Dr Rita Pemberton

In 1838, when the law mandating the termination of the apprenticeship system and the start of full emancipation from August 1, 1838, was passed, there was no clearly identifiable route to effect the emancipation of the formerly enslaved Africans who had laboured ad nauseum under the slave system.

In Tobago, the planters who openly opposed the law remained in control of the island’s Assembly and Council. They were determined to defy the law, resist emancipation and maintain a slave society. However, the freed population was equally determined to liberate themselves from planter control and the brutal laws which were imposed on the enslaved population. The reality was that all the island’s accessible land was in the hands of the plantation owners, some of whom extended the size of their properties by acquiring nearby abandoned estates and the unoccupied poor man’s lots. In contrast, those with locations close to the sea extended their borders to have seafront properties to restrict sea access to the fishing-free people community to reduce their opportunities for independent employment. Their main aim was to maintain a dependent workforce of estate labourers who had no option but to accept the terms of work dictated by the planters.

In the absence of supporting legislation, and despite their challenges, it was therefore up to the freed Africans to carve their route to freedom. This they fully recognised and were determined to do. During the first weeks of freedom, their intent was signalled by three actions which were virtual declarations that the path of unabated resistance was their path to freedom. Their first path to freedom began with the assertion of control over their labour which was manifested by absenting themselves from their places of work for extended periods to celebrate freedom. On some estates, these celebratory activities lasted for weeks with workers demanding better terms for their labour. This was a signal that the freed Africans were not prepared to accept the slave-like terms and conditions which planters were determined to maintain.

Their next path to freedom was laid on the quest to wriggle free of planter control by separating their homes away from plantation residences which quarters reeked of inferiority and control and were among the most enduring symbols of the status of enslavement. The first steps in this process required a movement off the estates to establish their homes which practice was most marked on the western side of the island especially in and around Scarborough and in the Leeward areas. Although the most desirable option, this path was not possible for many of the freed Africans who were not able to acquire their own properties. Because of the obstacles utilised by planters to restrict black landowning. These included raising the price of land to unaffordable levels, selling useless land often without titles and working as a united force to block land sales to prevent black landowning. Most freed Africans, particularly those located on the windward