Abstract
During the slavery period in the nineteenth century in Paramaribo there was a colored elite. Their social economic status was better than generally assumed. To a great extent this was due to the many craftsmen such as carpenters, tailors and midwives. Most of them learned these skills during their slavery
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and after their manumission, they could establish themselves as official craftsmen. They invested in real estate, houses and plantations and the majority of them provided for the freedom of one or more family members. For her dissertation Ellen Neslo did research on the elite of free non-white people in nineteenth century Paramaribo, the capital city of Surinam. The freed slaves, also called the manumitted, and their descendants formed the group of free non-white people. For her research Neslo carried out an extensive archive research, within which a wide range of primary – and secondary sources, was consulted. This research was also done in a comparative sense, by placing manumission in a Surinamese and in a Caribbean context. The archives make evidently clear that the number of free non-whites and the social impact they had was much larger than previously thought. Socially they had a great impact on the society of Paramaribo, already during the period of slavery, contrary to the other Caribbean countries, where the free non-white population played a role only after the abolition of slavery. Through many examples Neslo shows how the elite lived and worked. What was their self-perception and identity and how did they relate to the slavery system and to slaves. Another important finding is that the free non-white citizens also kept slaves in their property for economic gain. The pursuit of economic independence forced them to become part of the slavery system. Despite their being aware of the slave’s fate, the free non-whites did not make coordinated efforts to free slaves, with a few exceptions. As far as known there had also been no political alliances between free non-whites and slaves. Only the African born manumitted have freed slaves in an organized way, probably through a network connection. Manumission, buying a slave’s freedom, was a costly matter. If a person wanted to buy the freedom of a slave but was not yet that slave’s owner, the manumission process often proceeded in phases (this phenomenon is called phased manumission). It could take years before that person had enough money. He would first have to save enough to purchase the slave from his current owner. And once the slave was in his possession, he would have to again save his money for a manumission request (a government tax). The total cost for the manumission of a slave could quickly add up to around 1,500 guilders (approximately 11,000 euros). Due to the high cost many freed a slave in phases. By the time slavery was abolished – in 1863 – some 65 per cent of the non-white population of Paramaribo was already free. This thesis advocates a more intensive study of the archives in order to obtain a more balanced judgement of the free non-white population in particular and of slavery in general. In this way various historiographic misconceptions can be enervated.
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