Introduction

The enslaved upon arriving in the Caribbean after they were transported had to endure a
period of ‘seasoning’. In this process, the slaves were given new names and was branded with
the name of the owners ‘plantation. The owners were at the head of the social hierarchy along
with his attorney. Overseers, book keeper and slave driver. During seasoning the older more
experienced slaves were now given the responsibility to teach them the necessities of plantation
life. After seasoning they were placed into three broad categories: field slaves, skilled slaves and
domestic slaves. Field work was divided into three gangs. The fist gang did the backbreaking
task such as weeding, cane-holing, carrying manure to the field and planting. They were usually
the able- bodied men and women around 16-40 years old. The 12 to 16 years old were the second
gang and they did the lighter task when compared with the first gang. They cleared the weed,
manured and carry dung from heaps to the fields. Light weeding, gathering bush and vines,
collecting grass, clearing the field of twigs and debris, tending to the animals and bringing water
to the other gangs were the responsibility of the third or ‘pickney ‘gang which consist of children
and the elderly with the old women as ‘driveresses’. The field workers work regime depended on
the demands of productivity. Work hours increase at crop time and harvest where they
sometimes work up to 20 hours per day during sugar crop time and 15-16 hours daily during
coffee harvest under the influence of the whip by the slave driver to stimulate productivity.
Sundays or market days were free and the enslaved use this opportunity to sell their produce
and to congregate for the planning of rebellions.
The second category was the skilled slaves and they worked in the factories. They aided
in sugar production and manufacturing. These were the blacksmiths, wheelwrights, boilers,
masons, carpenters and coopers. Sometimes they were hired out by the plantation and so was
able to earn extra wages. They had greater privilege and a higher status than that of the field
slaves. The domestics were the last category and it was very common for them to be colored and
creole. It is perceived by the field women that the domestics were of a higher status because of
their race and color and their closeness to the master and mistresses. They lived in the great
houses and could receive ‘leftovers’ and ‘hand me downs’ as well as become educated. Because
of this close relationship with the master they often endure physical and sexual abuse from their
masters and they were also forced into prostitution for the sexual gratification of both the planter
and his male visitors. Many resisted and in dangerous ways such as the poisoning of their
masters.
All enslaved tried equally to win their freedom or to impede production. They would
often commit acts of deviance such as going slow, or strike, protesting, lying, stealing, raising
their voices in revolutionary songs, malingering, abusing the overseer and driver, marronage
which was the most prevalent and committing violent acts such as murder and revolts.

What is Slavery
According to Beckles ( 2004) Chattel slavery is defined as the system where a person is
legally and officially recognized as the property of someone else. This system existed in Africa
long before the arrival of Africans in the Caribbean. In this system you could be sold into slavery
as a payment of debt, tribal wars or having commited a crime. However they could still earn their
freedom and still had their social rights and responsibility and were not considered inferior to
those dominating them .But the traditional concept of slavery changed during the Sugar
Revolution due to the economic instability of tobacco planting in the West Indies. Tobacco had
become non- profitable and sugar was the new rising demand. The West Indian planter found
sugar to cheaper , lighter and more profitable than any other crop. Tea Drinking became popular
in Europe and a better alternative other than honey was demanded. The planters no longer
competed with Virginia tobacco which was superior to the West Indies so they sought sugar
which could increase their profits. Sugar needed large hectares of land and a large labor force.
Having exploited the indigenous people and causing a massive decline in their population. They
had to turn to Africans who were deemed to be cheaper, more fit and easier to obtain them the
indentured servants they hired before. This marked the beginning of chattel slavery in the
Caribbean.
To obtain these Africans the European buyers established close relationships with
African sellers such as the kings of the large African empires in return for the acquisition of
exotic goods, and guns and ammunition for security and defence for their empire. For a constant
supply the africans sellers often times rage tribal wars, conduct community raids, engage in
kidnapping, which was most prevalent and market. This could be further supported by
Alexander Falconbidge statement"Previous to my being in this employ, I entertained a belief that
the kings and principal men [in Africa] breed Negroes for sale as we do cattle. All the
information I could procure confirms me in the belief that to kidnapping, the trade owes its key
support. "
Sometimes an entire community was paid to do the kidnapping. This was done in the form of
cowrie shells which was the main currency. After the acquisition of the africans, slave supplies
were then bought by merchants in Europe to equip the ships to secure the enslaved during the
Middle Passage, the journey from Africa to the Caribbean. Some of these items were mounted
canons and leg and neck chains ( see appendix1).They were then placed in barracoons near forts
where they would await ships to take them to the Caribbean. While awaiting these ships, they
were examined by the ships surgeon. Beckles stated that the enslaved africans were examined
from head to foot, squessing the joints and muscles, twisting their arms and legs, examining
teeth, eyes and chest, pinching breast and groin without mercy. They stood in pairs half naked
and were made to jump , cry out, lie down, and roll and hold their breath for a long time.
According to Olaudah Equiano in his account of the middle passage"The stench of the hold…was
so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time…but now that the
whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of
the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship which was so crowded that
each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us". This was supported by Alexander
Falconbrige a ship’s surgeon’’The men Negroes, on being brought aboard the ship, are
immediately fastened together, two and two, by handcuffs wrists and by irons rivetted on their
legs. They are then sent down between the decks and placed in an apartment partitioned off for
that purpose. The women also are placed in a separate apartment between decks, but without
being ironed. An adjoining room on the same deck is appointed for the boys. Thus they are all
placed in different apartments’’.
Those were rejected were called ‘makrons’ and were left behind to walk back to the interior or
die. The approved slaves were now branded with hot iron on their arms , chest and shoulders for
the purpose of identification for the shipping companies. They were then washed and oiled to
look presentable for sale which could be in the form of a scramble where at the fire of a gun
buyers would rush to grab the amount of slaves they wanted. Or a auction.( see appendix2). It is
very difficult to measure the amount of africans to have cross the atlantic. Philip Curtain in 1969
attempt to publish a comprehensive figure of about 10 million to have reach the new world and
about 2 million who died on the way. However recent scholars have opposed him , one such is
David Eltis who estimated a total of 4.4 million africans.
During the Middle Passage, a voyage about 50 days, it is said that the africans were
affected both psychologically and physically. They believed the white men to be ‘cannibals’ and
were afraid of the ocean which they never saw before because of their far proximity to the
coast. James Penny, captain of British slave ships, reported that new slaves “frequently express
fears, from an apprehension of being eaten” (Penny in Craton, Walvin, and Wright, p. 35).Out
breaks of epidemics of communicable diseases such as yellow fever, scurvy dysentery,
tuberculosis and smallpox were prevalent. Those who were diagnosed were thrown overboard
along with those who they could not supply with food and water. Others commited suicide and
infanticide as a means of resistance which help to lessen the percentage of slaves coming to the
New World.