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Slavery in the Caribbean
Caribbean economy and slavery
Slavery in the Caribbean
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A Caribbean Legacy
The notions of slavery, colonialism, and race are indelible aspects of Caribbean history. In order to fathom the current political, social, economic, and cultural climate of the Caribbean one must engage in a critical study and understanding of the impact slavery has had in modern day Caribbean societies. The modes and intricacies of modern day Caribbean societies are intimately related to the plantation systems of the colonial period, which welcomed the arrival of the largest migration in history.
Author Michelle Cliff, in her essay "If I Could Write This With Fire," attempts to make sense of the current deplorable social conditions of racial inequality in her native land of Jamaica. It is within this context of understanding the current social and racial strife in Jamaica that Michelle Cliff presents the intimate relationship between past and present. Michelle Cliff, in an ontological manner attempts to unmask the current phenomena of racial strife in Jamaica by considering and examining the disdainful legacies of slavery brought upon by ruthless European colonialism in the Americas. Cliff, like many of the historians, sociologists, and economists which we have encountered in our study of Caribbean history, is partaking in an unmasking process of the Jamaican society in her literature in order to reconcile a ravaged Jamaican and Caribbean identity. Ultimately, Michelle Cliff’s desire to make sense of the Caribbean’s intricate social and cultural mosaic prompted her to "look back," and, as she states in her essay:
To try and locate the vanishing point: where the lines of perspective converge and disappear. Lines of color and class. Line of history and social context. Lines of denial and rejection. Wh...
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...nges imposed by the plantation system created a hierarchy of color (similar to the one discussed by Michelle Cliff in Abeng, wherein the color of one's skin designated one's occupation and social position).
Whiteness indicated economic and political superiority as well as leisure while blackness represented low social status and arduous labor. Consequently, it is quite evident that Knight offers significant evidence affirming the notion that slavery, or in this particular case, the social caste system imposed by the plantations has indeed had a grave influence in the evolution of Caribbean societies.
-Footnotes-
1.) Excerpt taken from: Michelle Cliff’s essay, "If I Could Write This With Fire."
2.) ibid (1)
3.) Quote taken from page 124 of: Knight, Franklin. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. Oxford University Press: New York, 1990.
Fluorescent turquoise waters, a vibrant city culture, as well as an unending supply of mimosas and sunburns within a resort, benefits the common wealthy couple looking for a swell time. When people imagine the Caribbean, they probably visualize the soft sands of the Spice Island Beach Resort. Many people see the Caribbean as relaxing paradise. What people don’t understand, are the years of history hidden behind the mask of many resorts. In the book entitled “Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day”, Author Carrie Gibson differentiates how people view the Caribbean nowadays, by altering their visualization with four-hundred pages of rich history and culture, that argues the ideology about the Caribbean
This week’s articles carry a couple related, if not common, themes of imagined, if not artificial, constructs of race and identity. Martha Hodes’ article, “The mercurial Nature and Abiding Power of Race: A Transnational Family Story,” offers a narrative based examination of the malleable terms on which race was defined. To accomplish this she examines the story of Eunice Connolly and her family and social life as a window into understanding the changing dimensions of race in nineteenth-century America and the Caribbean, specifically New England and Grand Cayman. While Hodes’ article examines the construction of race in the Americas, Ali A. Mazrui’s piece, “The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Sai, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond,” looks at the construction of African identity. Although different in geographic loci, the two articles similarly examine the shaping influences of race and identity and the power held in ‘the Other’ to those ends.
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
In the histories of Colonial Latin America there is one common aspect and that is the importation of slaves as a labor force. The resulting consequences for the territory are vital if we are to understand the development of the society. In Puerto Rico these consequences deal mainly with African influence on the peasantry, the corrective measures taken thereafter to negate the African influence, and the results of these corrective measures.
The Holocaust was one of the most horrifying crimes against humanity. "Hitler, in an attempt to establish the pure Aryan race, decided that Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma (Gypsies), and homosexuals amongst others were to be eliminated from the German population. One of his main methods of exterminating these “undesirables” was through the use of concentration and death camps. In January of 1941, Adolf Hitler and his top officials decided to make their “final solution” a reality. Their goal was to eliminate the Jews and the “impure” from the entire German population. Auschwitz was not only the largest concentration camp that carried out Hitler's “final solution,” but it was also the most extensive. It was comprised of three separate camps that encompassed approximately 25 square miles. Although millions of people came to Auschwitz, it is doubted that more than 120,000-150,000 ever lived there at any one time. (Encyclopedia of the Holocaust)
. The Auschwitz concentration camp was made first commander at Auschwitz Rudolf Hoss who had experience of running concentration camps. Auschwitz was located in Southern Poland in a city called Krakow. When the camp was being built the houses and factories nearby were bulldozed to make space for the camp. Though this was true Auschwitz was not made for it to be a concentration camp. Auschwitz was intended to be a detention center for Polish citizens who got arrested after Germany took over Poland in 1939. The Auschwitz concentration camp was opened on spring of 1940. The concentration camp became the largest c...
The majority of the nearly 500,000 slaves on the island, at the end of the eighteenth century endured some of the worst slave conditions in the Caribbean. These people were seen as disposable economic inputs in a colony driven by greed. Thus, they receive...
Laurent Dubois and John D. Garrigus. "Slave Revolution in the Caribbean 1789-1804: A Brief History of Documents.” Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.
The Vichy Regime was the French government that came after the Third Republic in the year 1940 (Editors, 1). Many historians say Vichy France was a very dark and unfortunate time. Vichy was a wartime government in a town south of Paris called Vichy. It was established by Marshal Philippe Pétain after France surrendered to Germany on June 22, 1940 (Editors, 1). On the same day, France was divided into two zones: one to be under German military occupation and one to be left to the French. There were, however, a few zones of France unoccupied (Holocaust). Not too long after the new government was made, Pierre Laval joined it and soon became the main architect of the regime (Editors, 2). Laval was the man who granted Petain to create a new constitution so he would have full legislative and executive powers in the French State (McMahon). Petain was a beloved hero from World War II. Even though the Vichy government lasted four years, there was never a new constitution (McMahon, 1). Vichy France, known as the “French State”, would rule the south and most of France’s oversea colonies would remain loyal to Vichy.
...throughout Europe as they did in Auschwitz and Majdanek. These horror stories are only a few out of the hundreds of camps that the Nazis built during World War Two. The Holocaust was a devastating event for the Jewish population as well as many other minorities in Europe. The Holocaust was the largest genocide that has ever occurred. Horrific things went on in Auschwitz and Majdenek that wiped out approximately 1,378,000 people combined. This death toll is extremely high compared to smaller camps. These camps were some of the largest concentration/death camps that existed during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a tragic time where millions of people considered undesirable to the Nazis were detained, forced to work in the harshest of conditions, starved to death, or brutally murdered.“The Holocaust was the most evil crime ever committed.” –Stephen Ambrose
Social Stratification in the African American community has changed over the years. Social stratification is defined as a rigid subdivision of a society into a hierarchy of layers, differentiated on the basis of power, prestige, and wealth according to Webster’s dictionary. David Newman in Sociology Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life describes stratification as a ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances in society. From slavery to the present, the African American community has been seen to have lower status compared to white people. Today, the stratification or hierarchy difference between whites and black are not really noticeable, but it is still present. However, during slavery, the difference in social stratification was noticeable. Whites dominated over the blacks and mulattoes (offspring of a white and black parent). The mulattoes were seen to have a higher stratification than an offspring of black ancestry. Because the mulattoes were related to the whites, they were able to obtain higher education and better occupations than blacks. For example, most slaves of a lighter skin tone worked in the houses and darker slaves worked in the fields. As the people of light skin tone had children, they were able to have advantages too. The advantages have led into the society of today. In this paper I will discuss how stratification has been affected in the African American community over time by skin tone to make mulattoes more privileged than dark skin blacks.
...as a strong influence for other slaves to seek independence and equality. Following the success of the Haitian Revolution, governments and abolitionists in Americas had to re-conceptualize Afro-Cuban experience within the context of transnational Black community. Although many scholars have tried to sensationalize the Haitian Revolution, its ability to create an interdisciplinary dialogue on cultural legacies is unparalleled. Spaniard in Cuba suppressed information on the success of the uprising in Saint-Domingue to avert similar uprising.
The way in which Benítez-Rojo and Mintz tackle the question of Caribbean identity in their articles, is a removed, objective ideal, in contrast to Michelle Cliff’s portrayal of Jamaican identity. Cliff’s portrayal touches the heart and soul of Caribbean identity. While Mintz and Benítez-Rojo are investigating trends in the Caribbean as a whole, from an outside perspective, Cliff offers the personal, tactile imagery of what it is to live in the Caribbean, utilizing the objective account of history as a background. Furthermore, Cliff deals with Jamaica, one island in the Caribbean, while Mintz and Benítez-Rojo are dealing with the Caribbean on a grand scaled overview. The fact is neither article can be taken as complete truth. In fact, although Cliff uses history in her novel, I believe the account of history from someone who has completely accessed the interior of a place, is always going to be biased. Likewise, Mintz and Benítez-Rojo in making their hypotheses, are lacking an insider’s view. It is the difference between a Caribbean person and Caribbeanist, respectively. Therefore, while on a logical level, an analytical level, Benítez-Rojo and Mintz’s, conclusions as to Caribbean identity could rightly be accepted, these two authors do not possess the experience and intensity to make me as a reader, convinced of their conclusions.
Auschwitz was one of many concentration camps during the Holocaust; the only difference was that Auschwitz was the biggest and most brutal Nazi death camp that caused terror to millions of prisoners. Auschwitz was located near Oswiecim, Poland and stretched several miles long. Thousands of prisoners were held captive within Auschwitz and had no choice to obey the rules the SS men set for them. Those who did obey the rules were put to death instantly. Thousands of prisoners prayed that they would one day be set free; however, many prisoners spoke their last words within the barbed wires of Auschwitz.
twentieth century Caribbean woman writers, are as complicated as they are vast. These authors show