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A study of modern history
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A study of modern history
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lOMoARcPSD|14851574GK005 week 3
Campaigning and Citizenship: Women in Britain and its Empire from 1800 to 1950
(University of Wolverhampton)
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, lOMoARcPSD|1485157
4GK005 Campaigning and Citizenship. Dr Penny Welch.
The Resistance of Women Slaves
Introduction
Slavery and slave resistance have been studied extensively by historians, using
evidence from deeds, wills, manumission lists, diaries, plantation accounts,
managers' reports and other contemporary accounts.
Important writers on slavery in general include Walvin, Blackburn and Morgan –
details of their books on the list at the end.
But the gender dimension of slavery was not studied until historians like Lucille
Mair, Barbara Bush, Hilary Beckles and Rhoda Reddock tried to restore women to
the historical record of slavery – examples of their work are also on the list at the
end.
Beckles (1989) says that male slaves were more visible in the writings of
historians because many male historians had played prominent roles in anti-
colonial struggles and so focused on those who had led slave revolts & organised
maroon communities.
Between 1731 and 1823, there was a significant slave revolt in the British-owned
Caribbean every 2 years.
1760 Jamaica
1791, Dominica
1792-1804 San Domingo (French colony) eventually established independent
Black nation in Haiti
1807 Tobago
1816 Barbados
1823 Demerara
1831-2 Montego Bay, Jamaica
The condition of slave women
Women often the majority of those who worked in the fields - specialist jobs as
boilers, distillers, masons, carpenters and drivers went to men. No record of
women being employed as skilled artisans
Osirim (1997) says that conditions of slavery were harsher in the Caribbean than
in Southern states of USA – tropical climate, more vegetation to be cleared on
plantations.
Slave women had low fertility rates (ask the students why) - up to 1800, marriage
and cohabitation discouraged by slave owners, after 1807 encouraged.
As abolition of slave trade approached, more care given to pregnant slaves and
mother forbidden to take children to the fields.
Beckles (1998) says that from mid-C18th, slave prices in British West Indies
started to climb - so slave treatment became more important - also because of
anti-slave trade campaigning.
After 1770s, period of 'amelioration' - to create a pro-natalist environment - less
work and better nutrition for pregnant and lactating women, some childcare
facilities and money for delivering healthy children to midwives & mothers -
former got more.
1824 Flogging of women slaves banned in Trinidad and British Guiana – but slave
revolts became more frequent.
Children of slave women born into slavery, irrespective of status of father -
children of white women born into freedom. Slave men could father free born
children if mother was free.
White women may have owned or controlled about 25% of slaves, especially in
towns In Trinidad, some slaves owned by free black and coloureds.
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