The Political Languages of Emancipation in the British Caribbean and the U.S. SouthUniv of North Carolina Press, 2003 M04 3 - 248 pages This comparative study examines the emancipation process in the British Caribbean, particularly Jamaica, during the 1830s and in the United States, particularly South Carolina, during the 1860s. Analyzing the intellectual and ideological foundations of postslavery Anglo-America, Demetrius Eudell explores how former slaves, former slaveholders, and their societies' central governments understood and discussed slavery, emancipation, and the transition between the two. Eudell investigates the public policies--which addressed issues of labor control, access to land, and the general social behaviors of former slaves--used to execute emancipation. In both regions, government-appointed officials (special magistrates in Jamaica and agents of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina) were crucial in implementing these policies. While many former slaves were fighting for the right to be paid for their labor and to own land, many officials came to view their role as part of a new civilizing mission whose goal was to eradicate the psychic damage supposedly caused by slavery. Eudell concludes by examining the 1865 Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica and the retreat from Reconstruction in South Carolina, part of the larger movement of Redemption that occurred in 1877. Both of these occurrences represented the incomplete victory of emancipation, Eudell argues, and should provoke scholarly questions regarding the persistent thesis of U.S. exceptionalism. |
Contents
Chapter Two A Steady and Certain Command of Labour | |
Chapter Three This Work of Civilization | |
Chapter Four The Vexed Question of Original Unity | |
Chapter Five Delusions of a False Canaan | |
Conclusion | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
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Common terms and phrases
abolition of slavery abolitionists agents American antislavery apprentices apprenticeship argued asserted assistant commissioner attempted Baynes became Black Codes British Caribbean British Slave Emancipation Capitalism and Slavery Circular civilization claimed Colonial Office conception constituted contended cultural economic emancipation process emerged enclosed in Sligo Eric Foner exslaves Foner former slaves Frederick Douglass Freedmen’s Bureau freedom freedpeople Governor Sligo Howard human Ibid idea ideology immigration industry insisted institution intellectual island issue Jamaica Jamaica Assembly John Daughtrey July Klan Ku Klux Klan labor land Lord Glenelg Metcalf missionaries moral Morant Bay negro officials perspective Philip Foner plantations planters political languages postslavery context problem question race Reconstruction remained Republican Richard Chamberlaine Rufus Saxton Saxton Sir Lionel Smith situation slaveholders Sligo to Glenelg Smith to Glenelg society South Carolina special magistrates U.S. South understanding W. E. B. Du Bois wages West Indies White William