Massacre Aboard The Zong (1781)

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”- Marcus Garvey. Jamaica is a predominantly black society. More than ninety percent of the nearly 3 million inhabitants of the island have DNA associations to the motherland, Africa. Unfortunately, most Jamaicans do not know their historical context. A significant gap is in our education policy which relegates the teaching of history as optional. This omission of history from among the core subjects directly impacts how we see ourselves as a people. The ongoing bleaching of the skin is also related to the lack of knowledge of our rich historical past. The fact that history is optional in our schools speaks volumes about our cultural identity or lack thereof. Surprisingly, the movers and shakers with responsibility for curriculum development and testing; with a few exceptions, have done very little to right this colossal injustice. It can be argued that this is a deliberate and calculated act carried out to keep our people ignorant of their past. This reality has motivated many students not to pursue this path in the regional Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations. The situation is even dire at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus where the number of students enrolled in History degrees have been dwindling over the years. History Professor at the UWI Mona, Verene Shepherd, in a recent radio interview called for the teaching of history to be a mandatory subject. The atrocities inflicted upon our African ancestors were inconceivable and cruel. African Enslavement The enslavement of the peoples of Africa in the Americas took place between the 16th and 19th centuries. The primary aim of this forceful relocation was to provide free labour for the properties, mostly sugar plantations. It is estimated that of the numbers of Africans transported to the Americas, the Caribbean accounted for 30 percent, with the British Caribbean receiving approximately 2-4 million. The Slave Voyages Database produced by David Eltis and his colleagues estimate that between 1626 and 1808, some 3, 429 voyages were made to Jamaica, transporting an estimated 1.21 million Africans to work on sugar estates, coffee plantations, wharves, domestic households and livestock farms on the island. Many of us are unaware of the history of the Zong slave ship. Historical records from the Understanding Slavery Initiative (USI), a national learning project which supports the teaching and learning of transatlantic slavery and its legacies states that the Zong was a Dutch vessel, the Zorgue, seized by the British in 1781 off West Africa. The #Zong left Accra (Ghana) in August of 1781; carrying 442 enslaved Africans and bound for the colonial plantations of Jamaica. As was common in the slave trade, the Zong was vastly overcrowded, carrying more than double the number of people a ship its size could safely transport. During the horrific journey to the Western Hemisphere a decision was made to murder some of the enslaved Africans who were viewed as human “cargo” in order to ensure the safe delivery of the rest, a loss for which the shipping company could be compensated under British law. Over the course of several days, the crew threw at least 122 Africans overboard. The Zong arrived in Black River, Jamaica with 208 enslaved people on board. The Zong was captained by Luke Collingwood, an experienced slave-ship surgeon. The ship and its human cargo were insured with underwriters in England for £8, 000. The ship sailed for supplies to São Tomé, an island off the west coast of Africa, leaving there for Jamaica on 6 September 1781. The crew sighted Tobago on 18/19 November and sailed on, mistaking Jamaica for the French colony of St Domingue (later Haiti). Between 29 November and 1 December, three groups, totalling 132 people, were thrown to their deaths from the Zong; additionally a few enslaved African committed suicide by jumping overboard. We will never be able to imagine what went through the minds of our ancestors the moments before they were murdered; the sheer horror, the fright, the anxiety. Middle Passage Many of us of African descent oftentimes become outraged when we watch or read about the inhumane conditions our ancestors endure across the Atlantic Ocean. The Middle Passage is often referred to as the second leg of the Triangular Slave Trade whereby countless number of enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean. It was one leg of the triangular trade route that took goods (such as knives, guns, ammunition, cotton cloth, tools, and brass dishes) from Europe to Africa, Africans to work as slaves in the Americas and West Indies, and items, mostly raw materials, produced on the plantations (sugar, rice, tobacco, indigo, rum, and cotton) back to Europe. From about 1518 to the mid-19th century, millions of African men, women, and children made the inhumane voyage. The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade; formed in 1787 was directly related to the massacre of enslaved Africans aboard the Zong. The Transatlantic Slave Trade speaks to the ugliness of humanity. The Transatlantic Slave Trade has been referred to as the “Holocaust of Enslavement”, which was basically the incarceration and imprisonment of people not for committing criminal offenses but to be put to work for others. It is estimated that between 1500 and 1866, more than 12 million enslaved people were forcibly relocated from their homes in Africa. Although slavery ended in 1838, people of colour continue to be demonized by those who still view their skin colour as being inferior to the white skin. The Trial On arrival in Jamaica, James Gregson, the ship’s owner, filed an insurance claim for their loss. Gregson argued that the Zong did not have enough water to sustain both crew and the human cargo of enslaved Africans. The insurance underwriter, Thomas Gilbert, disputed the claim, however despite this the Jamaican court in 1782 found favour of the owners. The insurers appealed the case in 1783. This led to much public interest and got the attention of some of the abolitionists in England. Granville Sharp, one of the leading abolitionists at the time utilized the massacre of the slaves on the Zong to increase the public awareness about the slave trade. The massacre onboard the Zong was a crossroads in the slave trade. This event marked the beginning of the end of the wide-scale human trafficking. Forging Ahead As we continue the discourse concerning the issue of slavery and by extension reparation, we must never forget our history and the injustices done by the colonial enslavers. This conversation must not only take place in academia, we must ensure that popular culture, the creative arts, civil society and the churches lend their collective voices in calling for reparation. Additionally, we must engage the government of the day to make the necessary changes in the education system which will see history education becoming compulsory. The genocide committed by Europe in the Americas, specifically in the Caribbean through slavery and colonization continues to hang over our people. We must be vigilant as a region and as a society as we seek justice for those for whom the light have burnt out and for those whose voices have been silenced. We must never forget our past. The Government of Jamaica needs to embark on creating a more deserving monument on a national scale in memory of our ancestors who were massacred on the slave ship the Zong. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo ©