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Caribbean Studies

Topic: Movement Towards Independence

The socio, economic and political context of the Post Emancipated British Caribbean

 Social conditions after slavery

• Slavery ended but there was no true sense of freedom for the ex- slaves. Many of the ex- slaves struggled tocreate a livelihood for themselves due to pervasive colonial oppression.

• The society was highly stratified with very little opportunity for blacks to improve their social status.

• Education on the other hand was only given to the privileged white, upper middle class whites and

coloured.

• lacks were given basic skills in education which could not improve their status in society.

•  Many !hildren attended school irregularly and for only a few years, as their parents could not afford

school fees and lunch money.

• Many also lived and worked in s"ualid conditions which led to the spread of diseases thus leading to high

mortality rates. Economic Difficulties

• Economically, most blacks struggled to make a living from peasantry and huckstering due to colonial

oppression.• The economic difficulties in the #$ were caused by the decline of the sugar industry and the failure of

most of the alternative crops to provide satisfactory substitutes by %&'(.

• )ater in the %&*+s and +s the reat epression caused a #all Street !rash %&'& which led to the

economic woes of the !aribbean. Political Conditions After Slavery

• /irstly, blacks had limited opportunity to vote and own property which contributed to much of the

hardships faced in the first half of the %&th century. /or example, in order for blacks 0men1 to vote they had

to have %+ 2 *+ shillings in %&+34 women were not given franchise in %&%& but only to those who were aged

'(, literate and paying ' pounds a year in land tax.

•  $n places such as Trinidad, there was no elected element in the colony5s government throughout the %& th 

century.

• )ocal legislature continued to be dominated by planters and other members of the employed class who pass

laws which favoured their own interests at the expense of black workers.

• The money government needed for their expenses came mainly from import duties, but in many cases these

fell more heavily on the poor.

• )aws were not properly enforced fairly to protect the masses from exploitation. /or example, the law did

not set the level of wages and offered any protection to workers when employers decided to cut wages.

• Samuel Smith an 6ntiguan recorded events where planters fatally whipped their workers without any fear

of legal conse"uences.

• !lergymen of the 6nglican !hurch were partisan to the government and decided which set of people should

get poor relief and whose child should get a scholarship.

 Political Enfranchisement 

• This refers to the right of a people or nation to determine their own affairs.

• 7nce emancipation was achieved it was only a matter of time before !aribbean people start to develop the

skills and expertise necessary to challenge the status "uo4 the first of which was the Morant ay 8ebellion

in %93(.

• !aribbean people also migrated to different regions in the years to come to work for better wages. Some

went to work on the :anama !anal, the modern sugar industry in !uba, :uerto 8ico in textile factories, the

oil refineries of !uracao and 6ruba and the oil fields of ;ene

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• Trade >nions were also formed to enable better working conditions and treatment of workers of which

were the arbados #orkers >nion and ?amaican $ndustrial Trade >nion.

 Economic enfranchisement 

This is a condition whereby a country or nation achieves the right to determine how it will develop its systems

of production.

• The genesis of this enfranchisement can be found in the movement of the newly freed people toestablish themselves as new proprietors and which evolved into the formation of free villages and

 peasantry.

• !aribbean people in their "uest for self governance also wanted the opportunity to control their 

economy.

• The plantation economy was diversified to include alternative crops such as banana, cocoa, coffee,

arrowroot which were cultivated by peasant farmers on small landholdings.

•  This strategy of economic diversification attempted to make small farmers self sufficient and resilient

to face the economic hardship. $t kept them independent of the planter and the low wages offered on

the plantations.

•   $t gave them the opportunity to organi