Slavery and Freedom in the Caribbean - From Colonialism to Emancipation

Slavery and Freedom in the Caribbean explores the experiences of the enslaved and their struggle to win freedom in the islands of the Caribbean from the end of the fifteenth century to the nineteenth century when formal emancipation came into effect. Captured for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Africans endured the Middle Passage from Africa to the Caribbean, sale as the human cargo in the Caribbean, and the development of a servile Caribbean empire by the Spanish, British, French, Dutch, and Danish powers. As the labor force fueling Caribbean colonies, slaves became the backbone of the island economy and culture. Author Gelien Matthews emphasizes the integral role blacks played in loosening the chains of slavery, by forcing their enslavers to make ever-increasing compromises, which ultimately led to the slaves’ total freedom.