The role of religious institutions in the Virgin Islands during enslavement.pdf

The role of religious institutions in the Virgin Islands during enslavement. 11. Outline the role of religious institutions in the Virgin Islands during enslavement. The Independent Free Village of Nottingham Estate 1776 During the period of enslavement the village of Long Look was flanked on e...

The role of religious institutions in the Virgin Islands during enslavement. 11. Outline the role of religious institutions in the Virgin Islands during enslavement. The Independent Free Village of Nottingham Estate 1776 During the period of enslavement the village of Long Look was flanked on every side by active plantations and managed to co-exist without interference and disturbance from the organized and different system of government that managed their neighbors. The village of Long Look was established out of a cotton plantation by a group of twenty-five freed African men and women after they purchased their freedom in 1776 for £5 from their masters, Samuel and Mary Nottingham, absentee Quaker owners who lived in Long Island, New York. The Nottinghams also granted the freed people the 50-acre cotton plantation, Long Look, which Mary Nottingham had inherited from her father, as a means to sustain themselves. Long Look had a unique status in the Virgin Islands as a free village of Creole people surrounded by plantations until the abolition of slavery in 1834. It emerged from the era of enslavement as a centre for farming, fishing, boatbuilding and cattle-rearing and also as a centre for families, artisans and shipping entrepreneurs. The livelihood of Long Look was supported by a diverse economic system with a variety of agricultural activities, particularly ground provisions for consumption and surplus crops for sale. Long Look also provided pasture of open range or small paddocks, allowing large herds of livestock, particularly cattle. Cattle, besides providing beef and dairy products, represented a liquid form of capital, easily converted to cash. Additionally, all manner of fishing pots, line, and seine were used and produced a large amount of surplus fish that was corned and sold to nearby markets in St Thomas, in addition to trading activities with the Danish island of St. Thomas, the village of Long Look also provided the surrounding estate with staples for consumption. By the middle of the 19th century, only 19 of the original 25 survived; however, undaunted by the difficulties of life, the village continued to survive. By 1825 they had increased their numbers to 43 and endured as they had recovered from drought and hurricanes in the 1810s. They maintained respectable characteristics of being debt-free, literate individuals engaging in religious practice through their skilled and diverse labor force and increased capital.