Peters Wins ‘School Bags’ Competition

Dexnell Peters, a student of Trinity College, Trinidad and Tobago copped first prize in the Inaugural Eric Williams ‘School Bags’ Essay Competition. Jamaicans Patrina Pink and Machela Osagboro took second and third place respectively. The essay competition was open to all final-year Sixth Form students in 155 schools throughout 17 Caribbean countries. Prizes included a four-day trip for two to Jamaica with airfare, hotel accommodations and two meals daily; a laptop computer; various tours; US $1,500; courtesy calls on the President of Trinidad and Tobago and the Speaker of the House of Representatives; Eric Williams’ books; and a framed certificate. In addition, Peters’ winning essay will be published in the Miami Herald’s online edition, as well as the newsletters of The University of the West Indies and Caricom. Professor E. Nigel Harris, UWI Vice Chancellor, in collaboration with the Honourable Yvonne Gittens-Joseph, the High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago to Jamaica, hosted the Awards Ceremony in August 2008 at UWI, Jamaica.

Students were asked to write on the topic, ‘How has Capitalism and Slavery shaped current debates on the commerce in African slaves and the abolition of slavery? What relevance, if any, do these debates have for today’s student?’ Essay reviewers were pleased with the quality of research, writing, and the manner in which the students addressed the topic. In his essay, Peters writes: “None can question the success of this book…. [It] can be considered the starting point to the eventual liberation of the Caribbean from its imperial shackles...” Patrina Pink stresses: “Few works have ruffled the shirtsleeves of academia more than Dr. Eric Williams’.” And in addressing the 64-year-old book’s relevance to today, Machela Osagboro conducted a survey of her classmates, 73% of whom agreed that current debates raised by its theories were still pertinent.

UWI STAN is pleased to feature an excerpt from the winning essay of the competition, which was held in commemoration of the 2007 Bicentenary of the British Abolition of the Transatlantic Trade in Africans, and in honour of Eric Williams, a major historian of the 20th Century. Dr. Williams led the government of Trinidad and Tobago for a quarter century until his death in 1981. On August 30, 1962, the eve of his country’s Independence from Britain, he spoke those now famous words, “You, the children, yours is the great responsibility to educate your parents…you carry the future of Trinidad and Tobago in your school bags”. Dr. Rita Pemberton, Lecturer in History at UWI St Augustine judged the competition alongside Dr. Verene Shepherd, Lecturer in History, UWI Mona and Dr. Colin Palmer, Professor of History at Princeton University. The Eric Williams memorial Collection is housed at the UWI St Augustine Library.

How has Capitalism and Slavery shaped current debates on the commerce in African slaves and the abolition of slavery? What relevance, if any, do these debates have for today’s student?

of British capitalism. Therefore, with “mature industrial capitalism”2 the stage was now set for the abolition of slavery. Williams pioneered the study of African slaves, showed the political, social and economic value concerned and allowed for the expansion of the topic. This may be the reason why the book is still of such significance today. Many historians will agree that the book touches on a number of important issues outside of its main concern. Professor Brogan wrote, in an introduction to the book, that he found it was “as topical as it was in 1942.”3 Carrington says “the study contains several theses and numerous sub-theses, which are of as immense importance in this modern era.”4 One of the most important aspects of the book is its universality. Williams’ speaks about the topic in a manner which can be applicable to the events of today as well as to other fields of study. It is not only history but sociology, economics and political science. Capitalism and Slavery still stands up to the scrutiny that modern historians with modern research technology attempt to give it. Perhaps what is most interesting is the extent to which the debates over the book have evolved over the years.

The issue of the profitability of slavery was the first to attract attention in the academic fraternity. This debate is traced from the publication of the book, to the 1970s and the present day. When the book was in the process of being published, Pitman made the claim that the book was not original, stating that the “work adds little to what scholars in the field know.”5 If Pitman was referring solely to the decline in the profitability of the slave trade his point is well noted. Ragatz published a book showing depreciation in the economic value of the slave trade and slavery. In retrospect, Ragatz was not the first to hold this view. Selwyn Carrington states in an article that the idea of depreciation in the plantation economy was first put forward by Hall Pringle. What Williams did was agree with the theory, give further evidence to it and use it in support of a more macro view of slavery in relationto the world. Therefore, as Palmer puts it, “Pitman failed to appreciate the book’s refreshing originality. ”6 In any case, Williams dedicated the book to Ragatz. Williams also admitted to two works that were of great significance to him; a thesis, “Africa and the Rise of Capitalism” by W.E. Williams and The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James. Erica Williams Connell stated in an article “Williams may have owed an intellectual debt to these two writers... but he developed and took the relevant ideas in directions perhaps not necessarily anticipated by either of them.”7 Williams agreed with these views, elaborated on them by stating further evidence and put them into a different and broader perspective which, in turn, made Capitalism and Slavery a completely advanced and original book.

The decline theory continues to stand its ground through the support of other noteworthy scholars such as William Darity, Jr.8, David H. Makinson9, Richard B. Sheridan10, Barbara L. Solow11 and David Brion Davis12. They have all in some way or the other helped to further Williams’ argument. Davis in an essay wrote that “opposition to slavery cannot be divorced from the vast economic changes occurring at the time.”13 In this he supported Williams’ emphasis on the economic factor. The decline theory would eventually gain opposition – particularly around the 1970s. In 1968 Roger Anstey would publish a critique of the book. Anstey calculated figures depicting the profit of the slave trade from 1761 to 1807. He calculated it as “9.5% (8.2%, 12.1%, 10.7%, 13% for the first four decades and 3.3% for the years 1801-1807).”14 He believed that this did not warrant an end to the trade but definitely could not have been enough to be a major factor in the development of capitalism in Britain. The debate shifted from the discourse of claims or qualitative evidence to the discourse of quantitative evidence. Seymour Drescher is described as the most notable antagonist of the decline theory. Davis Brion Davis in a review of the book From Slavery to Freedom described Drescher as “the historian who [in Econocide, 1979] demolished the long-standing thesis that British abolitionists succeeded only because the slave colonies were in a state of irreversible decline (1999).”15 This quote echoes the sentiments of many historians during this period and sometime after. Drescher’s main view was that slavery was, in fact, still quite profitable and, thus still significant to Britain when the abolition of the slave trade occurred….


For the complete essay please visit stanonline : www.sta.uwi.edu/stan or for further information about the School Bags essay competition, please contact Mrs Erica Williams Connell at ewc.suilan@juno.com. For information on the Eric Williams Memorial Collection, please contact the UWI St Augustine Main Library at mainlib@sta.uwi.edu