“Yet the fact that a number of slaves were prepared to resort to violence was sufficient to give white Jamaicans pause.”
I found this part of the passage to be particularly interesting because I think it illustrates that tensions between white Jamaicans and slaves were on the rise, and it was getting to the point were some slaves weren’t very concerned with the repercussions they’d face. During Thistlewood’s thirty-seven years in Jamaica, he had encountered only a few revolts which took place mostly in the 1760s. As more and more time passed, it was quite clear that slaves were growing impatient with the conditions they were living in. Although slaves were usually dealt with severe punishments for lashing out, some slaves definitely stopped caring. Thistlewood remarks that there were several instances in which he had to defend himself against slaves, and he encountered slaves carrying guns. There were several instances when Thistlewood realized that being white in Jamaica was more dangerous than many thought. However, there were also tensions between the slaves as well, because many of them came from a variety of lands, so there was no real connection between any of them other than they were all slaves. All these divisions between the varying groups of people in Jamaica could definitely be held responsible for the tensions between slaves and masters.
- The passage says that Thistlewood noticed whites were in danger as soon as he arrived in Jamaica, why’d he stay for 37 years?
- Why did Thistlewood break laws that were meant to protect whites in Jamaica if he had already had bad experiences with slaves.