ABSTRACT

The period 1492-1838 marks the beginning and the ‘legal end’ of colonialism in the Caribbean. It was the era of genocide, slavery and indentureship. Against their wills, Africans were brought to the Caribbean to labour on the sugar plantations as slaves. In Africa, they had professions, belonged to and had families of their own and had dignity and worth. Thus, in their homeland of Africa, they were socialized and civilized. When, however, they were forcibly bought by the slave traders in Africa and brought by European planters to the West Indies, they immediately became merchandise or the sole property of the plantation owners. All rights and sense of human worth and dignity were forcibly removed from them. For instance, the baptismal records of the Anglican churches of St. Dorothy’s, Old Harbour and the cathedral in Spanish Town, both in Jamaica, showed that only the name of the plantation and the race factor were of importance to the White European curate, and not the full identity of the slave:

To the insult of dehumanization and demoralization was added the further injury of commodification or thingification as slaves were listed in Estate inventories with cattle, horses, shovels, hoes, forks, picks. Richard Pares, British historian, noted that

Black humanity had value only in the framework of slavery. This perception of Black humanity was a flawed one, however, as there existed a subjective and self-determined notion of Black humanity that existed outside of slavery and long before slavery, which also achieved great accomplishments and civilization.