Slave resistance in the Bahamas

Slave resistance in the Bahamas

by harbour Island Green School

​The Life of the Bahamian Slave

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Its was commonly observed that the life of Slaves in the Bahamas was not a brutal as on the other West Indian Islands.

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​In the Bahamas Slaves worked for the their masters for part of the day and tended their own fields a part of the day. On sugar Islands like Barbados and Antigua, slaves worked up to 20 hours a day

Multiple Choice

Slavery was said to be less cruel in the Bahamas than in other parts of The West Indies

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Slavery in the Bahamas was pleasant

• True

• False

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SLAVE UNITS IN THE BAHAMAS WERE OFTEN SMALL AND CLOSE KNIT

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The Largest Slave unit on Harbour Island was 62

A sugar planter in Barbados or Jamaica would often own up to 300 slaves. (Lawlor 2010)

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​Bahamian Planters worked directly with the slaves - In other west Indian islands and in the USA Slaves were supervised by Over Seers.

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​Cruel punishment was recorded

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​A Slave on Crooked island known as "Black Kate," owned by Mr and Mrs Moss, was held in the stocks for 17 days and nights.Her eyes were rubbed with hot peppers to prevent her from sleeping - she died.

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​In Harbour Island a female slave May Barnett was whipped with cow skin ,He wounds crawled with maggots and her owner was taken to court but he was found not guilty.

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​​In the first decade of the 1800s there were 15 reported cases if extreme cruelty recorded in the Bahamas

​An enslaved person being held in the stocks

​A slave scarred from severe whipping

Multiple Choice

Which images more likely shows life of a Bahamian Slave?

Multiple Choice

Hot pepper was a form of torture for slaves in the The Bahamas.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What were the stocks?

• A way of trading money

• A supply of food

• A torture device that trapped people hands between 2 wooden blocks

• a form of whipping

​Resistance and revolt

​Slave resistance in the Bahamas ranged from trying to violently over throw or kill masters to stopping their work or simply running away.

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​Between 1784 and 1834 ( the last 50 years of slavery) in the Bahamas more then 450 ads appeared for runaway slaves.

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​An act of parliment passed in 1767 - stated that Bahamian slaves who attacked or destroyed their masters property could be "whipped, have their nose slit, ears cut off, be branded with hot iron or be put to death. "

​The pompey rebellion

1. ​Lord Rolle was the largest slaveholder in the Bahamas who did live here but paid people to oversee his plantation.

2. In 1830 Lord Rolle planned to move a number of the slaves to Cat island, they did not want to go.

3. ​A slave called Pompey led the group into the bush for 5 weeks.

4. ​The slaves then fled to Nassau hoping Governor Carmichael Smyth , who was known to support slaves, would show mercy to them.

5. The slaves were captured and whipped, breast feeding women included.

6. The the Governor was furious about the beating and runaways were returned to Exuma,

7. they continued to resist and refused to work.

8. Pompey was publicly lashed until the slaves were convinced to resume work.

9. Pompey is considered a hero and the museum in Nassau is named after him.

​A statue of Pompey on the Rolle Plantation

Multiple Choice

The largest slaveholder in the Bahamas

• Governor Carmichael Smyth

• Lord Dunmore

• Lord Rolle

• Mr and Mrs Moss

Multiple Choice

Why did Pompey and the other Slaves run away?

• They were tired of working

• They didn't want to be moved to Cat island

• They had been beaten

• They didn't have enough food.

Multiple Choice

How did the over seer get the runaways to go back to work ?

• He whipped them.

• He whipped Pompey the leader publicly 39 times.

• He called Lord Rolle

• He starved them.

​Mutiny in Eleuthera

​William Johnson was a slave holder in Governors Harbour. People on Eleuthera and Harbour Isand who carry the surname Johnson would be the descendants of the people he enslaved.

​In 1833, the slaves stopped work .

​Soldiers were called from Nassau to quell the mutiny.

​It was discovered that Johnson had withheld food and clothing from the slaves and they had heard that The Birtish had Abloshed slavery. They thought their master was holding back their freedom. Slavery was abolished 1 year later.

Multiple Choice

How many soldiers came to put down the rebellion?

• 20

• 40

• 5

• 100

Multiple Choice

Why did the slaves rebel?

• they had not been provided with food or clothes and they believed the master was holding back emancipation

• they were moved

• They were newly arrived from Africa.

• They didn't like the food.

"Black Dick Deveaux": mystery & magic on Cat Island

1. Joseph hunter the slave master had an argument with several slaves, over days off at Christmas.

2. Hunter attempted to shoot a slave "Black Dick " Deveaux.

3. Deveuax is reported to have fired a gun back at Hunter.

4. Nine Slaves were taken to the supreme court and "Black Dick " was hanged to death.

5. A mysterious slave woman Charlotte was among the 9 slaves. She was friend and possibly a lover to Deveaux , is reported to have tried to poison the Hunters some years before the uprising.

6. Hunter and his daughter died one week apart in 1838, 7 years after the incident. His sons also died mysteriously.

7. ​Some believe Charlotte practiced Obeah an african form of magic practiced by slaves in the Bahamas

8. ​the hunters never returned to cat island and the slaves occupied the land - their descendants still farm here today.

Multiple Choice

Joseph hunter aruged with his slaves about ___________

• Time off at christmas.

• The rules of the plantation.

• Food.

• what crops they should plant.

Multiple Choice

Why was Black Dick Deveaux hanged?

• For firing a gun a Joseph Hunter.

• For running away.

• For stealing.

• For Obeah.

Multiple Choice

Who fired the gun first Hunter or Black Dick

• Hunter

• Black Dick