Slavery In The Caribbean

Slavery had been going on for hundreds of years in the Caribbean. The European powers dominated and exploited the region for its riches, resources, and its people and provided an oppressed servile class of Africans to use as a labor resource. The slaves would work on plantations against their will without any regard for their well-being or livelihood. Furthermore, as the industry began to develop, the Caribbean saw a major decline in slavery partnered with a rise in indentured servitude. This essay will argue that the abolition movement and black resistance of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the influx of Asian migrants influenced economic development throughout the region and introduced a new race and social questions.
First,
As Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies Patricia Mohammed explains, "By the 1840s, Chinese indentureship was well on its way to failing as an organized labor system to replace freed slaves." As a result of Chinese immigrants finishing their contracts or abandoning their plantation, many moved on to their own businesses such as laundry owners, shopkeepers, and bakers. An example of a new emerging class is the story "The Baker's Story" by V.S. Naipaul. Here a black Grenadian man uses a Chinese front to make a fortune in a line of bakeries. People took the opportunities to work professions they wished to do for the first time. Soon after the start of Chinese immigration to the Americas, Indians began moving into the Caribbean, mainly to Guyana and Trinidad. Mohammed also adds, "By 1911 Indian-born and Trinidadian-born Indians accounted for more than 35 percent of the populations of Trinidad and Guyana. Today, Indians account for more than half the population in both these societies." A new Indian elite and working class materialized out of these two regions. This continues today. With this new upward mobility came racial and social tension. For this reason, there was a blend of various cultures and people that was brand new. However, the Caribbean stayed primarily black. Thus appeared the issue of defining what it meant to be black, Indian, and
It stems from the early abolitionist movements, a new workforce and demographic, and brought the introduction of social integration. The end of slavery brought pride but also obscurity, the end of colonialism, and new challenges to the Americas. Europeans devastated much of the region through its continued exploitation but, it had not stopped the growth. One day, maybe, the world can see a prosperous