Event

The Faculty of Humanities and Education (FHE) hosts the Book Launch of The Slave Master of Trinidad: William Hardin Burnley and the Nineteenth Century Atlantic World written by Professor Selwyn Cudjoe.

The Launch takes place on December 14 at 5.30pm at the School of Education Auditorium. Can't make it in person? Join the at https://sta.uwi.edu/streams/. 

Key speakers include: Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education (FHE), Dr. Heather Cateau.

Interested persons can RSVP to Dean.fhe@sta.uwi.edu.

About the book

“The Slave Master of Trinidad” tells the story of William Hardin Burnley (1780–1850) who was the largest slave owner in Trinidad during the nineteenth century. Born in the United States to English parents, he settled on the island in 1802 and became one of its most influential citizens and a prominent agent of the British Empire. A central figure among elite and moneyed transnational slave owners, Burnley moved easily through the Atlantic world of the Caribbean, the United States, Great Britain, and Europe, and counted among his friends Alexis de Tocqueville, British politician Joseph Hume, and prime minister William Gladstone.

In this first full-length biography of Burnley, Selwyn R. Cudjoe chronicles the life of Trinidad’s “founding father” and sketches the social and cultural milieu in which he lived. Reexamining the decades of transition from slavery to freedom through the lens of Burnley’s life, The Slave Master of Trinidad demonstrates that the legacies of slavery persisted in the new post-emancipation society.

For more additional queries, please contact Miss Wenda Rocke via email at wenda.rocke@sta.uwi.edu or call 662-2002 ext. 83632 or Ms. Naomi Howard at Naomi.Howard@sta.uwi.edu or call 662-2002 ext. 83770.