Times of the Islands Spring 2020

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many belonged to whom and the purchases, sales and transfers, along with first names. While a slave’s position or health condition might be listed, this was the exception. A sales document dated 20th August 1792 marking the transfer of slaves between plantation owners Wade Stubbs and Annis Stubbs provides an example. The document shows that Annis Stubbs paid “five hundred pounds sterling” to own 12 people. The document records their names as George, Phabe, Jeny, Venus, Rachel, Charlott, Lucy, Jim, York, Nancy, Cathy and Darky and stipulates “with all their future and increase of their bodies.” The quoted words make starkly clear the expected continuity of property through propagation and leaves no doubt about their belief in the perpetuation of the institution of slavery. It also lays bare the pure commercial transactional nature of the practice. The Bermudian slave holders on Grand Turk, Salt Cay and South Caicos similarly tracked slaves they used to produce salt. And both groups counted the slaves who escaped, as these were serious monetary losses to be accounted for. In short, the lives of those held bondage were reduced to bookkeeping. For slavery to succeed, though, slaveholders had to maintain constant control through absolute power using violence or the threat of violence. We are well aware of the brutality Bermudian slaveholders meted out to slaves who worked the salt ponds on Grand Turk through the raw and riveting firsthand account of slavery by Mary Prince. As recorded and published by abolitionists in London in the 1830s, Mary tells of the grueling labor and torture she experienced and witnessed as a slave working the salt ponds: Then we had no sleep—no rest—but were forced to work as fast as we could, and go on again all next day the same as usual. Work—work—work—Oh that Turks Island was a horrible place! The people of England, I am sure, have never found out what is carried out there. Cruel, horrible place! If we could not keep up with the rest of the gang of slaves, we were put in the stocks, and severely flogged the next morning. Mr. D—has often stripped me naked, hung me up by the wrists, and beat me with the cow-skin, with his own hand, till my body was raw with gashes. No such detailed account exists for the enslaved on the cotton plantations of North and Middle Caicos, Parrot Cay and Providenciales, though life was likely as harsh. Indeed, the Loyalist slaveholders would have every reason to omit accounts of violence inflicted on the enslaved in Grand Caicos. Great Britain had banned the slave trade in 1807 (not slavery itself) and put in place various laws to regulate slavery in the West Indies and elsewhere. So, at least on paper, the laws forbade some egregious practices and required some care for sick and elderly slaves. However, in the isolation of Grand Caicos, or even in the more trafficked Grand Turk, these laws could be safely ignored as long as everyone kept quiet. Despite the paucity of written accounts of slave treatment in Grand Caicos, we can still glean a picture of slavery on these islands through the records kept, oral history passed down and witness accounts of the brutality of slavery in the region. These are largely in sync with what Mary Prince had revealed through her abolitionist supporters. For the Loyalist enslavers, the culture of exploitation in the American South closely paralleled the one here and, thus, can serve as a historical portal into the conditions and relationships that likely existed between slaves and Loyalists. Exerting control Presbyterian minister and abolitionist John Rankin’s 1826 Letters on Slavery compellingly describes common slave treatment at the time that parallel accounts throughout the West Indies. Control meant keeping slaves hungry and desperate for food, which could easily be cut off. From there, as Rankin’s Letters makes clear, slaves faced painful floggings for not working hard enough, for stealing food or for no reason at all. Ratcheting up, slaveholders at times applied more severe forms of torment, including dismemberment, mutilation and burning to punish and send a message to others. Notably, Rankin’s Letters recount the pouring of red pepper or turpentine into wounds and gashes, not unlike what Mary Prince saw when Bermudian slaveholders poured salt into the wounds of the enslaved on Grand Turk. While administering these tortures, slaveholders would actually read Biblical scripture that in their interpretation justified and rationalized their actions. Perhaps the most vivid account of this harsh reality of slavery is the book 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup, published in 1853. Made into a major motion picture in 2013, it won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. The book and the movie detail Mr. Northrup’s experience of going from a free man in New York to being kidnapped 48 www.timespub.tc
The painting “Am Not I A Man and a Brother” dates to around 1800 and features a dominant motif detailing the agonizing and insufferable treatment of slaves on a Caribbean sugar plantation during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Based on a design commissioned by the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade on July 5, 1787, the painting is considered to be one of the first instances of a logo designed for a political cause. It was famously used by the potter Josiah Wedgwood for his persuasive anti-slavery ceramic medallions and went on to become the dominant image of abolition campaigning in the 18th and 19th centuries. INTERNATIONAL SLAVERY MUSEUM LIVERPOOL
Page 1 and 2: TIMES SAMPLING THE SOUL OF THE TURK
Page 3 and 4: EVERYTHING’S INCLUDED FOR EVERYON
Page 5 and 6: TurksAndCaicosProperty.com Bernadet
Page 7 and 8: Introducing the Boathouses The Boat
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Page 15 and 16: getting to know From top: Gus walks
Page 17 and 18: PROVEN IN PROVO 435’ on Grace Bay
Page 19 and 20: while not at sea participating in h
Page 21: the TCI. Local members were now inv
Page 24 and 25: Here we are, some 124 years later,
Page 26 and 27: Ferry Fall 17_Layout 1 8/22/17 12:5
Page 28 and 29: creature feature MARTA MORTON — W
Page 30 and 31: green pages newsletter of the depar
Page 44 and 45: MARTA MORTON—WWW.HARBOURCLUBVILLA
Page 46 and 47: Exile and second chances The story
Page 50 and 51: and forced to work as a slave on a
Page 52 and 53: side. However, Lorimer still felt c
Page 55 and 56: feature Opposite page and above: Th
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Page 59 and 60: campaign that would continue spread
Page 61 and 62: The SNAP Centre garden is sponsored
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Page 71 and 72: around the islands Lovey Forbes and
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Page 83 and 84: SUSTAINABLE ENERGY You Can Count On

Times of the Islands Spring 2020

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