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BACKGROUND 

Physical slaves often are a distinct liability to the owner. Mental slaves are slaves in the most profitable way, doing their master’s bidding without hope of reward and without desire for fight and insurrection. This is the form of slavery that Britain maintained in her colonies…encouraging the inevitable bootlickers among their inhabitants to fasten among their fellow citizens a distinct feeling of inferiority and utter dependence on Britain, both of which feelings are then combined and presented in a compound called loyalty to Britain. Leigh Richardson, 1950 

British pirates also called “buccaneers” settled among the logwood forests of the Bay of Honduras (Belize). They had once used the coast to raid Spanish ships but in the middle of the 17th century they began to cut logwood. Logwood is a tree from which a valuable dye to color woolen cloth was made. It was the economic basis for Belize for 100 years. In the late 18th century slaves were brought in from Africa (Congoes, Nangoes, Mongolas, Ashantees, Eboes), Bermuda and Jamaica to work in scattered gangs in the Belizean rain forests, primarily for logging purposes.

 

When the market for logwood declined the settlers began cutting Mahogany. Mahogany trees were larger, grew further inland and farther from each other than Logwood. It was highly valued in Europe by cabinetmakers, shipbuilders and builders of railroad carriages. It required money, land and many workers. After 1770 80% of all male slaves 10 years and older logged mahogany. Cutting wood was seasonal work that required workers to spend several months isolated in temporary makeshift camps in the forest, away from families in town. The most valued slave was the “huntsman” who searched the forest to find the mahogany trees. The “axeman” cut down trees while standing on a springy platform four to five meters high. The rest of the gang had to trim the tree after it fell and clear the path for it to be dragged. The “cattleman” job was to take care of the cattle used to pull the huge trunks to the river. These gangs consisted of 10 – 50 men who were then divided into several small ones. During the rainy season, settlers and slaves floated rafts of untrimmed logs downriver, where the wood was processed for shipment.  

 

The colonial masters used domestic slaves, mostly women and children, to clean their houses, sew, wash and iron their clothes, prepare and serve their food, and raise their children. Some slaves cultivated provisions that would either be sold or used to save their owners some of the cost of importing food. Other slaves worked as sailors, blacksmiths, nurses and bakers. Few slaves, however, held jobs requiring a high level of skill. Young people started work by waiting on their master’s tables, where the were taught to obey, then most of the young women continued in domestic work while the young men became woodcutters.

 

With the growth of industrialization in Great Britain came the need for a free market economy. By paying wages capitalists could make more profit by selling products to workers who now had their own money to spend. The slave system did not provide for this. An apprenticeship system which lasted from 1834-1838 was created to keep control over the workers and condition them to accept this control. Under this system all slaves over the age of six years became “apprenticed laborers” and were forced to continue to work for their ex-masters without pay. In 1838 slaves were officially emancipated throughout the British Empire. The slave owners were paid compensation for the loss of their slaves. Even though the slaves were legally free, they still had to depend on their former owners for jobs and were unable to own any land. They were limited in their opportunities.

 

Mahogany workers were paid between $12 to $15 per month, plus rations – seven quarts of flour and four pounds of pork a week. Through the “advance system” the employer paid the worker some of his wages before he started working. The worker signed a contract by which he agreed to work for a certain period of time, often nine to eleven months. The contracting was done in Belize Town before Christmas. The workers used their advance money to spend time with their families, and then returned to the mahogany camps. Once at the camps the laborer had to pay back the advance he was given. If he needed extra goods he had to buy them from his employer at high prices. The book-keeper debited the account for the costs. He also charged the worker fines if he was late to work, sick or absent or for being “lazy” or disrespectful to his supervisor. When he finished work for the season he would usually owe his employer money. He would then have to sign a contract for another year.

 

 

 

 










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