167th Anniversary of Emancipation
An Address by
Gerard M. Emanuel
July 3, 2015
Frederiksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands
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Peace and Greetings to all! Today, July 3, 2015, marks the 167th
anniversary of the emancipation of Virgin Islanders from physical slavery. The attainment of freedom by our enslaved
African ancestors on July the 3rd 1848 is certainly the most
important accomplishment that affected all Africans in the VI. Although it was a self-determined effort, it was not a complete attempt at
self-determination. This is the
first main point of this presentation.
It is a departure from my earlier speeches and writings.
For example, in the brochure prepared for the
150th anniversary celebration of emancipation in 1998, I wrote that
“150 years ago, enslaved Africans on St. Croix fully exercised their inalienable right of
self-determination. They executed a
socio-economic coup and liberated themselves from the chains of chattel
slavery.” (See p. 2 of the
brochure). However, in the years
since then, I have revisited the event and subjected it to closer and more
objective scrutiny, mostly within the context of self-determination.
Resultantly, my position has changed. Notwithstanding this change, I still hold
that nothing that we have accomplished either before or since then has had such
a major status changing impact on all African Virgin Islanders.
Now some of you
might be scratching your heads and whispering, has Mr. Emanuel forgotten the
accomplishments of Queen Mary and the workers due to the “Fire Bun of
1878”?
Has he forgotten Queen Coziah and
the Coal Workers on St. Thomas?
He
certainly has not forgotten what David Hamilton Jackson, Rothschild Francis,
Valdemar Hill, Cyril King, Mario Moorhead, Adelbert Bryan, Dr. Carlyle Corbin,
his cousins Lezmore and Gene Emanuel, the Virgin Islands Action Group, the St.
Croix Retirees Association, We Grow Food Inc. on St. Thomas, and others have
done individually and collectively in the area of self-determination?
No I have not.
I am not quite ready for the Herbert Grigg
Home for the Elderly yet. Just follow my
line of thinking closely. First let me
indicate how I am using the word “self-determination”. In this presentation, self-determination
means “the right of a people to decide upon its own form of government without
coercion or outside influence.” This is
straight from Webster’s dictionary.
Therefore any attempt to put Virgin Islanders in a position to exercise
greater autonomy, is what I mean by self-determination.
The Emancipation of 1848 was a single event
that was conceived, planned and carried out mostly by enslaved persons on St.
Croix that did this to an extent that was remarkable for that time. It significantly affected the status of every
enslaved African in the entire Danish West Indies, in less than one day of
self-determined actions. As far as I can
remember, no single event in 167 years even comes close to this. The persons
and events mentioned previously, affected persons usually on one island, or
their efforts took place over a period of time.
Now it is not because we have not
tried that we have not accomplished any status change comparable to the July 3,
1848 Emancipation. Yes we now elect our
own governors and senators. We choose
our judges on the local and Supreme Court levels. We have also had constitutional conventions
and status commissions. Aren’t these achievements evidence of
self-determination? Yes they are, but
even after all of these “advances”, we still are a colony as we were under
Danish rule, except with a few embellishments.
Moreover, none of them have produced any fundamental change in our
status as the 1848 emancipation did. The US Congress can annul any law passed
by the VI Government, or make any court decision either apply or not apply to
us without our input, as in the case of
the recent Supreme Court ruling on citizenship in American Samoa, or the very
recent decision on Same-Sex Marriages. Further, none of the “advances” we made,
produced a fundamental change in our ability to be self-determined, as the
Emancipation of 1848 did.
Now those of
you, who know VI history might still be saying, wait a minute. What about the African revolutions before the
Emancipation of 1848 - especially the November 23rd 1733 revolution
on St. John? For those of you who do not
remember this event, on this date the island and government on St. John were
taken over for half of a year from the Danish authorities by a brilliant and
well-planned strategy that was executed by our enslaved African ancestors
living on that island. Dr. Gilbert Sprauve, Professor Sele Adeyami, Educator
Leba Olaniyi and others, discuss this event in detail when they lead
pilgrimages to Fortberg, the site of the takeover, every November 23rd.
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Incidentally, November 23rd is also the birthdate of Professor Gene
Emanuel, who was one of the main presenters on these pilgrimages, before his
untimely passing a few years ago. In any
event, the Danes were not able to retake control of the island from the
Africans until they enlisted assistance from several other European countries.
Other than this revolution, there
were two documented attempts by our African ancestors to take over the island
and government of St. Croix in 1746 and 1759.
In the latter attempt, the Africans had even gone so far as to choose
who would be the governor and his assistants.
Both of these plots failed because of the loose tongue of one of the
planners.
Notwithstanding the fact that none
of these self-determination attempts succeeded in effectuating a permanent
change, I consider each of them to be a fundamental and complete
self-determination effort, because they included not only the physical liberation of
the enslaved Africans, but also the governing of the island by them. Contrastingly, the Emancipation of July 3rd,
1848, did not include the takeover of the government by the Africans. That is
why I consider it an incomplete self-determination attempt. Be that as it
may though, none of the attempts
before July the 3rd, 1848, produced a permanent change in the status
of all enslaved persons in the then Danish West Indies.
This is why
even though the Enslaved African Emancipation of July 1848 was an incomplete
self-determination attempt, it stands above all other complete or incomplete
self-determination attempts either before or after it on any of the Virgin
Islands because it was permanently
successful in achieving its limited aims.
Nevertheless though, what I
am leading up to and will say next might seem like a contradiction and shock
some of you who have listened to our beloved historian, Mario Moorhead, praise
two of the leaders of the Emancipation of 1848 - namely General Buddoe and
Admiral Martin King, for many years from this very same bandstand.
As discussed above, because the
slave emancipation attempt on St. John and the two on St. Croix in the 1700’s
included in addition to physical emancipation, specific plans to govern the
respective islands by the Africans, this singular feature makes them greater
and more complete attempts at self-determination than the Emancipation of July
3rd, 1848.
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He
further wrote that this type of emancipation prevented the type sought by the
Akans, and he might have been referring to the one I mentioned previously on
St. John, as well as the Haitian Revolution, where the Africans did not ask or
demand their freedom, but they took full control of the government on those
islands. Hall also named the last
chapter in his book, which discussed in detail the July 3, 1848 Emancipation
events and the court cases, etc., “THE VICTOR VANQUISHED”.
What does this mean? Hall’s view is that yes, the enslaved
Africans on St. Croix in 1848 achieved their ultimate goal - physical
freedom. But because they did not dare
to “turn the wheel full circle”, they “were made to suffer the fate of the
vanquished.” In other words, since it
seems as though the Africans on St. Croix in 1848 were satisfied to be only
physically free, because their emancipation plans did not include taking
control of the government from the Danes, they suffered the consequences of
their incomplete revolution. They ended
up as though they were the defeated party. Buddoe, their chief leader, was
deported, never to be seen or heard from again. Nothing else changed
fundamentally in their condition. The Labor Law of 1849 made sure of this.
In fact, things got worse. Even though they now were all able to earn
money for their labor, it was barely sufficient to pay for everything that had
been provided by the plantation owners before. This left them virtually
penniless. So even though they were physically
free, they were still economically and politically in bondage. However, were they really physically
free?
In Mario Moorhead’s book “SHE AND
ME”, this issue was raised in his discussion of the relationship between Mary
Thomas, popularly known as “Queen Mary” and her lover Joe Parris, both of whom
were prominent leaders in the Laborers’ uprising of 1878, which we call the
“Fire Bun”. They lived and worked on
different estates. Due to the restrictions of the Labor Act, but particularly
because of restrictions from his employer, Mr. Parris could not freely move to
marry and live with his fiancée, Queen Mary, without giving up his job.
Now this leads me straight to the
second main point of this presentation.
After you hear it, you will be able to see and better understand why
some of us get technical and call the accomplishment of July 3rd
1848, only “Physical Emancipation”. This
is not done just to be critical of what our ancestors accomplished, but to be
honest and accurate about precisely what they did achieve.
The second main point is this. Although
Emancipation Day is a major highlight in our history, it not only was an
incomplete emancipation attempt, but it
also only represented the most elementary or lowest form of freedom – physical
freedom. Let me repeat
this. If we are honest, although the
freedom declaration on July 3rd, 1848, which we commemorate and
celebrate today, was a seminal occurrence, what was achieved 167 years ago,
only represents the most elementary or lowest form of freedom.
As we all know, our Crucian ancestors
executed a well-planned and organized protest in Frederiksted, beginning on the
evening of July 2nd, 1848, which forced Governor General Peter von
Scholten to grant them their freedom from physical slavery the next day. This was a revolution in their status and way
of life. From the evening of July 3,
1848, in theory or by law, they could choose where they wanted to work and get
paid. However, as we learned 30 years
after in 1878, and as I discussed previously in the case of Queen Mary and Joe
Parris, were they really physically free? Whatever physical freedom they
achieved, was squashed by the Labor Act of January 1849, which stipulated a set
of working regulations that were almost as harsh as physical slavery, as well
as by restrictions of their employers.
This is also why the workers needed to protest again in what we call the
“Fire Bun” of October 1, 1878.
Later on in this presentation, I
will expand some more on my controversial and probably unpopular main points,
which are that while Physical Emancipation was a great accomplishment, it
really was an incomplete act of self-determination, as well as the lowest form
of freedom that our ancestors could have achieved. Some of you may disagree with this point, but
I have to be honest, and not give you a romantic or one-sided view of our
history.
Thus almost every time I write an essay or make a speech, I manage to
include something controversial, because we must continually review and
reassess our history. Being
controversial is not only my personal nature, but it seems to be the nature of
the outspoken Emanuels in the Virgin Islands for at least a century. Although I have not received much severe
criticism for my statements, my grandfather, Charles H. Emanuel was not as
fortunate. He was one of four persons to
criticize the US Naval Governor in a letter that was printed in the New York
News in 1918 or 1919, because of the racist and inhumane treatment of several
African Virgin Islanders on St. Thomas, 70 years after the emancipation.
According to William Boyer in his
well-documented history of the VI, Governor Oliver attacked “the character and
reputation” of my grandfather and the other three signers of the letter by reporting
to the US Director of Naval Intelligence, some legal and other character
allegations that reportedly had been made against them. My grandfather had also written a poem in
the West End News of April 1915, strongly supporting David Hamilton Jackson,
after he was criticized by the planters for having the audacity as a Black man
to go to petition the King of Denmark.
In 1972, Dr. Lezmore Emanuel was fired from CVI (then College of the Virgin Islands) for organizing and
raising the consciousness of students as an African history Professor. Of course the administration at the time
stated other reasons as the basis for their decision.
From the 1980’s until his
departure from his physical body, Professor Gene Emanuel was harassed and not
treated as the eminent scholar that he was due to his African-centered views,
and because he raised the consciousness of, taught and organized African males
and females in Washington D.C., on St. Thomas and throughout the Caribbean
Diaspora.
Even my brilliant adopted St.
Lucian Cousin, Cletus Emanuel, was relieved of his duties as a key official in
the Department of Education’s Human Resources Office, after his testimony on
many topics of public concern before the Legislature, but especially because of
his irrefutable statements on the fatally flawed Diageo contract. Of course as is the typical modus operandi,
other reasons were touted for the decision to terminate him.
It seems as though whenever we Emanuel’s
speak publicly, the ancestors take over, and we are not allowed to lie or hide
the truth. However, we pay the price.
So while my presentation last year
focused on the important role played by women in the Emancipation, this year we
concentrate on the importance of going beyond physical emancipation. Yes we must continue to commemorate and
celebrate what our ancestors have done, but we must also continue to build
where they left off today.
So what type of leadership is needed to take the
next step in our continual struggle for full emancipation? Who has the characteristics that Buddoe and
D. Hamilton Jackson had in common, and which person or organization in the VI
today with these attributes can take us beyond physical emancipation to fully
achieve the higher levels and types of emancipation?
Don’t get me wrong! Yes!
July 3rd 1848 still is probably the most important event in
Virgin Islands history thus far, and it will remain the most important victory
until we fully achieve a change in our status through attainment of the other
forms of liberation and self-determination that we are missing as a
people.
Some of you already know what I
am referring to, but others may be asking, what is he talking about? Aren’t we free to go wherever we want, and do
whatever we choose already? Don’t we
elect our own governor and senators? Where is he going with this? I am really confused.
To these persons, I ask them to be
patient. Yes, you are correct. As was indicated earlier in this
presentation, we have moved further up the road towards political and economic
self-determination. But we have not achieved a fundamental change
in our political or economic status that is as seminal as what physical
emancipation was to the enslaved Africans in 1848.
In other words, we have not completely
achieved any of the higher forms of emancipation beyond physical emancipation.
I do not have the time to go into great detail in this presentation, but I will
attempt to concisely shed some light on this.
The higher forms of emancipation to
which I am referring are spiritual emancipation, mental emancipation, political
emancipation and economic emancipation.
Although we can work on all four at the same time, spiritual and mental
emancipation need to be prioritized to provide the foundation and confidence to
pursue political and economic emancipation.
Believe it or not, our enslaved
African ancestors were spiritually and mentally emancipated to some extent.
Without this, they could not have accomplished what they did against the odds
that confronted them. However, we
seem to have regressed as a people in these two critical areas.
This type of discussion scares some
persons. However, isn’t a principal goal
of parents the desire to see their children get a good education to either get
a good job, or create a job for themselves?
In other words, parents want to see their children eventually become fully emancipated at least physically and
economically from them.
Therefore,
why don’t we all have the same expectation for our territory? Are we too dumb or too incompetent to become
independent? Or are we too afraid? We attend the same schools and universities
as our brothers and sisters in the rest of the Caribbean, and those in other
countries throughout the world. Yet we
become spiritually and mentally paralyzed when it comes to confidently taking
the steps beyond physical emancipation to change our status politically, and
economically. We are supposed to be a
leading territory in the Caribbean, but most other islands have caught up and
surpassed us in these two areas.
To get beyond this, we must become
fully, spiritually and mentally emancipated.
Spiritual Emancipation includes knowing and believing in who we truly
are, and directly experiencing the
presence of a higher power within us, that gives us the confidence that
whatever we conceive and truly believe in our hearts, we have already
achieved. It also gives us the strength
to be guided by moral principles and virtues which build our character and
integrity, and serve as the basis for our decision making.
Mental emancipation includes having
total self-confidence in our education, training and thinking abilities, which
will motivate us to make decisions and act victoriously from a position of
strength, in our own self-interest as a people, to continue to build a solid
foundation in our communities that will put us on the road to achieving
complete political and economic emancipation and independence.
Many of the persons, who have been
at the forefront of this battle, are now senior citizens. We must mentor, encourage and support the
brilliant young minds, who are graduating from our high schools to go forth and
pursue their academic and career ambitions, but implore them not forget where
they came from, and always be willing to return and take their rightful place
as leaders in their homeland.
I am
really happy that the valedictorian of St. Croix Central High School’s Class of
2015, Miss Bria James, agreed to make a presentation in today’s program. She is a shining example of what our youth
can accomplish when they raise their consciousness. If we succeed in doing this with other youth,
we will be well on the road to achieving the three other forms of emancipation,
which will complete our goal of complete self-determination.
Thank you for listening. I know
that I did not adequately discuss what all we need to do to transcend physical
emancipation; however, this is not a classroom, and you are not my
students. My aim was not to provide a plan
of action. It was just to point out that
we should not be comfortable with what our ancestors have accomplished.
We are
all leaders and followers together, and as such we simply need as much
information, enlightenment and motivation as possible to organize ourselves and
do what we know we must if this territory and its people are not only to
survive, but thrive as we move forward in the 21st century and
beyond.
Enjoy the rest of the program
and this weekend of self-determination.