries. The visitor was told by the plantation owner that if a slave got his finger or arm caught in a mill they would use a hatchet “that was always ready to sever the whole limb, as the only means of saving the poor suffer’s life.” [1] That is just a small portion of what slaves had to go through. But better days were ahead for the slaves.
News of the emancipation being read. The Emancipation Proclamation was read on August 1, 1834. There was plenty of singing, dancing, and drumming to be seen and heard on that magical day. Many people celebrated and the children added shouts “that seemed to rend the air.” [2] The Act of Emancipation “mandated in the first instance large numbers of individuals were no longer slaves but neither were they free citizens.” [3] Now there was a new hurdle, apprenticeship. It was a turn from slave labor into a more acceptable, though still mandatory form of labor, which would last four years.
Apprenticeship created several problems for the plantation owners. Slave owners were used to working their slaves long hours. But the days when owners could force slaves to work eighteen-hour days were now no more. Apprentices could now only work forty hours a week if they wished. Another problem was that many slaves used to have to work the night shift. Emancipation put an end to that rule. Blacks could now work four to five days a week and with the days they had off, they could attend to their own gardens. Of course, all too often the owners chose to ignore the new laws. The planters made no effort to change conditions on the plantations. Getting new equipment and creating better working conditions were out of the question. The plantation owners were expected to supply medicine for the sick. That was not done. They were also expected to supply better clothing and better food. Owners chose to ignore those things as well. After emancipation the owners were given compensation for their losses in human “property,” while ex-slaves received nothing.
Good news came in 1837 when the apprenticeship was abolished. The planters abused the system so much that it was terminated only after three years. More bad news came for the plantation owners. The compensation that they received would not save most of them. Sugar prices continued to decline, even as production went down because of the lack of workers. Instead of examining the situation and admitting what was really wrong the planters decided to blame their problems on the ex-slaves. The most often heard excuse was that blacks were lazy and did not want to work anymore. The truth was that the ex-slaves were finding new ways to make a living. They were tired of the working conditions on the old plantations. They were sick of being treated with cruelty. To many of them it was time to move on. But some actually did stay on the plantations and tried to make the best of it.
Spring Garden Estates, St. George'sBy 1860 half of the plantations in Jamaica had folded up. Many of the “plantations were partly or wholly abandoned and the price of the property plummeted.” The plantation owners only had themselves to blame. And with the opening of the formerly protected British sugar market to free trade, the few planters that survived “were forced to sell their crops on the open market, often at a loss.” [4]
Former slaves found new ways to make a living. Many of them became peasants and formed villages and communities of their own. They began to grow their own crops and sold them at the nearest markets. They grew ginger, bananas, and sugar cane among many other crops. Of course the plantation owners hated the fact that villages were springing up. These new villages took away labor from them. The owners even found ways to get heavy taxes placed on some of the most liked imported foods of the black man. And as for American and British goods “the demand for linens, cottons, prints, beaver hats, shoes, stockings, bonnets, and saddlery multiplied beyond belief.” But the heavy taxes placed on foreign goods did not make the ex-slaves want to go back to the plantations. [5]
At first there were no schools or churches in the villages but that would eventually change. After emancipation “independent Negroes made the most of their income from growing provision crops for sale in local markets.” [6] But other opportunities began popping up as more and more villagesJamaican marketplace were being built. The villagers were not just building houses for themselves. They were building for others too. And these new structures were not little huts either. Some had several rooms so that everybody in the household could have their own room. As for dirt floors, that became a thing of the past for many households. Some had wooden floors made from the native trees on the island. With their houses built, black Jamaicans soon turned their attention to extending their villages by helping missionaries construct churches and schools. This would be the beginning of something special. Education was just around the corner for many.
Education played an enormous role in the upward movement of many free citizens. Many young men and women attended the schools that sprang up Early Moravian church and mission schoolaround the island. Some went on to become teachers and educate the next generation. Others became ministers and preached in the local churches. This was a step up from the labor their parents performed. Some were able to obtain jobs tending to business matters on the island. But not everybody the island was able to attend schools and obtain jobs such as teaching, and not everybody left the world of hard manual labor. Job opportunities off the island became enticing. Many still had to work jobs where physical strength was needed.
Panama was one such place where workers were needed. A railway was needed there. But for the Jamaicans that went, the great job opportunity turned into a nightmare. The Jamaicans were not the only ones who went to Panama “to cut a canal across the Isthmus in 1879.” Others such as the Chinese and Europeans also went. Disease was rampant and the deadly yellow fever was the worst of those illnesses. The Jamaicans and the West Indians “stood up better to the fever, but a great many died, nevertheless, and within nine years, after a shocking waste of life and money, the canal scheme collapsed.” Many of those who survived stayed in Panama. When the United States decided to build a canal in Panama in the early twentieth century many Jamaicans again lent a hand in the construction of the canal. [7]
Ex-slaves and their children made many strides after emancipation. Life was not easy for most of them but with ambition and pride came success for many. Going from plantation work to becoming teachers and ministers was not an easy or short journey. Freedom was something for which they had been longing, and when it came they made the most of it. All they needed was a chance and emancipation gave them that chance. Many found that life could be something beautiful.
Works Cited
Craton, Michael and Walvin, James. A Jamaican Plantation: The History Of Worthy Park 1670-1970. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1970.
Nugent, Maria, Lady. A Journal Of A Voyage To, And Residence In, The Island Of Jamaica, From 1801 To 1805, And The Subsequent Events In England from 1805 To 1811, By Maria, Lady Nugent. London: T. and W. Boone, 1839.
Papers Relative To The West Indies 1841. Part II Jamaica. London: W. Cloves and Sons. 1841.
Phillippo, James Mursell. Jamaica: Its Past And Present State. Philadelphia: J.M. Campbell And Co., New York: Saxton and Miles, 1843.
Sherlock, Philip and Bennett, Hazel. The Story Of The Jamaican People. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1998.
[1] Maria Nugent, A Journal Of A Voyage To, And Residence In, The Island Of Jamaica, From 1801 To 1805, And The Subsequent Events In England from 1805 To 1811, By Maria, Lady Nugent, (London, 1839,) 151.
[2] James M. Phillippo, Jamaica: Its Past And Present State, (Philadelphia and New York, 1843,) 71.
[3] Philip Sherlock and Hazel Bennett, The Story Of The Jamaican People, (Kingston and Princeton, 1998,) 230.
[4] Sherlock and Bennett, 233.
[5] Parliament, Papers Relative To The West Indies 1841. Part II Jamaica, (London, 1841,) 174.
[6] Michael Craton and James Walvin, A Jamaican Plantation: The History Of Worthy Park 1670-1970, (Toronto and Buffalo, 1970,) 215.
[7] Quotes from Clinton V. Black, History of Jamaica, (London, 1958/1970,) 221.
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