After Emancipation

The Emancipation Proclamation was read on August 1, 1834. It was a day of celebration among the African population, with much singing, dancing and shouts of joy. Africans in Jamaica were no longer slaves, but the journey to freedom was still not completed. The cruelty of slave labour was to be replaced by a milder form of labour, called apprenticeship. The catch was that apprenticeship was still compulsory and was to last for a further four years.

Africans could now work four or five days a week and no longer had to work at nights. On their days off, instead of working for the planters, they chose to do their own small cultivations. With the end of slavery, owners were compensated for losing their slaves and were expected to supply medicine for the sick, clothing and better food. Often, the planters ignored the new laws and continued like nothing had changed. They refused to update equipment and working conditions. The apprenticeship was clearly not working and was abolished in 1837 – after three years.

Production on the plantations went down due to lack of workers and to make matters worst, sugar prices were declining. The planters blamed the African workers that remained on the plantations, saying blacks were lazy and did not want to work. In reality, most ex-slaves had moved on and were busy building their own communities and finding new ways to make a living. Some stayed on the plantations and tried to make the best of it.

Planters tried to remedy the situation of lack of labourers by encouraging immigration of the Germans, Scottish and Irish. Europeans could not handle the hard work and many died. Most of the others found alternative work or left Jamaica. New immigrants were taken in from India and China. Indian immigration started in 1838 and stopped from 1839 to 1844. It continued after that until 1917. Indian immigrants within this period were approximately 33,000. Chinese immigration started in 1860 and ended in 1893, with approximately 5,000 people arriving in Jamaica. About 7,500 Africans were brought into Jamaica between 1840 and 1865, as indentured labourers. Many claimed free return passage to Africa after their term of service.  

With Britain opening the formerly protected sugar market to free trade, planters were forced to sell their sugar on the open market, often at a loss. The price of property plummeted and many were left abandoned. By 1860, half of the plantations in Jamaica were closed down.

Many plantation owners and their families returned to Britain, while the African population had seen Jamaica as home. To make a living, the Africans grew bananas, ginger, sugar cane and other crops that they sold at the nearest markets. Income from the farm was used to build proper homes, with each member of the household having their own room. Wooden floors began replacing dirt floors. Skilled carpenters also made a living building houses for other members of the community. They helped missionaries to build churches and schools and the need to acquire an education was not far off. The plantation owners that remained and the ruling class, hated to see their ex-slaves progressing. They started taxing heavily, imported goods that the Africans needed or liked, such as linens, threads, shoes, stockings, hats and printed materials.

Educated people were needed to build the new Jamaica, so young men and women started attending the schools that sprang up across the island. They in turn became teachers and ministers, educating the next generation and preaching in the local churches. Some also went into business but the majority of the population remained manual labourers. Job opportunities also opened up overseas in 1879, when labourers were needed to build a railway in Panama. Many Jamaicans stayed on in Panama. When the United States planned to build a canal in Panama in the early twentieth century, Jamaicans were again invited as labourers.

African-Jamaicans welcomed freedom and were determined to make a success of their lives. There were many challenges and setbacks, but nothing in the future could be as difficult as slavery. As situations improved and dreams were realised, Jamaicans found that they could build a bright future.

[OURSTORY] [African Heritage] [Taino heritage] [Transatlantic Slavery] [After Emancipation] [The Maroons] [Jamaica's Heroes] [Idependance]