Dr Rita Pemberton

DESPITE A very strong attempt by the pro-slaving group to undermine the arguments of the anti-slavery movement, the Emancipation Act was passed in the British Parliament in 1833, to take effect from August 1, 1834.

This law caused great trepidation in the British Caribbean colonies, where planter concerns related to the impact this would have on their plantation operations, with no thought spared for the welfare and needs of the formerly enslaved African community.

Tobago’s administration found it necessary to implement a law to control the wages to be paid to people who wanted jobs as porters or labourers. Based on their argument that this was in the best interest of the island, barely three months into the apprenticeship period, an act to regulate the conduct and to fix the value of the labour of people working as porters or labourers on the island was passed in the assembly on November 14, 1834 and the council on November 24, 1834, to take effect from January 1, 1835.

It is to be noted that the act placed importance on three issues: the anticipated conduct of the freed African population; wages to be paid to specific workers, which was intended to prevent competition for labour; and, though not explicit, the migration of workers in search of more remunerative jobs. These were issues which would feature prominently during the era of freedom.

From the date of the passage of the act no one would be allowed to work as a porter or labourer in Scarborough and Plymouth or any of the outbays on the island without a licence from a sitting magistrate. The towns were targeted because they offered a variety of employment, better wages and access to the best facilities available on the island and would be the first site of refuge for those who sought alternatives to estate labour, which paid the lowest wages.

In addition, the main harbours, the main trading centres, were in the towns. Trade and shipping offered additional employment opportunities, in addition to which, a job on a ship was an opportunity to escape the oppression of estate labour. Kamau Brathwaite’s poem The Sea is History contains frequent references to the many secrets that lie buried under the sea, but the lure of the sea was a part of the liberation strategies of enslaved Africans because it provided an escape from enslavement. Brathwaite’s poem also refers to the many resisting and liberating opportunities it offered enslaved people in the Caribbean.

The outbays of Tobago were important, though often illegal, trading centres providing employment and getaway services for resisting Africans. In the height of enslavement, the administration found it difficult to control these bays, which made the island vulnerable to illegal activity. The matter was considered more urgent during the immediate post-emancipation years. Tobago’s planters were terrified that, given the large number of bays and inlets, this practice would diminish their labour force if not curtailed.

There was also an awareness that workers would seek more remu