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British baptist involvement in Jamaica 1783 - 1865

Catherall, Gordon Arthur

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Authors

Gordon Arthur Catherall



Abstract

The events which took place in Jamaica at the end of December 1831 and the ensuing months proved to be the death throes of official slavery in the British Colonies. As a system of colonisation it had persisted too long, and had degraded humanity in the name of the economy. But it cannot be said that freedom came with the Act of emancipation passed in 1834, an Act hurried along by the events of 1832. Though 'freedom' had official sanction, and technically there were no slaves in the British Colonies after that date, it did not come into full operation until 1838; even then it could not eliminate that attitude towards the Negro which believed that he was de jure the property of the planter, an attitude which persisted for many years - some no doubt would argue that it persisted well into the twentieth century.
Freedom is a delicate and precious possession and, therefore, must be treated with great care; it cannot be ordered into being, neither can it be left to the caprice of homo sapiens, for they soon distort its meaning, as we shall see in the account of events which took place in Jamaica after 1834. In the events leading up to 1831-1832, and the work of establishing the Negroes
as citizens of Jamaica after that date, the Baptists played a not unimportant part, which appears generally to have failed to gain recognition. It is the purpose of this present study to attempt, in a small way, to rectify this neglect. It is a study of British Baptist involvement in Jamaica between the years 1783, when two ex-American Negro slaves arrived in the island, and 1865 when the tragedy of Morant Bay occurred, for which the Baptists were made the scapegoats, as in the case of the 1832 insurrection. It is hoped to show haw deeply many of the Baptist missionaries were involved in the work of creating a foundation for a Jamaican nation.
As this is primarily a study of denominational involvement, it may appear somewhat biased. There is no intention of suggesting that Baptists alone played a vital role in these events; that would be untrue, nevertheless, it is an attempt to prove that Baptists played a significant role in the development of the island and, therefore, deserve more attention than has hitherto been given to them.

Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024

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