Samuels brands emancipation declaration a scam

Veteran attorney Bert Samuels has delivered a stinging rebuke of Britain, describing the Emancipation Declaration read at midnight on July 31, 1838, as “a scam” that deceived the formerly enslaved and whose legacy, he argued, continues to shape Jamaican society nearly two centuries later.

Samuels made the remarks on Friday, exactly 188 years after the declaration was read by then Governor Sir Lionel Smith at midnight, ushering in Emancipation Day in the British West Indies on August 1, 1838.

“The British are super scammers,” Samuels told The Gleaner.

“They were supposed to free us. ... [In] 1838, when Lionel Smith ... read this disrespectful proclamation after the Queen made sure to look after her planters with £20 million. And when they (planters) found out that the £20 million was going to be paid to them in exchange for freedom in 1834, they went back to the British Parliament and ask for four more years,” he said, citing the work of historian Professor Sir Hilary Beckles.

According to Samuels, the four-year apprenticeship period that followed the abolition of slavery was justified by the claim that formerly enslaved people needed time to “rehearse freedom”.

“They said we needed four years to rehearse freedom, that we couldn’t manage freedom if it was given us to [in] one shot. That was the most terrible four years. They worked us, including my great-grandfather, Edward Samuels, because he was a slave boy. He lived to almost 100 years. And we no get a penny, and dem seh de ole house dem we wi live inna a no fe we! And a remind we seh the plantation lands a no fe we. We must work fe dem or leave dem place ‘cause a no fe we!” an emotional Samuels added.

He also condemned portions of the declaration urging the formerly enslaved to remain on the plantations where they had been born, and warning that unemployed people could be treated as vagrants.

“We fe continue happy with our masters. We must mind dem lock we up as vagrants if we stop work fe Massa and a walk ‘bout free. And say we must behave ourselves like the Queen’s good subjects.”

He said it was painful to read.

The proclamation, read by Sir Lionel Smith, congratulated the formerly enslaved on becoming “free labourers”, while reminding them that the houses, provision grounds and gardens they occupied remained the property of estate owners and that they would have to pay rent in money or labour. It also warned that “idle people” wandering the country could be arrested and punished as vagrants.

The declaration further stated that the British people, “who have paid such a large price for your liberty”, expected the newly emancipated population to obey the law and contribute through their labour to the island’s prosperity.

The declaration further stated that the British people, “who have paid such a large price for your liberty,” expected the newly emancipated population to obey the law and contribute through their labour to the island’s prosperity.

Samuels argued that despite the sacrifices of Jamaica’s national heroes, the descendants of enslaved Africans remain disproportionately represented among the country’s economic and educational underclass, with many still landless. He also suggested that the concept of vagrancy continues to influence how people occupying Crown lands are treated.

Antwayne Campbell, president of the Marcus Garvey Political Party, said legal emancipation has not translated into full economic freedom for Black Jamaicans.

“To be honest, it has ended slavery in law, but not in full practicality,” he told The Gleaner. Political freedom, without economic independence, land ownership, and Black self-determination, will only leave many Jamaicans still dependent on the remnants of colonial plantation system. Look at what happened when were were allegedly forced to [end the agreement with] the Cuban medical doctors ... . Is that political freedom?” Campbell asked.

“We now still don’t have access to majority of our raw materials and resources, our rivers and beaches. We are still fighting for that. We are still fighting for the full legalisation of marijuana. Some time ago, there was partial legalisation, but there is no real market and no full economic independence for those who are growing marijuana to export and do business locally. So, that’s some of the ways how the system is still operating.”

Campbell said this would make him theorise that Jamaica is neither fully independent nor emancipated.

He argued that meaningful emancipation must also include transforming Jamaica’s education system. He said some of the curriculum is now obsolete and Jamaica is not producing scholars in mathematics and the sciences.

“Until then, we are only working and operating under the full colonial system that they gave us,” he said.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com

Emancipation Proclamation

“His Excellency Sir Lionel Smith, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Order, a Lieutenant-General in Her Majesty’s Land Forces, and Colonel of the Fortieth Regiment of Foot, Captain-General, Governor in Chief, and Commander of the Forces in and over Her Majesty’s Island Jamaica, and the other territories thereon depending in America, chancellor, and vice admiral of the same”.

To the praedial (field) apprentices, Field Workers:

“In a few days more, you will all become free labourers – the legislature of the island having relinquished the remaining two years of your apprenticeship. The 1st of August next is the happy day when you will become free – under the same laws as other free men, whether white, black, or coloured. I, as your governor, give you joy of this great blessing.

“Where you can agree and continue happy with your own masters, I strongly recommend you to remain on those properties on which you have been born, and where your parents are buried. But you must not mistake in supposing that your present houses, gardens, or provision grounds, are your own property. They belong to the proprietors of the estates, and you will have to pay rent for them in money or labour, according as you and your employers may agree together.

“Idle people who will not take employment, but go wandering about the country, will be taken up as vagrants, and punished in the same manner, as they are in England.

“Recollect what is expected of you by the people of England, who have paid such a large price for your liberty .

“They not only expect that you will behave yourselves as The Queen’s good subjects, by obeying the laws, as I am happy to say you always have done as apprentices; but that the prosperity of the island will be increased by your willing labour, greater beyond what it ever was in slavery.”

“Be honest towards all men – be kind to your wives and children – spare your wives from heavy field work, as much as you can – make them attend to their duties at home, in bringing up your children, and in taking care of your stock – above all, make your children attend divine service and school. If you follow this advice, you will, under God’s blessing, be happy and prosperous.”