This segment of the unit focuses more on historical information on the Caribbean region, therefore, Social Studies and Language Arts teachers might peruse the information given here in order to determine the areas they want to highlight.
Effects of Slavery in the Caribbean
Many artists have created visual representations of various aspects of African American life. Students have explored Winslow Homer’s perspective of black experiences in the Caribbean. Now, students will explore another artist’s rendition of the experiences of people of African descent living in the Caribbean. The idea of using two American artists, one black and the other white, is to encourage dialogue on how perspective influences our understanding of history and the way we view life.
The Harlem Renaissance has its place in history because of the positive manner in which African descendants are portrayed with pride, accomplishment, and hope. Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) is part of the Harlem culture and his perspective of black history is different from that found in mainstream textbooks. His artwork, based on his experiences as an African American, also portrays the universal quest for freedom, dignity, and social justice. Lawrence was a storyteller who used his artwork to document the struggle for freedom and social justice among people of African descent. His paintings depict joy, pain, suffering, weakness, and strength of the characters in the stories that were being told. Dramatic diagonals, which place the viewer above the scenes, create tension. Rough application of paint creates a sense of urgency. The decorative form draws on a combination of folk, modernist, and African art.
At the age of twenty-one, Jacob Lawrence completed the forty-one panel
Toussaint L’Ouverture
series in 1938. This series which is a chronological documentation of the history of the Haitian revolution, paved the way for Jacob to use his art to capture the stories of Africans who escaped slavery and helped to free other slaves. Each small picture, accompanied by a narrative caption, uses characters that are recognizable throughout much of his work. Other historical series are devoted to Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.
The book
Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Flight to Haiti’s Freedom
, written by Walter Dean Myers, illustrates Lawrence’s panels mentioned above. Students who choose to do a visual presentation or create a storybook for their final assessment of the unit will be able to obtain ideas on how to make their drawings or paintings tell their stories in an effective manner. The book can be used to introduce students to the history of the French-speaking island of Haiti which contains an accurate account of the activities of Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution. The paintings will evoke lively discussions as students read to learn about one more African who refused to accept the conditions of slavery and joined with a band of other slaves to defeat the French army on the island of Haiti. L’Ouverture, who was regarded as a vagabond by the French, out-maneuvered their army by using guerilla tactics and surprise attacks. The many failed attempts to capture him frustrated the French. Toussaint L’Ouverture headed a successful revolt against France that eventually led to Haiti’s independence. Haiti is the first nation in the western hemisphere to gain independence from Europe. Unlike many countries, Haiti gained both political and economic independence from the mother country France. Other countries could still rely on their economic ties with the colonizers. But this island nation became isolated from other wealthy countries such as France, the United States, and Canada. Many think that this is a contributing factor to the nation’s impoverished conditions today.
The Maroons of Jamaica
In 1655, the British captured the island of Jamaica from the Spanish. The story is pretty much the same of slavery being introduced in the New World. This is another opportunity for students to realize that not all Africans were subservient and that many resisted the slave masters. One such group of Africans was the Maroons who were runaway slaves living in the hills of Jamaica. When the Spaniards fled Jamaica to Cuba, they left their slaves behind. The coming of the British caused many Africans to rebel and join other Maroons in the hills and forests. This group of well-organized men and women were trained to defend their settlement. They would raid plantations to get guns, other ammunitions and food. These fierce and ferocious fighters who led almost all slave rebellions in Jamaica from 1655 to the 1830’s were determined to resist the Europeans, survive, and maintain their freedom.
The history book has one story but in interviewing a friend, who is a descendant of the Maroons, I was able to get the story from another perspective. It is fairly close to the textbook account but has some variation. My friend’s great-aunt thought it important that future generations have knowledge of their history as it dates back to their ancestors in Africa and I feel quite fortunate to have access to this valuable piece of information. At the time of the existence of the slave trade between Britain and the West Indies, two brothers who were African chiefs from the Ashanti tribe, Cudjoe and Accompong, were sold in Jamaica. They too, like other Maroons, refused to submit to the conditions of slavery and escaped to the hills. Cudjoe and Accompong became leaders of the group that perpetually waged war against the British colonists. Another shipment of slaves to Jamaica brought along Nanny, the sister of the Maroon leaders. Like her brothers, she was a skilled warrior who also escaped to the mountains, quickly became leader and was involved in many altercations with the British. Nanny Town, named after her, is still a substantial part of Jamaica’s history. She is celebrated as Jamaica’s only female national hero. Could it be that the leading role of Maroon women has contributed to the matriarchal society found on many Caribbean islands? This question could pave the way for persuasive writing or discussion in the class.
The Maroons still maintain much of the African traditions and have their own system of government separate from the democracy that governs the rest of the country. The leader of this group is called a Colonel, and to this day, they still occupy land free from taxes, which was part of the peace agreement made in 1739 between Nanny and the British. Maroon wars led to significant changes for people of African descent living on the island of Jamaica.
Slave Rebellions
The British abolished slavery in 1834 but the blacks still lived under subhuman conditions. Other Jamaican national heroes to be considered are , Paul Bogle and George William Gordon, who were involved in the fight to establish better living conditions for the blacks on the island. The Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 will also provide information on resistance by people of African ancestry.
The abolition of slavery required the replacement of laborers to work on the sugar plantations. Laborers from East India were introduced. Later Chinese immigrants were brought to the islands but they soon became merchants and shop owners. Over a period of time, all the races in the Caribbean intermingled and intermarried. Such unions have produced a people of mixed race, a normal and acceptable occurrence in the region.
The Buccaneers
In the 1600s, outlaws from Europe, West Africa and the Caribbean islands took refuge in the Caribbean. They became known as the Buccaneers and were pirates who navigated the waters of the Caribbean Sea. In the 1660s, they would plunder Spanish ships laden with treasures of gold and other valuables. The most famous buccaneer was a Welshman named Henry Morgan who is connected with the history of Port Royal in Jamaica. The British government often ignored the illegal acts of these pirates and Morgan was knighted, became Sir Henry Morgan, and eventually became Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica.
At one point, Port Royal was known as the wickedest city in the world because it was famous for sentencing and hanging pirates. Three pirates were tried and sentenced to hanging. One man was hung and the other two were spared when it was discovered that they were pregnant. Anne Bonny and Mary Read, raised and dressed as boys, were the ‘best known women pirates of all time’ (
Kingfisher
, p.19). Port Royal was destroyed by earthquake in 1692 when the sea swallowed the land.
Giddy House
, a tourist site in Jamaica, now serves as a reminder of that devastation. Some students might want to research the pirates who were involved in the dangerous lifestyle in the Caribbean. They may also try to determine to what extent, if any, how does the movie,
Pirates of the
Caribbean
shed light on the truth about piracy. Were they surprised about any findings?