NAME: Adolfo Medina

SUBJECT: History

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 27TH MARCH 2010

THEME: Caribbean economy and slavery

TASK: Compare the treatment of slaves in Belize to that of other Caribbean Territories in the 19th Century

STIMULUS: Picture

SCHOOL NUMBER: 040018

INDEX NUMBER: 0170

PROFICIENCY: General

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Table of Content

Introduction pg3

Master slave relationship pg4

Overseeing of slaves pg5

Feeding of slaves pg6

View of society pg7

Punishments pg8

Conclusion pg9

References pg10

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I ntroduction

If you think that that in the 19th century things were easy and elegant your

way off because in the 19th century there were many difficulties, slavery, extreme

cruelty, much racial tension, and disorder in the workplace form slaves. If you

were a rich white with a lot of land things would be easier, but few of the

population in the Caribbean was. I chose to do the treatment of slaves in the

Caribbean in the 19th century because the way in which they were treated is a

fascinating topic. In the 19th century slaves were treated worse than animals. In

the 19th century slaves were unjustified and treated brutally wrong by the way in

which there white master acted towards them, the way they were looked after, the

way they were fed, the way they were seen in society, the way they were punished.

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M aster- S lave R elationship

The master of an estate had no concern towards the slaves who worked

there; his main concern was his income, and the amount of sugar that was

exported. The master of an estate usually didn’t deal much with the colored males-

mostly the colored females by making the do demeaning sexual activities for his

pleasure. The master wouldn’t care if the colored woman was married or had

children, he would still make and or force the woman to pleasure him if he wanted

pleasure. The women that had pleasured the master would vex him by singing a

song describing the things that they had done. The master didn’t like this because

it humiliated him, as to get back at the woman for what she had done he would

punish her by hanging and then flogging her.

4Woman hung & flogged

O verseeing O f S laves

Within the 19th century the people who looked after the slaves as they

worked were known as the overseers. Overseers were usually a colored person

himself, yet he thought himself greater than the other slaves. The overseer liked

the position of overseer because they were above slavery. To keep a job as

overseer the overseer would have to know how to deal with disobedience, with was

dealt by instigating a punishment. When a slave became injured in the plantation

they did not have proper medical facilities because the overseers didn’t care much

for their help since the cost of a slave was “cheap”. In Belize, since there was no

plantation, instead they when logwood cutting but then it changed to mahogany

cutting which was mush more dangerous and lead to many deaths. While out

Mahogany cutting there was no overseer to whip the slave and the slave who were

out such as the huntsmen, and the oxen and the others who helped in the mahogany

production were seen as very important.

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F eeding O f S laves

In the past, slaves where at the bottom of the list of priorities. Slaves were

treated worse than the pets whereby they weren’t feed at times and during the time

they were feed they were feed with small meals that were unsatisfactory and not

nutritional. This diet that was forcefully given to the slaves caused many of them to

pass away because of all the lack of nutrition. Masters did not want to feed the

slaves with the crops being grown so instead they gave imported food; this was

given in moderation and sometimes not given. Slaves realized that they needed

more food so the started to plant food in their own little garden with was given to

them by the master.

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V iew O f T he S ociety

The majority of the populations in the Caribbean where made up of colored

people, yet the ones in control were the wealthy whites. The small population as is

saw the slaves as inferior and vile and also saw it normal to kill slaves. Society

saw them so inferior that they didn’t care for them and wore them out working in

sugar industries and by implementation of brutal punishments. The society saw

them so low that they were mare objects that they could be sold at a cheap price to

the society.

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P unishments

There were many types of punishments done to the slaves such as physical

punishment, mental punishment and even sexual punishment. In some cases such

as in physical punishment men were punished with more brutality than women.

Thomas Thistlewood clamed “Gave him a moderate whipping, pickles him well,

made Hector shit in his mouth, immediately put a gag whilst his mouth was full &

made him wear it 4 or 5 hours.” In Miserable Slavery by Thomas Thistle Wood

edited by Douglass Hall (page 70-71).Whenever a slave misbehaved he/she was

punished by being flogged, hanged, or even killed. Sometimes the slaves were just

killed for the amusement of the whites. When this was done it was done with an

audience watching the slave being killed. The slaves residing in Belize did not

have such punishments because they had no work in plantations, yet they did have

some sort of cruelty placed upon them. They had the deadly task of having to find

mahogany in a danger infested forest and not only that, they also had to cut down

the mahogany when found. The cutting of the mahogany was life-threatening

since they had to build a support that held them four to five meters high. The

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grave proportion of the cutting is that the mahogany could not be controlled when

falling down and this lead to many deaths.

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C onclusion

In conclusion, it is seen that slaves were treated with extreme cruelty even

though they formed the majority of the population, did majority of the brutal labor.

In the past, just by observing how the masters treated the slaves, how the slaves

were overseen, how the slaves were feed, how the slaves were seen by the society,

and how the slaves were punished it can be easily noted how the masters had no

sort of mercy towards the slaves even though they were the ones who did all the

work for him and his income. I conclusion, the Caribbean slaves of the 19th century

suffered a great deal of pain and torture while in Belize slaves suffered, but they

had more privileges and freedom granted to them.

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References

Chapter 5-Slavery in Belize. Retrieved December 14, 2009, from Website: http://www.belizenet.com/history/chap5.html

Green wood, R and Hamber, S. (2003 2ed).Emancipation to Emigration. Macmillan Publisher

Hall, D. (1999). In Miserable Slavery Thomas Thistlewood , in Jamaica 1750-1786, University of the West Indies

Slavery in the Settlement, 1794-1838. Retrieved December 14, 2009, from Web site: http://countrystudies.us/belize/7.htm

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