Existing comment:
Slavery is Dead:
The Parliament of Britain voted to abolish slavery in the colonies in 1833. Two years later, all slaves in the Cayman Islands were free.
A group of about 25 slave-owning Caymanians were the first to hear the proclamation of emancipation from Lord Sligo, Governor of Jamaica, who, fearing trouble, visited the island. The slave owners, Sligo reported, were "thunderstruck" at the suddenness of it all. One former owner despaired that he had been a "wealthy man possessing all that I desired, and I am at this moment a beggar." At Bodden Town, the former slaves rejoiced with "wild.. demonstrations of joy, shooting, fiddling, dancing," but elsewhere, people seemed calm, more, or even indifferent.
The Proclamation of Emancipation was declared at various places in the Cayman Islands, including Pedro St. James, where it was read on 6 May 1835.
This is a modern impression of Captain Anthony Pack, of the 84th Regiment of Foot, reading the Proclamation of Emancipation on Grand Cayman.
Emancipation was celebrated by slaves throughout the British West Indies. |