Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda, 1616-1782Slaves & Slaveholders in Bermuda, 1616-1782, offers a fresh perspective on the complex relationship between racism & slavery in the often overlooked second-oldest English colony in the New World. As the first blacks were brought onto the islands not specifically for slave labor, but for their expertise as pearl divers & cultivators of West Indies plants, Bermuda's racial history began to unfold much differently from that of the Caribbean islands or of the North American mainland. Bermuda's history records the arrival of the first blacks, the first English law passed to control the behavior of the "Negroes," & the creation of ninety-nine-year indentures for black & Indian servants. Slavery may have dictated & strained the relationships between whites & blacks, but in this smallest of English colonies it differed from slavery elsewhere because of the uniquely close master-slave relations created by Bermuda's size & maritime economy. At only twenty-one square miles in size, Bermuda saw slaves & slave-holders working & living closer together than in other societies. Additionally, the emphasis on maritime pursuits offered slaves a degree of autonomy & a sense of identity unequaled in other English colonies. This groundbreaking history of Bermuda's slavery reveals fewer runaways, less-violent rebellions, & relatively milder punishments for offending slaves. One anecdote recounts that in 1782, seventy black seamen offered freedom in Boston voluntarily returned to their Bermuda homes. Bernhard delves into the origins of Bermuda's slavery, its peculiar nature, & its effects on blacks & whites. She bases her study on archival research drawn from wills & inventories, laws & court cases, governors' reports & council minutes. Intended as an introduction to both the history of the islands & the rich sources for further study, this book will prove invaluable to scholars of slavery, as well as those interested in historical archaeology, anthropology, maritime history, & colonial history. |
Contents
Census of the Eight Tribes 1622 | 27 |
From Servitude to Slavery | 49 |
Indian Indentures ca 16361661 | 57 |
Too Little Land Too Many Slaves | 94 |
Size of Landholdings 1663 | 104 |
A Living from the Sea | 148 |
Freedom and Control | 199 |
Families White and Black | 234 |
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Common terms and phrases
acres Assembly assize assize court Barbados Bermuda sloop Bermuda's blacks Bermudians Captain Caribbean Carolina child church colonists colony's Crow Lane Dando Danish West Indies Darrell daughter death Devonshire Early Bermuda Records Elizabeth English colonies four free blacks George George's girl Governor Hallett Hamilton Tribe Hinson ibid indentured indentured servants inventory Ireland Island James John Devitt John Stowe labor Lefroy listed lived mainland colonies married Mary masters Memorials merchant mulatto named Nathaniel Rich Negro number of slaves Outerbridge owner parish Paynter Pembroke Parish Pembroke Tribe petition planter plot population punishment rebellion residents Robert Rich sailed salt Sarnando servants seventeenth century ship slave households slaveholders slavery sloop Smith Smith's Tribe Somers Islands Company Southampton Tribe survey tenants Thomas tobacco Trade and Plantations Trott Turks Islands vessels Virginia West Indies whites and blacks widow wife William women Wood wreck