History S.B.A

School Based Assessment
(S.B.A) Caribbean History
Name: Alexi Brooks
Form: 504
Teacher: Mrs. Beckford-Simpson
Institution: Covent of Mercy Academy ‘Alpha’
Centre No: 100022
Registration No: 100022
Jamaica

Table of Contents
Title Page
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………… .I
Area of Research.…………………………………………………………………II
Rationale………………………………………………………………………….III
Introduction……………………………………………………………………… 2-4
Chapter 1: Non-insurrectionary Methods of Resistance: Womb
Resistance…………………………………………………………………………5-8
Chapter 2: Insurrectionary Methods of Resistance………………………………..9-11
Chapter 3: Economic Resistance…………………………………………………..12-13
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………14
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………..15
Appendices………………………………………………………………………….16

Introduction
‘Resistance began as soon as enslavement began.’1
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade began during the 17th Century as a way to replace the
tobacco industry, which, up to that time was the main source of income for the West Indies
region. However, when competition from Virginia in the USA started, the tobacco industry
plummeted as Virginia was able to grow twice as much tobacco as the West Indies and could
meet the very high demands for it in England. As a result, Caribbean tobacco prices began
declining and to worsen the situation, the quality of the product was inferior to Virginia’s.
The British had to find a quick solution to their dilemma: producing sugar was their next
move and thus, slavery began as people were needed to work on the plantations.
Several arguments have been posited to justify the reason persons were taken from
Africa and no other part of the world: the most common were - slavery already existed in
Africa; slavery was wrong but it was a necessary evil; the Africans were the most able-bodied
to work such treacherous hours and; West Africa was the easiest place to access.
Since the beginning of slavery in the 17th Century, the enslaved West African men
and women never became complacent, not even for a second, about the inhumane conditions
under which they were forced to live. The Africans were taken from their homeland in West
Africa, through what we call the Middle Passage. This is the journey that was also commonly
referred to as the Triangular Slave Trade: from England, to West Africa, to the Caribbean; the
journey formed a triangular pattern.
1
Beckles, Hilary and Sheperd Verene. Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic New World: A Student Reader. Ian
RandlePublishers,2000.

The enslaved people, especially the women, were treated very poorly. During the
journey, the Middle Passage was the most treacherous part for both men and women,
although the women were worse off as they were sexually abused and raped more than men.
The women were used and thrown to the side as if they were objects.
Despite their circumstance, the enslaved women developed fighting strategies that
slave masters could not control. They fought alongside the men for their freedom through
insurrectionary and non-insurrectionary, or active and passive methods of resistance,
respectively. ‘Her [their] capacity for action, reaction and aggression held firm in the face of
determined white domination.’ 2
Uda defines resistance as an ‘organized, collective action which aims at affecting the
distribution of power in a community’3. Even before they arrived in the Caribbean, the slaves
often participated in collective resistance and ‘Women…were to be found in the vanguard of
the anti-slavery movement. As non-violent protestors, as maroons, as leaders in the areas of
social culture, and as mothers, black women were critical to the forging of the resistance
strategies; their anti-slavery consciousness functioned at the core of slave communities’
survivalist culture.’4
2
Mair,L. (2006). A Historical Study of Women in Jamaica 1655-1844.Kingston:University of the West Indies
Press : Centre for Gender and Development Studies.
3 Uda, Rudy. The Culture of Resistance. 2013 June 2013. <https://iisr.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/RU_Slavery20130630_Proverbs.pdf>
4
Beckles, Hilary and Sheperd Verene. Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic New World:A Student Reader. Ian

Focus will be elucidated on the ways in which the enslaved women utilised not only
non-insurrectionary methods of resistance by using their reproductive system, how they did it
and the economic ways this impacted their owners; but also, some insurrectionary methods
employed by them will be examined. We will also see if the research question: ‘Can it be
proven that the tactics used by the enslaved women to gain freedom were effective in the
British West Indies during the 18th Century?’ can be verified.

Chapter 1 – Non-insurrectionary Methods of Resistance: Womb
Resistance
Non-insurrectionary methods of resistance can be defined as non-violent tactics
practised by the enslaved people to resist the harsh treatment meted out to them by their slave
masters.
Since the beginning of slavery, women had to find different methods to defend
themselves from the cruelty of the slave masters as they were used time and time again to
satisfy the sexual needs/desires of plantation owners. One of their main weapons of war was
via their womb (their reproductive system), or as Beckles describes it… ‘gynaecological
warfare’ 5. Some tactics used were prolonging periods, lengthening pregnancies, aborting
their foetuses and even extending breast feeding. Beckles states that “in general…the
historical sources indicate that during the first few decades of the nineteenth Century,
weaning typically took place no earlier than between eighteen and twenty-four months, and
sometimes even later.” 6
The enslaved women utilised these methods without remorse or fear as they did not
care about the severe punishments that would often follow their action. They were resolute
not to bring a generation into the world that would prolong the Slave Trade and in essence,
reduce women to breeding stock like they were mere animals. For every slave child born in
5
Mair,L. (2006). A Historical Study of Women in Jamaica 1655-1844.Kingston:University of the West Indies
6
Sheperd, Verene A. Engendering Caribbean History : Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Kingston ; Miami : Ian Randle
Publishers, 2011.

the Caribbean, slavery would be all they knew, and they would be more docile and therefore
less resistant to the slave master. This relegation of the African to the level of a common
animal was an injustice that the African woman realised was in her power to deter and she
utilised all available measures, some even to the extent of murdering her own child rather
than willingly contribute to this inhumane practice.
Women used the state of their bodies during pregnancy to do the minimum amount of
work and reap the maximum number of benefits. Even though it was the practice to exempt
them from heavy work in the last trimester of pregnancy, some planters still found ways to
demean and overwork them. Prior to 1807 (when the British Slave Trade legally ended),
planters were furious when their strong, agile female slaves got pregnant as they saw this as a
loss of labour which would slow the production of sugar. Therefore, pregnant women were
at times subjected to ill-treatment such as deprivation of holidays, extended working hours,
whippings and other forms of excessive punishment. However, in the post-1807 era, when it
became imperative to replace the ‘stock’ through breeding rather than through the Atlantic
Slave Trade; 7 women were deemed important to the economic growth of the sugar industry
as plantation owners realised that they were a less risky and more affordable source of labour.
Children of the enslaved were usually breast-fed for two to three years and then
weaned by their guardians (the enslaved women). Breast-feeding women were legally entitled
to benefits that one would not have unless with child. For e.g., in the Leeward Islands Slave
Code of 1798, it was stated that women who were pregnant in excess of 5 months could only
be requested to do ‘light’ work.8
7
8 Paton Diana. Enslaved Women and Slavery before and after 1807, Newcastle University.
https://archives.history-in-focus/Slavery/articles/paton.html

The enslaved woman with a lactating child was to be given extra food allowances,
allowed to commence work an hour after the regular time and allowed to carry the child to
her place of work.9 For the enslaved woman, this was not merely survival, it was also
resistance. But the planters were opposed to prolonging the suckling of the children as the
women who breast-fed extensively were as weak as the children. Not that the food provided
to either was always ideal: as the babies grew, they required more than breast milk to thrive
but mothers saw the cruelty of the planters as a ‘blessing’ in disguise and used the
opportunity to engage in infanticide.
Infanticide, for most, was an act of desperation, selflessness and resistance as the
women refused to allow their children to be born into this horrible and degrading lifestyle
that was slavery. Although infanticide cannot be completely proven in all cases, one can
assume that it was being done based on reports of deaths. According to the pro-slavery
writers such as George Fitzhugh and Thomas Roderick Drew, infanticide was an evil act of
selfishness; while author, Barbara Bush disagreed. She stated that slaves let their infants die
young as opposed to violently killing them as babies were not deemed fully human until eight
days after birth.
The pro-slavery slave owner (the planters) had a misconception of
infanticide/abortion. They claimed that is was done so that the enslaved women could
continue being sexually promiscuous. This accusation can be rebutted with the known fact
that throughout the British and French colonies, White men regularly raped Black women and
9
Jerome S. Handler, Robert S. Corruccini.WeaningamongWest Indian Slaves:A Historical and
Bioanthropological EvidencefromBarbados.Ilinois:Omohundro Instituteof Early American History and
Culture, 1986.

infanticide was a way of showing the planters that the Black woman had absolute control
over the next labour supply chain.
Women on the plantation also resisted enslavement through cultural practices.
Although this form of resistance was not unique to women, they did play a significant part in
the singing, dancing, drumming and other such distinctly African or creole practices. In many
cases, an African woman was the ‘obeah woman’ or ‘healer’ and the Slave master feared
their power through these occultic practises.10
Additionally, women practised resistance by using their tongue (speech) and were
considered to be ‘ferocious’ with this ‘weapon of war’. ‘January 26… It seems that this
morning , the women, one and all, refused to carry away the trash (which is one of the easiest
tasks that can be set), and without the slightest pretence: in consequence, the mill was obliged
to be stopped; and when the driver on that station insisted on doing their duty, a little fierce
young devil of a Miss Whauncia flew at his throat, and endeavoured to strangle him: the
agent was obliged to be called in, and, at length, this petticoat rebellion was subdued, and
everything went on as usual” (M.G. Lewis: 1834 p. 139).11
10
11

Chapter 2: Insurrectionary Methods of Resistance
Insurrectionary resistance can be defined as violent tactics used by the enslaved
people and was executed by both sexes on the plantation. In fact, Beckles argues that women
were sometimes more likely to receive “harsher and psychologically more damaging forms of
punishment than men”12. It is not surprising then that women were not considered to be less
rebellious and plantation owners were “just as fearful, suspicious, and distrustful of women’s
potential activities as anti-slavery agents”13.
Poisoning Whites was very common and was most likely to be undertaken by the
slave women, who, in the main, were the domestic workers and naturally had closer access to
the Slave Master and his family.
European Botanists wrote extensively about the powerful effect of plant poisons in the
Caribbean and the enslaved people’s vast knowledge of these medicinal plants. They found
that contact with the fruit or sap of the manchineel tree caused intense itching and a burning
sensation. The enslaved people learned how to cut the trees so that they would not succumb
to those reactions and would also use lime juice to protect themselves. Cassava was another
poisonous remedy used by the enslaved people: it contained a toxic substance called
cyanogenic glycoside, which after ingestion of its juice would produce bellyaches, swollen
abdomens, vomiting, headaches, coldness, dizziness, blurred vision and even death within a
12
13 ibid

few hours. The juice in the root of the plant, Topeau (worms) were dried and powered and
added to the foods that the whites ate.14
According to Lucille Mair: Caroline Biggs, a black slave woman of Cenox Estate in
St. George “wilfully, maliciously and feloniously” did put Verdigris into the Decanter of the
Rum on the side board of the Duelling House with the intent to poison Thomas Spices,
Attorney of the estate and the inhabitants of the Duelling.’ All allegations were dropped as
she was discharged when no prosecutor appeared.15
Historical evidence reveals that the leaders of rebellions were in most cases males,
however women played a defining role in the planning and execution of rebellions across the
West Indies, successful or not. 16
Enslaved women are referred to as ‘anti-slavery feminist vanguards’ by Beckles and
Shepherd and were noted to have been important to Maroonage. In fact, women were more
than mere helpers in this form of resistance. Evidence is there to prove that they were, in
many cases, leaders. Of note, were Nanny of Jamaica (Nanny of the Maroons) and Nanny
Grigg of Barbados. Nanny Grigg was known to report news of slave rebellions that took
place in other territories/countries, such as the revolution in Haiti. This would help to fuel the
14
Museum, Natural History.Natural History Museum. 2006-08.<https://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources-
www/legacy/slavery-files/chapter-6-resistance.pdf>.
15
Sheperd, V. A. (2011). Engendering Caribbean History : Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Kingston ; Miami : Ian
RandlePublishers.
16
ibid.

rebellious spirit in the local slaves. Nanny of the Maroons directed an army of enslaved men
and women to defend themselves against the British Soldiers. 17
17 Sheperd, V. A. (2011). Engendering Caribbean History : Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Kingston ; Miami : Ian
RandlePublishers.

Chapter 3 – Economic Resistance
‘In the one, she was a fixed unit of labour and breeder of units of labour; in the other, she
could be a dynamic producer/entrepreneur/person.’ 18
The sole purpose of the enslaved black woman was to reproduce another generation
of labourers who would work on the plantation. As previously discussed in this paper, before
the 1800’s, planters were infuriated when a pregnancy was discovered as time off had to be
given.19 However, in the post-abolition of slavery era, Black women’s reproductive role
became an economic necessity, for if they could not or refused to bear children, the labour
force would naturally decline. Thus, Black women were increasingly pressured to become
sexually involved with not only Black men but also White men: the master, his sons, planters
from other estates and travelling salesmen. However, the women found ways to shift focus
from their bodies to make money by selling goods grown in their gardens. They also sold
cattle, pigs, poultry, dried salted fish, crabs, fresh beef and pork.
Enslaved women formed the majority of household labourers in all British colonies
while the men worked as grooms. “The slaves used such lands to produce a variety of foods
such as tree crops, vegetables, edible herbs and roots, as well as craft materials. This produce
was primarily intended for their own domestic use. But eventually - and the details of the
process are regrettably dim - surpluses came to be taken to local markets and exchanged for
other commodities or sold for cash. The proceeds of this transaction accrued entirely to the
18 Mair,L. (2006). A Historical Study of Women in Jamaica 1655-1844.Kingston:University of the West Indies
19
Sheperd, Verene A. Engendering Caribbean History : Cross-Cultural Perspectives.Kingston ;Miami : Ian

slaves from the very first. Market day, customarily held on Sunday so as to not interfere with
estate cultivation, became an important social and economic institution.”20
Bicknell shares an account of what a market day for the enslaved people was like: “It
was on a Sunday, and I had to pass by the Negro Market, where several thousands of human
beings, of various colours, but principally negroes, instead of worshipping their Maker on His
Holy Day, were busily employed in all kinds of traffick in the open streets. Here were Jews
with shops and standings as at a fair, selling old and new clothes, trinkets and small wares at
cent. per cent. to adorn the Negro person; there were some low Frenchmen and Spaniards,
and people of colour, in petty shops and with stalls; some selling their bad rum, gin, tobacco,
etc.; others, salt provisions, and small articles of dress; and many other bartering with the
Slave or purchasing his surplus provisions to retail again; poor free people and servants also,
from all parts of the city to purchase vegetables, etc., for the following week. (Bickell,
1835:66)
Whilst many were against the enslaved economically providing for themselves, a few
were very supportive of it and wanted it to prosper. Sir Charles Long, who was an English
politician, was one of them and it is said that he did not criticize or objectify to the virtual
monopoly that the slaves had begun to practise in internal marketing. Instead, he suggested
ways in which they could broaden and extend it.21
20 Beckles, H., & Verene, S. (2000). Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic New World: A Student Reader. Ian Randle
Publishers.
21 Mair,L. (2006). A Historical Study of Women in Jamaica 1655-1844.Kingston:University of the West Indies

Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that the tactics used by the enslaved women in the British
West Indies to gain their freedom in the 18th Century, were effective. Although the women
faced whippings and other forms of torture as punishment for acts of resistance, and they
were often raped and sexually abused, they never stopped fighting for their freedom. Through
insurrectionary and non-insurrectionary methods of resistance, they posed as much a danger
as men to the peace of mind of the plantation owner and his family, and to the stability of the
economy in which they were treated as first class citizens and the slaves as mere chattel.
Black women were not considered by plantation owners to be less rebellious than men and
they were just as fearful, suspicious and distrustful of them. Women sometimes even
received harsher and psychologically more damaging forms of punishment than men and this
is a strong indication that they were a real threat to the Whites.

Bibliography
Beckles,HilaryandSheperdVerene. CaribbeanSlavery in theAtlantic New World: A StudentReader.
Ian Randle Publishers,2000.
Hamilton-Willie,DorisV. LestYou Forget:A Study Revision Guide for CXCCaribbean History,
Resistanceand Revolt.Kingston:JamaicaPublishingHouse Ltd.,2003.
Jerome S.Handler,RobertS.Corruccini. Weaning among WestIndian Slaves:A Historical and
BioanthropologicalEvidencefromBarbados.Ilinois:OmohundroInstituteof EarlyAmerican
Historyand Culture,1986.
Mair, Lucille. A Historical Study of Women in Jamaica 1655-1844. Kingston:Universityof the West
IndiesPress:Centre forGenderandDevelopmentStudies,2006.
Museum,Natural History. NaturalHistory Museum.2006-08. <https://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources-
www/legacy/slavery-files/chapter-6-resistance.pdf>.
Paton Diana. Enslaved Women and Slavery before and after 1807, Newcastle University.
https://archives.history-in-focus/Slavery/articles/paton.html
Sheperd,Verene A. Engendering Caribbean History :Cross-CulturalPerspectives.Kingston;Miami :
Ian Randle Publishers,2011.
Uda, Rudy. The Culture of Resistance.2013 June 2013. <https://iisr.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/RU_Slavery20130630_Proverbs.pdf>.

Appendices
Figure 1. Showing the Occupation of the enslaved based on gender, ethnicity and condition
Figure 2. Showing the Outline of the Caribbean in which the British resided

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