Because it is important for us to have a sense of the chronology of events and places we are going to be studying, this session and the next will focus on parts of the Caribbean and on what happened and when in the transition from slavery to freedom. We will compare and contrast different Caribbean colonies and examine key moments in the history of slavery, abolition and emancipation between the middle of the eighteenth century and the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.
The events below are listed in no particular order. Part of our task in this session will be to create a timeline by putting these into chronological order.
- Abolition of the Slave Trade
- William Wilberforce’s first speech in parliament
- Tackey’s Revolt in Jamaica
- Lord Mansfield’s Somerset verdict
- Sam Sharpe’s Rebellion (‘Baptist War’) in Jamaica
- Founding of Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery
- Creation of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade
- The Emancipation Bill
These books provide helpful overviews of events associated with slavery, resistance, abolitionism and emancipation in the British Caribbean:
Anstey, R. The Atlantic Slave Trade and British Abolition 1760-1810 (1975).
Blackburn, R. The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery (1988). (chapter 11)
Craton, M. Testing the Chains: Resistance to Slavery in the British West Indies (1982).
Hochschild, A. Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery (2006).
Davis, D. B. The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770 – 1823 (1975)
Green, W. A. British Slave Emancipation: The Sugar Colonies and the Great Experiment, 1830-1865 (1976).
Walvin, J. Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery (1993).