Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to the history enquiry, how successful were efforts to abolish slavery in the 19th century.

This is lesson one of four and today's title is Jamaica, enslaved people and resistance.

For today's lesson, you going to need a pen or pencil, some paper, and a nice quiet room to do your work in.

If you need to find any of those, then please pause the video now and go there.

Excellent.

Let's get on with a lesson.

Due to the delicateness of this enquiry, it's really important that we understand why it is important.

So, we're just going to take a few minutes to read some really important information out to you.

So, during the 18th century, British people made huge amounts of money from slavery.

Most of Britain's grand homes from the period were in some way funded by enslaved people being forced to work in horrible conditions in the Caribbean.

Although lots of Britons made their fortunes from slavery, huge numbers of people at the time realised that slavery was wrong and should be abolished.

Across the next four lessons, we'll explore how successful people were in trying to end slavery, and when faced with other people making money from it.

Today, we'll look at how enslaved people tried themselves to resist slavery in Jamaica.

So to do that, the lesson is going to look like this for lesson one.

We'll look at the beginnings of slavery in Jamaica, and look at the people who are called Maroons.

We going to to look at who enslaved people in Jamaica and what resistance was there to enslavement.

What was slavery then? Well, it may be difficult in today's world to imagine a time when people bought and sold others.

Slavery involved people being forced to work for free, if they did not work then they will be punished or killed.

This meant enslaved people, even though the were human beings, were treated like animals or possessions.

Therefore, as historians, we have to face some unpleasant things in our past.

This is because over time, Britain came to dominate one of the trades in enslaved people that has operated in the world.

One of the dominant trades.

The one Britain came to dominate, was a Transatlantic Slave Trade.

This trade would enslave and transport over 12 million people from West Africa to the Americas, in the Americas, enslaved people were forced to work in horrible conditions on large farms called plantations.

So, to look at this in a little bit more detail and to understand about Jamaica, Jamaica is part of the Caribbean and the Caribbean are a network of islands that sits around Central America.

So you can see that there is South America, to the south of the Caribbean, Central America to the west, and the tip of Florida and the United States to its north.

So, we have the slave trade, and what can you see in this picture? We have a source here that shows a map of Africa and the Americas.

And it gives you some key facts about the slave trade.

And there quite horrific if you're looking at numbers about this.

So what can you see? So pause the video so you can look at this and start to have some ideas about what you can see.

Okay, so let's have a bit more help.

Jamaica is in the Caribbean.

Another word for the Caribbean is the West Indies.

Now, I've pointed out the arrow there, four and a half million people were transported to the West Indies by Europeans.

Now, that means that add to the potential, and we reckon just over 12 million in total.

I know the figures there says between 10 and 15.

'cause we're not exactly sure as historians how many people were fully transported.

but four and a half million were sent to the West Indies.

So if you look at that map, that's the second highest number of enslaved people were transported to the West Indies from the West African coast.

And you can see that the journey that they took.

And that journey was called the Middle Passage.

And there was some horrific and horrendous conditions that the enslaved people had to endure whilst making that crossing.

So what I'd like you to do is write down what you think you can see in this picture, what does it show you? So pause the video in a moment to answer that sentence, so pause the video now.

Well done.

This is what I put.

And remember, you don't need to put the same as I have.

In this picture, I can see a map of the slave trade to the Americas and West Indies.

You could have improved that by saying the transatlantic slave trade.

In this picture, you can see that four and a half million enslaved people were transported to the West Indies from West Africa.

So, your talking a massive number of enslaved people, forcibly transported against their will, to a completely new island and new way of living against their will.

So, there is the beginnings of slavery in Jamaica and looking at the slave trade itself.

Well, let's look at Maroons.

So, as I previously said, the original colonisers, the people that took over Jamaica were Spanish, and the Spanish were the first to use enslaved people on their plantations.

In 1655, England attacked Jamaica their tried to get Cuba, failed, so took Jamaica instead.

The Spanish before they left fleeing from the English soldiers.

A lot of their former or a lot their enslaved people, they set free and these people became known as Maroons.

Now, the Maroons fought a war, called the First Maroon War against Britain and a primary purpose of this war was to preserve their freedom.

And the Maroons were very quickly identified as being really skilled warriors.

And the British had a lot of a lot of admiration for the Maroons, and their fighting.

So at the end of the First Maroon War The British guaranteed the Maroons freedom.

The Maroons in return said that they would help the British keep the peace on Jamaica and return any enslaved people that escaped from British owned plantations.

Unfortunately, things didn't work out between Britain and the Maroons, and there was a second war.

Once again, the Maroons proved themselves to be very, very good fighters.

And what the British did when they eventually won the war, is they decided that Maroons were just too much of a problem on Jamaica, so they deported, now when you deport someone, you force them to leave where they are living and you put them somewhere else.

So Britain deported the Maroons from Jamaica and they put them and settled them in Sierra Leone, back in West Africa, in a town called Freetown, which had been set up after the American war of independence for freed enslaved people from the former British colonies there.

So the Maroons were deported, which again, isn't a very nice thing to have done to them, 'cause after all, they had settled, they had built own societies and, villages and towns in Jamaica, after they had been set free by the Spanish.

So let's have a quick recap, complete the sentences.

I've given you starting letters, or I've taken out the vowels.

Hopefully, there shouldn't be any problem.

So I'm going to ask you to pause the video to complete the question, rather statement, now.

Well done.

This shouldn't taken you too long.

So sentence one, the first West African enslaved people were brought to Jamaica by the Spanish, S-p-a-n-i-s-h statement two enslaved people from West Africa.

A-f-r-i-c-a were transported to Jamaica in 1655, the British captured Jamaica.

If you're struggling to spell British, it's on sentence four.

And obviously Jamaica you've seen and I'm really checking that you're getting the A and the I the correct way around in the middle.

It's important that we know how to spell these places.

Same number four, the Maroons M-a-r-o-o-n-s resisted the British.

After two wars, the British deported d-e-p-o-r-t-e-d many of the Maroons.

How do you spell Maroons again? Oh, I can hear you shouting out the answer.

It's obviously and well done.

M-a-r-o-o-n-s Well done.

I know you got five out of five.

If you didn't, you made some spelling mistakes, or you made a couple of errors.

Then rewind the video, make sure you get those corrected, because they could be really, really important later on in the lesson.

So who enslaved people in Jamaica? Well, the majority, the vast majority of enslaved people in Jamaica were by white Europeans.

So white Europeans owned plantations.

And here you can see a picture of cane cutters.

So these people are enslaved, and they are cutting sugar cane, ready to be processed and turned into sugar.

So this would be a white European owned plantation, Jamaica is rife with examples of resistance to enslavement.

And here's an example.

So what can you see in this picture? Again, we're just going to do exactly the same as we did earlier in the lesson.

So you please pause the video for about 30 seconds to have a look and try and solve working things out.

So pause the video now.

Well done.

I know you've got some really, really key images and thoughts about what you can see.

But just in case, I've given you some more help so, we can see plantations, the house, the mills, the refractories, they're on fire, really burning, being burnt down.

You also have the image of armed escaped enslaved people.

And you can see some are holding wood that's on fire.

Some are holding some of the tools that they will have used on the plantations.

So they're not properly armed as in what we would expect with guns, but they are carrying basic weapons that they could use.

So these people have escaped and what they're doing is they're attacking the plantation owners property.

So they've risen up and they're trying to destroy and get rid of their enslavement.

So, what can you see in this picture? I'd like you to pause the video to answer this question, now.

Fantastic.

Some of you might have been really, really clever and noticed where this actually happened.

Because if you look at the caption at the bottom, this is the destruction of the Roehampton estate during the Baptist war in Jamaica.

So here's what I put.

In this picture I can see a plantation on fire.

I know some of you, the really observant, would have put the rotation estate plantation on fire.

The fire was caused by the formerly enslaved people who wanted their freedom.

Again, I know you really really eagerlit, and you might have added during the Baptist war if you have, that is unbelievably brilliant and well done.

So, in Jamaica as our case study, we have, as I said, plenty of examples of resistance to enslavement, you have the two Maroon wars, you have a revolt called Tacky's Revolt.

This was a short lived effort to end enslavement, which was quickly defeated by the British.

And then you have the Baptist War.

The Baptist War is really, really important, because it can be claimed to have been the trigger.

The last piece of the puzzle that really forced through the final abolition of slavery within the British Empire.

And that happened in Jamaica by 1834.

With the Baptist War, saw the enslaved most of the enslaved people in Jamaica rise up and cause mass destruction to the white European, the white British owned plantations.

So, there are examples of resistance, unfortunately, the actual uprisings in trying to completely destroy the plantation system and enslavement.

They failed.

But the Baptist war at least pushed along the British in Parliament to finally pass an act that did end slavery.

So it was a really important piece in the puzzle to getting that done.

Now, all of this, you've got the resistance that is being faced.

Why did the British continue using slave people to work on plantations? and I've given you a picture here Some of you may have seen "Downton Abbey" that your parents may have watched, or your grandparents.

Well, this house is Downton Abbeys house.

It's called Harewood House and it's in West Yorkshire.

Well, this is why the British continued using enslaved people to work on plantations.

And it all comes down to one simple thing.

And unfortunately, for many people in the world, it is the most important thing that they can ever have in their life, which is money.

Using enslaved people meant you did not have to pay them wages, you force them to work.

So, you can get them to work really, really hard.

You have very low costs on making things and therefore you can charge high prices, and you get lots and lots of profits.

So, slavery and the use of enslaved people boil down to in essence, how much money can somebody make? And that is one of the true immoral ideas and thoughts of the entire enslavement of people.

You disregard the person, you disregard the fact that they are a human being.

And you just think of it as how much money can I make? So, I glossary really important that we know these word and we know how to spell them.

So colonised, when one country conquers another and then begins to settle on it.

So Jamaica was colonised first by the Spanish and then by the English/British.

Plantations, a large farm where enslaved people worked.

Remember, the most of the plantations on Jamaica worked with sugar cane to make sugar.

Settlements, another word for where people live, such as towns or villages.

Deported, to be removed from where you live and move to another country.

Will, a legal document that tells your relatives what happens to your possessions when you die.

Abolition the ending of something.

In this case, the abolition of the slave trade is the ending of the slave trade and British Empire.

That's all the land owned by Britain around the world.

So all the land that Britain has colonised.

So our comprehension questions, who were the original owners of enslaved people in Jamaica? Who were the Maroons? How many enslaved people are estimated to have been transported to Jamaica? What crop did the majority of enslaved people collect? Why did the Spanish then British import enslaved people from West Africa to Jamaica? And then our extension question, 'cause I know you going to absolutely smash those and get them completely right.

How did enslaved and formerly enslaved people living in Jamaica, try to rebel against slavery? Just a quick reminder before you start these questions, a really good answer is going to contain lots of detail from the worksheet and from this presentation, and it's going to be written using key words from the question and in full sentences.

So please make sure that you really try hard to do those two things.

Right.

Pause the video, read the worksheet and answer the comprehension questions now.

Fantastic, you worked really, really hard to get that done, and well done.

Some of those questions are really quite challenging.

So remember, you do not need the same responses as what I have written, 'cause I know you will have got the same key information down.

So question one, who were the original owners of enslaved people in Jamaica? The acceptable answer, is going to be a one or two word answer each time.

It's okay, it's not very good.

Would be just something like Spanish or the Spanish, or good answer, as I've said, use key words from the question.

And in a sentence, the original owners of enslaved people in Jamaica were Spanish.

Question two, who were the Maroons? Ex enslaved people.

Well, we're going for the good answer.

The Maroons were formerly enslaved people formerly is so much better than ex.

They were set free by the Spanish as the British captured Jamaica, some bit of background information.

They lived in the mountainous area of Jamaica.

The Maroons were famous for their bravery and fighting skills.

They gained their freedom after a war with Britain.

They were eventually deported after a second war against Britain.

So you have the detail there.

How many enslaved people are estimated to have been transported to Jamaica? Around one million.

But again, let's put this into a sentence.

There were around one million enslaved people taken from the West African coast and transported to Jamaica.

So just think, one million enslaved West Africans were transported to Jamaica.

That is one million out of the estimated four and a half million.

That's almost 25% of the enslaved West Africans landed up in Jamaica.

That's an awful lot.

And it's a terrible, terrible number to be looking at, or even imagining what a million people would look like.

What crop did the majority of enslaved people collect? Well, sugar, let's go with a good answer, the majority of enslaved people in Jamaica collected sugar.

They did so on very large farms called plantations.

some using a key word, plantations there.

Why did the Spanish then British import enslaved people from West Africa to Jamaica? Well, the good answer is Spanish and British both used plantations to harvest sugar.

Unfortunately, European diseases such as smallpox, and harsh working conditions, saw the local Taino peoples population collapse.

This caused the Spanish and British to then turn to importing enslaved people from West Africa to Jamaica.

So I've given the reason that the native, the local population in Jamaica, they had been effectively started to be killed off, whether it be through disease that they weren't used to but Europeans were, or whether it was through being forced to work themselves.

Their population had started to decline to come down.

So the Spanish then British turned to enslaved people in order to fill that gap.

Because, I mean, they didn't want to do the work themselves.

Because that, well yeah, but then merchantmen, that's them, businessman, but, you know, getting their hands dirty was beneath them so, they had to, well they didn't have to, they turned to importing enslaved people 'cause it was easier, cheaper for them to do.

Again, it's just boils down to fortunately, money talking.

They disregarded that these were people they didn't want to do the hard work themselves.

So they enslaved people to do the work for them.

So yeah, not very good thing to have done.

Now, our extension question.

How did enslaved and formerly enslaved people living in Jamaica tried to rebel against slavery? So I've given you some sentence starters there.

A way in which enslaved and formerly enslaved people living in Jamaica try to rebel against slavery was by so I'm using key words in the question.

To start off and by using the key words in the question, I'm always going to answer the question.

This can be shown by no, that could be an example, you can just as easily be highlighted by, this can be illustrated by and that allows you to add detail and description to the points to your first sentence.

This meant that or you could just because allows you then to explain your points.

So I'd like to pause the video and have a go at writing your answer.

Well done.

I know you've worked really hard on that.

I'm really impressed with your efforts in today's lesson.

This is what I put.

Again, you're more than welcome to pause the video now and to reflect and amend and alter your answer.

You don't have need to have written what I have written, 'cause I know you will have got the main points down.

So, a way in which enslaved and formerly enslaved people in Jamaica try to rebel against slavery was by fighting for their freedom.

This can be shown by the Maroons fighting two wars against the British.

You could have used the BW what's the BW? I can hear you shouting out, oh yes, the Baptist War.

Well done.

But I used the Maroons, fighting two wars against the British.

This meant they were willing to resist slavery in the first Maroon war, which guaranteed their freedom and rights, the second Maroon War, saw the British deport the Maroons rather than risk any further trouble by enslaving them or allowing them to remain in Jamaica.

So you've got the idea of the wars there.

Like said you could have used the Baptist War as well.

Or you could have done a bit more research and had a look at Tacky's Revolt included in that.

So, really well done for today.

You've worked really, really hard.

If you wish to share your work with Oak then please make sure you ask your parent, carer or guardian to share it for you on any of the following social media sites.

I've been really really impressed with you today.

And I look forward to another lesson with you in our enquiry.