Dr Rita Pemberton

THE PLANTING community of Tobago made no secret of its members' intention to prevent the liberation of the African population, despite the declaration of the termination of apprenticeship on August 1, 1838. They openly expressed their opposition to what they considered the “premature” ending of the system, which was initially to last six years.

The apprenticeship system was part of the compensation package offered to planters for the loss of their property at emancipation, the cost of which was borne by the freed Africans. The arrangement guaranteed the planters labour for six years – four of which were to come from the skilled enslaved workers, whose natural inclination to savagery, it was asserted, was tempered because they worked in close contact with the “civilised” white population and were in a better position to make use of freedom than the unskilled workers.

The unskilled workers, who were mainly the field workers, constituted the largest segment of the enslaved workforce, and this class of workers was carded to serve a six-year apprenticeship period. The stated rationale for the additional two years was that, because these workers spent most of their working life in the cane fields, away from the civilising influences of Europeans, it was appropriate for them to acquire the required level of civilisation and be adequately prepared for freedom during the additional two-year period.

However, this argument was a smokescreen to cover their real concerns – their labour needs. The success of the sugar crop was highly dependent on the availability of workers for planting and reaping; hence the greatest need of the sugar planters was for field workers. The importance they attached to this class of workers is demonstrated by the haste with which they sought to increase their numbers by downgrading some skilled domestic workers into the unskilled class. This was an attempt to guarantee an adequate supply of field labour.

However, this demotion added fuel to the planter/worker conflicts on the island during the immediate post-emancipation years.

As during the period of enslavement, the freed Africans were very aware of planter intransigence and their own need to assert themselves to attain the freedom they craved. As a result, they engaged in a range of activities through which to make emancipation real, despite the contrary efforts of the planters. These liberating strategies helped them overcome some of the obstructions deliberately placed to keep them in a state of enslavement.

First and foremost, it was their desire to own land, but this was not easily attained, because inflated prices and planters' refusal to sell made land purchase a challenge. The free workers sought and obtained access to land as part of the terms of labour negotiated with the planter/employers.

Although wages for estate labour were very low, coins were scarce on the island so in return for labour, some wages were paid in kind, often with access to land as garden plots or pasture for their animals. They wor