CARIBBEAN HISTORY Examine the methods employed by planters to induce "labourers" to work on sugar estates after emancipation.

Question: Examine the methods employed by planters to induce "labourers" to work on sugar estates after emancipation. Full emancipation of the slaves was achieved in 1838 in the British West Indies and 1848 in the French colonies. The post-emancipation period was viewed with fear by planters who believed that mass of ex-slaves would exodus the plantations, robbing them of their labour supply. In many cases this was so. However, one can argue that the British West Indies …

…economic ruin for the society. Planters and the Authorities joined forces against the "savage, uncivilized" Blacks whose nature inclined them away from the "delights of working in the blistering sun on the plantations" and more towards their "crude and uninformed version of what freedom was about, like liberty of movement". These hostile attitudes of planters and authorities alike are responsible for the exodus of ex-slaves in both the British West Indies and the French colonies.