Synopses & Reviews
This book brings back into print, for the first time since the 1830s, a text that was central to the transatlantic campaign to fully abolish slavery in Britainandrsquo;s colonies. James Williams, an eighteen-year-old Jamaican andldquo;apprenticeandrdquo; (former slave), came to Britain in 1837 at the instigation of the abolitionist Joseph Sturge. The
Narrative he produced there, one of very few autobiographical texts by Caribbean slaves or former slaves, became one of the most powerful abolitionist tools for effecting the immediate end to the system of apprenticeship that had replaced slavery.
and#9;Describing the hard working conditions on plantations and the harsh treatment of apprentices unjustly incarcerated, Williams argues that apprenticeship actually worsened the conditions of Jamaican ex-slaves: former owners, no longer legally permitted to directly punish their workers, used the Jamaican legal system as a punitive lever against them. Williamsandrsquo;s story documents the collaboration of local magistrates in this practice, wherein apprentices were routinely jailed and beaten for both real and imaginary infractions of the apprenticeship regulations.
and#9;In addition to the complete text of Williamsandrsquo;s original Narrative, this fully annotated edition includes nineteenth-century responses to the controversy from the British and Jamaican press, as well as extensive testimony from the Commission of Enquiry that heard evidence regarding the Narrativeandrsquo;s claims. These fascinating and revealing documents constitute the largest extant body of direct testimony by Caribbean slaves or apprentices.
Review
andldquo;Williamsandrsquo;s narrative contributes a distinctive dimension to our understanding of the development of andlsquo;Black Atlanticandrsquo; writing. His is a rare account of a slaveandrsquo;s transition to freedom under the conditions of the British emancipation program in Jamaica. The rich historical and social texture provided by Paton enhances this striking narrativeandrsquo;s import.andrdquo;andmdash;William L. Andrews, coeditor of The Civitas Anthology of African American Slave Narratives
Review
andldquo;This is simply a fabulous compilation of materials. Paton carefully addresses an impressive range of historical and literary contexts that allow the contemporary reader to fully appreciate the importance of Williamsandrsquo;s narrative.andrdquo;andmdash;Sandra Gunning, author of Race, Rape, and Lynching: The Red Record of American Literature, 1890andndash;1912
Synopsis
Scholarly edition of a slave narrative that tells of life as an "apprentice" under the British gradual emancipation plan.
About the Author
Diana Paton is a Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of
Newcastle.
Diana Paton is Lecturer in History at the University of Newcastle, England.