2. Discuss Both the Negative and Positive Outcomes of...

Slavery ended in 1838. One of the biggest negatives of such a system was racism which was found in every Caribbean society. British officials believed that people of Africans descent were inferior and what was worse perhaps these racist attitudes were after internalized by Black and Brown people that is some Africans themselves became convinced that they were inferior to Europeans. With Emancipation in 1838 slaves became free to choose the nature of their future existence. A fundamental development during the post- emancipation period was the exodus of ex slaves from the estates mostly to set themselves up as peasant proprietors. The movement created a labor shortage which threatened the imminent collapse of the sugar industry.†¦show more content†¦The root of the problem lay in India, where women were not emancipated because of the religious and social systems. The proportion of Indian women imported was only 3 per 100 men before the mid 1840’s 32 per 100 by 1870 and a legal minimum of 40 per 100 thereafter. Up to 1870 immigrants had to had been denied the chance to lead normal family lives. In cases where Indian immigrants were married their wives were sometimes taken away to be the mistress of the plantation owners as in the days of slavery. Immigrants were also subject to arbitrary treatment by their employers . This sometimes involved flogging and imprisonment and the immigrant dared not complain. From 1906 to 1907 nearly 40 % of the immigrant laborers in Guyana received summons for breach of the labor laws. Between 1838 and the 1930’s wealth was mainly in the hands of very small groups in society . Nearly all of it belonged to the white upper class though by the 1930’s a significant number of colored or black or Indian businessmen and farmers had acquired money and property. As planters and businessmen whites continued to be the major group of employers in the Caribbean. The worst white employers tre ated their workers with contempt but the better ones showed concern for their laborers’ welfare. For ordinary people life was always a hard struggle. Between 1838 till 1920’s the majority of the people worked for the plantations. Either as full time workers or as casual ,