A reporter's firsthand portrait of formerly enslaved Jamaicans in the years after emancipation

John Bigelow’s Jamaica in 1850 provided an important document in the antislavery movement in the United States and Great Britain. Jamaica’s economy had collapsed after the 1838 emancipation. American supporters of enslavement used the Jamaican example to argue that abolition at home would unleash economic and social chaos. Bigelow’s vivid eyewitness reporting undermined that widely held view by proving Jamaica’s problems originated in the incompetence of absentee white planters and an obsolete colonial system. As Bigelow showed, many once-enslaved Jamaicans had in fact become successful small-scale landowners in the twelve years after emancipation while the large plantations languished.

CONTENTS.
 Chapter I. 
 Pages
 Departure from New York--How to escape sea-sickness--Our
 passengers--Taylor, cousin of Zachary Taylor--The Pass of
 Mayaguana--Arrival at Port Royal--Commodore Brooks--
 Kingston seen from the Bay, - - - - - 1-12
 Chapter II.
 Kingston Hotels--Streets--Inhabitants--Old people and babies-- 
 Coolies, - - - - - - - - - 13-20
 Chapter III.
 Intermarriage between the whites and browns--Public sentiment
 about color--The proportion of colored and white people in
 public and professional employments--Colored people of 
 note--The English policy towards them, - - - 21-30
 Chapter IV.
 Spanishtown--Governor Grey--His embarrassments--His family--House
 of Assembly--The Public Printers--The Speaker--His 
 compensation, - - - - - - - - 31-38
 Chapter V.
 Political Representation in Jamaica--Impotence of the 
 Legislature--Executive influence--The Council--Deliberations 
 of the Assembly--Political Parties--Public Salaries--
 Memorial against the Council, - - - - - 39-52
 Chapter VI.
 The Poverty of Jamaica--Depreciation and the diminution of 
 exports--The market value of estates--Corresponding 
 prostration in the other British West India Colonies, 53-64
 Chapter VII.
 Physical resources of Jamaica--Soil--Fruits--Vegetables--Drugs--
 Trees--Irrigation--Rivers--Difficulties of transportation--
 Harbors--Mines,- - - - - - - - 65-70
 Chapter VIII.
 The decline of Jamaica explained--The complaints of the 
 Planters--The remedies proposed by the Planters--The real
 difficulties in Jamaica stated--First, the degradation of 
 labor, - - - - - - - - - 71-78
 Chapter IX.
 Absenteeism and Middlemen--Stanley's letter to Gladstone, 79-88
 Chapter X.
 Encumbered Estates--Insolvency of the Island--The Planters and 
 the Home Merchant--Restrictions on Commerce, - - 89-102
 Chapter XI.
 Accumulations of land--No middle class--Labor not 
 capital, - - - - - - - - - 103-112
 Chapter XII.
 Labor to become capital--Increase of small proprietors--Carlyle's
 Remedy reviewed, - - - - - - - 113-124
 Chapter XIII.
 Labor and Wages, - - - - - - - - 125-138
 Chapter XIV.
 Central Mills, - - - - - - - - - 139-150
 Chapter XV.
 Manufacturing resources--Uses of cocoa nut--Political Influence
 4
 of the African--Emigration of the whites--Destiny of 
 Jamaica, - - - - - - - - - 151-162
 Chapter XVI.
 Climate--Health--Precautions, - - - - - - 163-177
 Chapter XVII.
 Conclusion--Alienation of land--Ocean steamers--Post-office 
 department--Newspapers, - - - - - - 178-186
 Appendix A.
 Visit to the Emperor of Haiti, - - - - - 189-199
 Appendix B.
 A Tabular Return of Exports from the Island of Jamaica for sixty-
 one years, ending October 10, 1848,- - - - 201-204
 Appendix C.
 Epitome of the Island revenue for the years ending 1844, '45, 
 '46, '47, and 1848, - - - - - - - - 205
 Appendix D.
 Extent and Resources of the British Colonies,- - - 207-
 214