Question

After the failure of the system of white bonded labour to effectively contribute to the development of a thriving sugar economy in the Caribbean, Africans were transplanted from West Africa to the Caribbean.

A. Was bonded white labour equivalent to chattel slavery?

B. In what ways did the practice of Caribbean chattel slavery differ from traditional West African slavery?

C. Do you think that skin colour provided benefit within Caribbean slave society?

Answer 1

1. Chattel slavery is used by the scholars as a legal term to the situation when an individual is unable to withdraw himself/herself and works against his/her own will whereas bonded labor is a kind of an arrangement of repaying loan or debt that person has been unable to pay and now is forced to work for the indefinite time period.

2. Caribbean chattel slavery, also known as traditional slavery, got its name because people were used as chattel, i.e., personal property, of the person who bought or sold them. But, the people in West Africa were not treated as chattel slave as they held some rights through a large agreement.

3. Colorism affects all Caribbean countries and, of course, skin color provided benefits within Caribbean slave societies. White people got benefits in different, and in many ways, like white women’s presence were never considered as bothering or devastating as contrary to the women of dark skin. Further, white men were free to exploit the sexuality and reproductive labor of black women, but on the contrary, black men were not even allowed to get engaged with white women in any kind of relation. Therefore, skin color certainly provided benefits within the Caribbean slave society.