Page 13 - BLACK HISTORY IN BERMUDA red

Slave Revolts

Throughout Bermuda’s history, there were a number of slave conspiracies focusing on
freedom as the principal objective. They were always discovered in their infancy and
before the onset of violence and bloodshed. The harsh and oppressive emergency
reactions and legislation following the conspiracies underscored the terror and panic
which spread throughout Bermuda when they were discovered. The records indicate
that major revolts took place in 1656, 1661, 1673, 1682, 1730 and 1761. The poisoning
plot of 1730 has attracted the most interest amongst historians.

Emancipation

The slave trade was abolished by
Great Britain in 1807 but it did not
bring about an immediate end to the
institution of slavery in the British
colonies. In 1833, the British Govern-
ment passed the Emancipation Act,
which scheduled the abolition of
slavery to take place in 1834 in all of
the British colonies.

Like their counterparts in other
British territories, Bermudian slave-
owners were wary of the social and
economic consequences of Eman-
cipation. Several were worried that
freedom would be accompanied
by lawlessness and idleness and,
in order to ensure elitist control in
Bermuda, the property qualifications
for voting in elections and becom-
ing Parliamentary candidates were
substantially increased.
There was also concern that the ex-
slaves, removed from their former
owners, would have difficulty adjust-
ing to the economic pressures of
freedom with its attendant obliga-
tions of caring for children, the aged,
the infirm and the unemployed.
Much of the support the former slaves were destined to receive was of a random and
unofficial nature – definitely not part of a preconceived comprehensive strategy to ease
their financial burdens. For the most part, it appeared that they were to be dependent
on their job skills and their limited resources, on whatever they managed to receive
from their former owners and the parish vestries and on assistance from their fellow
blacks and the Friendly Societies and Lodges which emerged after Emancipation.

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