Emancipation: some creation myths
By Selwyn Ryan
I overheard someone complaining on a call-in programme during Emancipation week that people of African origin in Trinidad were a different breed from those in other islands of the Caribbean.
It was not clear whether the caller meant to say that the Trinis were a worse or a better breed. I think he meant that they were an inferior breed, since, like Prof Courtenay Bartholomew (Express, August 11) he had some critical things to say about us blacks here in Trinidad. The caller was however quite correct about Trinidad blacks being different from their Caribbean counterparts. Culture and cojuncture and not genetics were however responsible for the differences.
Trinidad was indeed an untypical plantation society in many ways. For one thing, it was not a society consisting of many large plantations peopled by thousands of slaves as was the case in say, Jamaica. Most of the slaves who were in Trinidad in 1834 when emancipation was proclaimed were originally from Grenada, St Vincent, Martinque and other parts of the French Caribbean. Twelve thousand and four hundred of them came to Trinidad between 1797 and 1807. While some slaves did come directly from Africa, Prof Barry Higman's data (Slave Populations in the British Caribbean) seem to indicate that by 1834, a majority of the slaves who came to Trinidad were re-exports from other parts of the Caribbean. They were thus more "seasoned" to use one of the euphemisms of the time.
Fr Anthony De Verteuil (Seven Slaves and Slavery: Trinidad 1777-1838) also argues that, "Trinidad was one of the less Africanised colonies from the cultural view point. Its Afro-Trinidadian culture was largely second-hand, originating chiefly with the creole slaves from Martinique and Grenada." Trinidad's demographic composition was very different from that of other islands, and this had implications for its economic, social, and political development, as well as relations between the various ethnic and class fragments. Trinidad was a complex melange and not a two-layered cake, if cake it was. The relationship between Massa and the enslaved was fundamentally different and less deferential.
Whites were not the only people who owned slaves and landed property in Trinidad. Sir Ralph Woodford, who was the governor in 1813 observed, "the Naparimas abounded with people of every shade and description. Many of them, under the favourable influence of the Spanish laws, gradually settled, purchased or inherited some of the richest land in the colony and they are without any question the least embarrassed in their fortunes of all the planters in the island." In the Naparima plains, there were at least 38 free coloured planters, most of whom were black French creoles who came to Trinidad with their slaves towards the end of the 18th century under the terms of the Cedula.
Using data listed in the Port of Spain Gazette (March 1835) which was compiled for the payment of compensation by the British government, De Verteuil calculated that there were about 1,000 slave owners registered in Port of Spain, most owning one to three slaves. He calculated that at least 60 per cent of the owners were coloured, and concluded "with certainty" that at least half to two-thirds of the slave-owners in Trinidad were coloured and that they owned about 20 per cent of the slaves.
The compensation data also reveal that most of the estates in Trinidad were small, with only a few slaves on each, many of whom did not work on the land. Eighty per cent of them had ten slaves or less and only one per cent had more than a hundred. Only one plantation had more than 200 slaves. In sum, Trinidad, on the eve of emancipation, was not a typical plantation society with a large African-born slave population. The free coloured included some of the biggest land owners and employers of slaves, particularly in the Naparimas.
According to Prof Carl Campbell, UWI Jamaica, the free coloureds had 32.6 per cent of the sugar estates in the Naparimas in 1813. There were only three sugar estates in the Naparimas with more than 100 slaves, and two of these were owned by free coloured.
Campbell's study of wills also indicates that Trinidad was a very heterogenous society and that individuals, black and white, left money and property to coloured mistresses, legitimate and illegitimate children, and caretakers. "The result of all of this was a regime of great complexity."
Noted black scholar and educator, JJ Thomas, author of the iconic Froudacity, also observed in a polemical reply to Englishman, James Anthony Froude, that Trinidad society on the eve of emancipation was not a two-tiered caste society of white masters and black slaves, but one that was divided more by class. As he wrote, "Mr Froude's history of the Emancipation may here be amended for him by a reminder that it was not Whites as masters, and Blacks as slaves. In fact, 1838 found in the British Colonies very nearly as many Negro and Mulatto slave-owners as there were white. Well then, these black and yellow planters received their quota, it may be presumed, of the £20,000,000 sterling indemnity. They were part and parcel of the proprietary body in the Colonies, and had to meet the crisis like the rest. They were very wealthy, some of these Ethiopic accomplices of the oppressors of their own race. Their sons and daughters were sent, like the white planters' children, across the Atlantic for a European education. These young folk returned to their various native colonies as lawyers and doctors. Many of them were also wealthy planters. The daughters, of course, became in time the mothers of the new generation of prominent inhabitants."
Free blacks enjoyed many advantages which made them the envy of whites. As Prof Campbell further explains, the uncommon advantages which Trinidad offered free blacks and free coloureds led to a situation in the pre-emancipation period in which they became the majority of the small farmers, masons, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers etc and the householders in Port of Spain and the Naparimas. These craftsmen and women huckstered, and since labour was scarce, made a lot of money, bought land, and did a lot to develop themselves and their children.
Their narratives are different from the ones that one normally hears from the planters and their accomplices who claim that the coloureds and creole blacks were only intent on squatting, liming, loitering, and eating low-lying fruit, and that the colony had to be rescued by importing replacements. There are in fact many creation or foundation myths which seek to explain what happened during our yesterdays. These we will deconstruct in future columns.
It is however true that few free black French creoles became merchants of consequence. More than a few however did. One who did was Michael Maillard, one of Trinidad's most outstanding black businessmen in the late 19th and early 20th century. Maillard was the owner of El Popular, a top of the line department store located at No. 1 Frederick Street, on the corner of that street and Marine Square, now Independence Square. Born in San Fernando, he was widely regarded as Trinidad's "most enterprising merchant". He was gifted at merchandising and was always experimenting with innovative strategies to attract and maintain the confidence of his customers. El Popular, which he opened in 1895, was known as the "Corner store" because of its location, and also as "the Purple Store" because the colour of the paper in which purchased goods were wrapped. It survived until 1933, when it became one of the many casualties of the global economic depression. It was sold by auction to Hope Ross and was later acquired by JT Johnson and his backers.
—To be continued
It was not clear whether the caller meant to say that the Trinis were a worse or a better breed. I think he meant that they were an inferior breed, since, like Prof Courtenay Bartholomew (Express, August 11) he had some critical things to say about us blacks here in Trinidad. The caller was however quite correct about Trinidad blacks being different from their Caribbean counterparts. Culture and cojuncture and not genetics were however responsible for the differences.
Trinidad was indeed an untypical plantation society in many ways. For one thing, it was not a society consisting of many large plantations peopled by thousands of slaves as was the case in say, Jamaica. Most of the slaves who were in Trinidad in 1834 when emancipation was proclaimed were originally from Grenada, St Vincent, Martinque and other parts of the French Caribbean. Twelve thousand and four hundred of them came to Trinidad between 1797 and 1807. While some slaves did come directly from Africa, Prof Barry Higman's data (Slave Populations in the British Caribbean) seem to indicate that by 1834, a majority of the slaves who came to Trinidad were re-exports from other parts of the Caribbean. They were thus more "seasoned" to use one of the euphemisms of the time.
Fr Anthony De Verteuil (Seven Slaves and Slavery: Trinidad 1777-1838) also argues that, "Trinidad was one of the less Africanised colonies from the cultural view point. Its Afro-Trinidadian culture was largely second-hand, originating chiefly with the creole slaves from Martinique and Grenada." Trinidad's demographic composition was very different from that of other islands, and this had implications for its economic, social, and political development, as well as relations between the various ethnic and class fragments. Trinidad was a complex melange and not a two-layered cake, if cake it was. The relationship between Massa and the enslaved was fundamentally different and less deferential.
Whites were not the only people who owned slaves and landed property in Trinidad. Sir Ralph Woodford, who was the governor in 1813 observed, "the Naparimas abounded with people of every shade and description. Many of them, under the favourable influence of the Spanish laws, gradually settled, purchased or inherited some of the richest land in the colony and they are without any question the least embarrassed in their fortunes of all the planters in the island." In the Naparima plains, there were at least 38 free coloured planters, most of whom were black French creoles who came to Trinidad with their slaves towards the end of the 18th century under the terms of the Cedula.
Using data listed in the Port of Spain Gazette (March 1835) which was compiled for the payment of compensation by the British government, De Verteuil calculated that there were about 1,000 slave owners registered in Port of Spain, most owning one to three slaves. He calculated that at least 60 per cent of the owners were coloured, and concluded "with certainty" that at least half to two-thirds of the slave-owners in Trinidad were coloured and that they owned about 20 per cent of the slaves.
The compensation data also reveal that most of the estates in Trinidad were small, with only a few slaves on each, many of whom did not work on the land. Eighty per cent of them had ten slaves or less and only one per cent had more than a hundred. Only one plantation had more than 200 slaves. In sum, Trinidad, on the eve of emancipation, was not a typical plantation society with a large African-born slave population. The free coloured included some of the biggest land owners and employers of slaves, particularly in the Naparimas.
According to Prof Carl Campbell, UWI Jamaica, the free coloureds had 32.6 per cent of the sugar estates in the Naparimas in 1813. There were only three sugar estates in the Naparimas with more than 100 slaves, and two of these were owned by free coloured.
Campbell's study of wills also indicates that Trinidad was a very heterogenous society and that individuals, black and white, left money and property to coloured mistresses, legitimate and illegitimate children, and caretakers. "The result of all of this was a regime of great complexity."
Noted black scholar and educator, JJ Thomas, author of the iconic Froudacity, also observed in a polemical reply to Englishman, James Anthony Froude, that Trinidad society on the eve of emancipation was not a two-tiered caste society of white masters and black slaves, but one that was divided more by class. As he wrote, "Mr Froude's history of the Emancipation may here be amended for him by a reminder that it was not Whites as masters, and Blacks as slaves. In fact, 1838 found in the British Colonies very nearly as many Negro and Mulatto slave-owners as there were white. Well then, these black and yellow planters received their quota, it may be presumed, of the £20,000,000 sterling indemnity. They were part and parcel of the proprietary body in the Colonies, and had to meet the crisis like the rest. They were very wealthy, some of these Ethiopic accomplices of the oppressors of their own race. Their sons and daughters were sent, like the white planters' children, across the Atlantic for a European education. These young folk returned to their various native colonies as lawyers and doctors. Many of them were also wealthy planters. The daughters, of course, became in time the mothers of the new generation of prominent inhabitants."
Free blacks enjoyed many advantages which made them the envy of whites. As Prof Campbell further explains, the uncommon advantages which Trinidad offered free blacks and free coloureds led to a situation in the pre-emancipation period in which they became the majority of the small farmers, masons, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers etc and the householders in Port of Spain and the Naparimas. These craftsmen and women huckstered, and since labour was scarce, made a lot of money, bought land, and did a lot to develop themselves and their children.
Their narratives are different from the ones that one normally hears from the planters and their accomplices who claim that the coloureds and creole blacks were only intent on squatting, liming, loitering, and eating low-lying fruit, and that the colony had to be rescued by importing replacements. There are in fact many creation or foundation myths which seek to explain what happened during our yesterdays. These we will deconstruct in future columns.
It is however true that few free black French creoles became merchants of consequence. More than a few however did. One who did was Michael Maillard, one of Trinidad's most outstanding black businessmen in the late 19th and early 20th century. Maillard was the owner of El Popular, a top of the line department store located at No. 1 Frederick Street, on the corner of that street and Marine Square, now Independence Square. Born in San Fernando, he was widely regarded as Trinidad's "most enterprising merchant". He was gifted at merchandising and was always experimenting with innovative strategies to attract and maintain the confidence of his customers. El Popular, which he opened in 1895, was known as the "Corner store" because of its location, and also as "the Purple Store" because the colour of the paper in which purchased goods were wrapped. It survived until 1933, when it became one of the many casualties of the global economic depression. It was sold by auction to Hope Ross and was later acquired by JT Johnson and his backers.
—To be continued
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