the emancipation game

The Emancipation Game

Choices and opportunities

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Welcome to the Emancipation Game

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Instructions

You must make choices in this game. With each choice you will discover something

about the lives of freed peoples after the end of slavery and the changes in their lives.

Decide what you want to do and see what your options are.

Begin game or skip the game and just get the info you need starting with the table of contents

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What did you do as an enslaved person?

Fieldwork Domestic work Skilled slave in the factory Skilled slave e.g. workman, seamstress

Or choose an occupation for freedom

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Choose an occupation

I like it on the estate I want to work for wages here

I want my own plot of land to grow food I don’t like the countryside and I don’t want

to be in agriculture. I’ll try my luck in the town.

I am a skilled sugar factory worker

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Choose an occupation

I am a domestic worker I have a trade (skill).

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fieldworker

Like most freed people, agriculture is what you know best. You’re very skilled at that. Now go on to decide what you want to do for a living now.

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Domestic work

Well, you need to seek work with a person of means who can pay you, if you want to continue in this line of work. Decide if you will stay in the countryside or try your luck in the town.

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Skilled slave in the factory

Well as long as sugar is doing fine you have a decent well paying job on the estate. The factory needs you!

Continue

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Skilled slave in the factory You are comfortable and you can

afford to educate your children.

A lot of people want your job. Too bad for them!

Where do you live?

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Choose the territory you live in:

Grenada other Windward Trinidad or Guyana Barbados or other Leeward Jamaica

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Skilled factory worker Grenada and Windwards

Sorry! A lot of estates closed after emancipation.

You either find other work Or you migrate to where your skills are

needed.

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Skilled Trinidad and Guyana

There’s good paying work for people like you.

Welcome!

Choose another occupation

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Skilled Barbados and Leewards

A good skilled factory worker like you is always needed.

But you hear wages are higher elsewhere. You stay. You leave.

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Well, you’re not doing too badly. At least your wages are higher than field workers and you can afford to send your children to school. Wives of factory workers did not have to work.

Skilled worker who stays

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Skilled Jamaica

Some estates have closed, but there’s still factory work for good, experienced workers like yourself.

You stay in the factory. Or you find another kind of work.

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Other work skilled Jamaica

You have courage, since what you know best is the factory.

continue

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Other work skilled Jamaica

But you’re intelligent and ambitious. You use your savings to open a small

business buying and selling dry goods (haberdashery)


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Skilled worker—where do you live?

Town Countryside

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Town

The people with special skills can do well in town. You’re ambitious. You don’t want to work for ex-masters. You want to run your own establishment. With the money you will save from your wages you plan to buy a small shop. Good luck!

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Skilled countryside

As a skilled worker, with a craft, you can do well in any territory. Most people like you live in the towns. But you’ll do well.

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CountrysideThe main work here is in farming. You can get domestic work but in some islands a lot of white people are moving away, now that slavery’s ended. You decide to move to the town.

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Choose the territory you live in:

Grenada other Windward Trinidad or Guyana Barbados or other Leeward Jamaica


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Grenada: town.

Grenada has a small town, where mostly skilled people can make a decent living.

You decide to follow your fellow Grenadians and migrate.


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Barbados and Leewards

The towns are small... Some people make a good living there, if they have a skill.

Towns are overcrowded. You stay You decide to migrate.


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Jamaica towns

Jamaica has big towns and they are growing!

You think you made a good move! Did you?

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Migration

A lot of people from Barbados, Grenada and other Windward islands ended up in Guyana and Trinidad.

It made sense...

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In Trinidad and Guyana

Wages on the estates here are highest in the Caribbean!

There is also land to settle on (especially in Trinidad)

You could also move to the towns and try your luck there.

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Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana

Many people are squatting on land, growing crops for themselves or to sell in the market.

There is enough land to do this. Some even become cane farmers, selling

to the factories. Peasants everywhere made a big

contribution.Table of contents

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Peasants

Congrats! As a peasant, you are more independent and can feed your family. You don’t depend on the estate for wages... Except sometimes when wages are high, if you want some extra money.

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In the countryside you are most likely to find an occupation in agriculture. Here are your choices.

I like it on the estate I want to work for wages here

See more choices before deciding

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Occupations: countryside I want my own plot of land to grow food More choices

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Occupations: countryside I don’t mind working on the estates when

wages are high but I want a plot of land to fall back on

Go back if you want the first choice Continue for more choices

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Choices countryside

I don’t like the countryside and I don’t want to be in agriculture. I’ll try my luck in the town.

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Estate labour: where do you live?

Barbados and the Leewards Grenada and the Windwards Trinidad and Guyana Jamaica.

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Wages are low! There are just too many workers and too

little land. You must make a decision...


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You stay You hear about higher wages elsewhere

and migrate.


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Stay You stay and life is tough most of the

time. Other people leaving helps though and wages sometimes become decent.

You like your island too much to leave.


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Estate Labour Grenada

Wages are sometimes high. You stay You hear of higher wages elsewhere.


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Estate labour Jamaica

According to where you are wages are not bad. But...

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Planters keep trying to keep it down. They want to charge you rent for your own

homes (on the estate). Imagine!

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Jamaican planters are trying to treat you like a slave and force you to work on their estate...just because you live there.

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You want your freedom to choose. You leave the estate and move to a

free village.


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Own land: where do you live?

Grenada and Windwards Jamaica Trinidad and Guyana Barbados and Leewards.

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As you can see Grenada (like the other Windwards) is very mountainous. But there’s good fertile land to be had. You can find a plot somewhere on a hill and plant your garden. It’s a good place to be a peasant farmer.

Grenada and Windward Islands

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Own land Jamaica

There’s land to be bought... ...or squatted on

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Own land Jamaica

On the fringes of estates, sold by planters In places not suited to sugar Abandoned estates... You become a peasant farmer.

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Own Land Trinidad and Guyana.

You only have to choose where you want to go, especially in Trinidad.

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Own Land Trinidad and Guyana.

In Guyana, it is a little harder along the coast but there is the interior.

But you can become a peasant.

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Own Land Barbados and Leewards

Land is scarce and the prices are high. Your main option to get land is to migrate.


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Grenada stay

You don’t mind working the estate but you realise it makes more sense to have your own plot, which you do.


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Town for agricultural workers

Since you know mostly about farming, it’s hard to find a good paying job. You will have do unskilled work and the pay is really low...

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Housing is also hard to find. But you settle next to people who also moved from the countryside into the towns and from other territories. Even though you have no skills, you think this was a good move

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Laventille

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Town advantages

You want nothing to do with growing sugar.

There are more schools here so your children will have a chance at education.

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Town advantages

You might even be able to learn a trade.

Was it a good move?

Yes

No

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You finally settle down and get a job washing for people. You save your money and eventually can afford a small home.Click to see what happens to some other people.

Yes


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No

You never settle down and drift from low-paying jobs to criminal activities: prostitution, petty thefts, you become a member of the diametre (jamette) class.


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Table of contents

Free villages Peasants Trinidad and Guyana conditions Barbados and Leeward conditions Grenada and Windward conditions Jamaica Migration

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Free villages

When freed people left the estates and settled in other areas “free villages” resulted.

The largest of these were in Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Antigua.

Here the formerly enslaved had more freedom of movement than remaining on the estates. continued

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Free villages

They could grow peasant crops on nearby land.

They either rented or owned their land. They could work on the estates... Or not.

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Free villages

Some planters gave land for free villages (Antigua)

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In Trinidad new villages, settled by freed Africans, formed along the Eastern Main Rd. which followed the old Amerindian trails. http://www.century21cycb.com/Images/tacarigua.gif

Free villages Trinidad

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http://triniview.com/photos/Valencia/valen1510051477.jpg

The Eastern Main Rd today.

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Free villages

Missionaries bought and resold land for their congregation.

Or people bought or squatted on available land.

Go back to table of contents for other topics.

Sligoville in Jamaica, founded by Baptist Missionaries and their congregation of freed peoples

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Peasants

Fed themselves with food they grew (subsistence farming)

Sold extra on the market.

more

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Peasants’ contribution Grew “new” crops: ginger, nutmeg, ground

provisions, fruits etc. Made the economy more diverse Made more money for territory through

exports Opened up trade and commerce. Developed the communities (villages) developed folk culture (traditions and

practices from Africa and, later on, India). Back to table of contents

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Trinidad and Guyana

These two colonies had a lot of land available for workers to use for agriculture and settlement.

People could squat or purchase from money earned on the estates.

Wages were the highest in the Caribbean after slavery ended.

A migrant could also decide to settle in the towns such as Port-of-Spain and Georgetown and try their luck there. Many did.

Table of contentsTable of contents

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Barbados conditions

Barbados and the Leewards were flat and densely populated.

There was little land to be had by ex-slaves.

Not much choice besides working on the estates.

Therefore wages were low.

Table of contents

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Table of contents

Grenada and Windward Islands

Grenada and the other Windward Islands were very mountainous.

There was good fertile land to be had for peasant farming. People could find a plot somewhere on a hill and plant garden.

It was a good place to be a peasant farmer.

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Jamaica Conditions

Jamaica had land available for free peoples to settle on.

Wages were higher than in Barbados but not as high as in Trinidad and Guyana.

Table of contents

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http://static.flickr.com/26/53918278_7e3f071cc4_o.jpg

Village religious procession, TobagoTable of contents

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Table of contents

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Rural housingTable of contents

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Migration

A lot of people from Barbados, Grenada and other Windward islands ended up in Guyana and Trinidad.

It made sense (pull factors): Wages on the estates there were the

highest in the Caribbean! There is also land to settle on (especially

in Trinidad) People could also move to the towns and

try their luck there. Back to table of contents

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Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana

Many people squatted on land, growing crops for themselves or to sell in the market.

Back to table of contents

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Trinidad or Guyana town

Towns grew rapidly here. In Trinidad migrants settled in Port-of-Spain, in one of the growing areas like Belmont and Laventille...

It wasn’t always easy to find a job, however.

Or good housingBack to table of contents

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Street Scene in Belmont, painting by Henri Salvatori

http://artsocietytt.org/images/Henri%20Salvatori/streetscenebelmont1947.jpg

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http://triniview.com/photos/ly-lookout/pos26060514.jpg

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Barrack housing in Port-of-Spain

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That’s it! You’re done! But if you still want to play the game, just click on the link in the bottom right hand corner.

the emancipation game

Documents

game overtrinidad

game overchoose

game overbarbados

game overpeasantscongrats

game overskilled slave

game overin trinidad

continuestart game overother

freedomstart game overother