Historian Dr. Karl Watson has knocked the claims that the planter class had sought to de-Africanise enslaved persons.
He said there were elements of West African culture that were entrenched in the enslaved, and for the most part, these were kept.
“Contrary to widespread public belief, the planter class did not make any effort whatsoever to deprogram, de-Africanise, de-culturate or acculturate the enslaved population of Barbados. In fact, when you go through numerous correspondence between Barbados and England when persons were asked about life here, the general attitude within the planter class was that they did not trouble the cultural beliefs of the enslaved,” he said, noting that the enslaved were allowed to, amongst other things, carry out plays, to engage in drumming and to practice polygamy – all of which were features of West African culture.
“When slaves survived the middle passage, they were deprived of physical things but not of the knowledge within their brains,” Watson added.
Speaking on the topic, ‘Shifting Trajectories of St Matthias Church: From Serving the Needs of the Nineteenth Century with its Military Garrison to a Community Based Philosophy’ on Thursday night, he stated that during the times of slavery unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church in all the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean did not pay much attention to the spiritual or emotional needs of the enslaved.
“The Anglican Church had a spotty record when it came to the enslaved people,” he said. However, Watson noted that later on in Barbados, the Anglican Church started to push for schools and provided Bibles to create an educational basis for enslaved children, teaching them how to read and write.
“This was a way of advancement for the newly freed and their children,” he said.