Afro-Grenadian

Afro-Grenadian Grenada
Total population
(101,309)
Regions with significant populations
Grenada
Languages
Mainly Grenadian Creole English, standard English, French and Grenadian Creole French
Religion
Roman Catholicism, Christianity, Islam

Afro-Grenadians are Grenadian people of largely African descent. They are also referred to simply as African or Black. The term may also refer to a Grenadian of African ancestry. Social interpretations of race are mutable rather than deterministic, and neither physical appearance nor ancestry are used straightforwardly to determine whether a person is considered a black Grenadian. According 2012 Census, 82% of Grenada's population is Black and 13% is mixed Black and European (Mulatto). (The Europeans are only a 5% of the population.)[1]

History

When the United Kingdom gained control of Grenada in 1776, it began the import of African slaves for use on the cotton, sugar and tobacco plantations.[2] Most of the slaves imported to Grenada hailed from Nigeria (specifically Igbo and Yoruba,[3] more than 37,000, 34% of the slaves of the island[4]) and Ghana[5][6] (Fante people,[7] more than 18,000, 19% of the slaves of the island[4]). To a lesser extent, slaves were also were imported from Senegambia (more than 5,000, 4.9% of the slaves of the island[4]), Guinea,[8] Sierra Leone (more than 12,000, 11% of the slaves of the island), Windward Coast (more than 14,000, 13% of the slaves of the island), Bight of Benin (more than 5,800, 5,4% of the slaves of the island),[4] Congo (specifically Kongos) and Angola.[3] The slaves of Central Africa numbered more than 12,000 people, 11% of the slaves of Grenada.[4] Many of the slaves were also Mandinka.

Grenada's first census, in 1700, recorded 525 slaves and 53 freed slaves living on the island. Julien Fédon, a mulatto planter, led a violent rebellion on the island, leading a group of slaves. The rebellion led to the takeover of Grenada by Fedon, who afterwards freed the slaves who participated in the rebellion. The struggle of the slaves for their rights continued for a year and a half, until the British regained control of the island. The British, as a punishment for disobedience and rebellion, executed the alleged leaders of the rebellion, however Fedon was never captured. Even though the British retained control of the island, tensions between the two groups - slaves and slaveholders - remained significant until slavery was abolished by a British law in 1834,[9] and all slaves were freed in 1838.[10]

Religious groups

Most black Grenadians are Christian, with the largest groups being Roman Catholics and Anglicans.

Notable black Grenadians

References

  1. ↑ "Grenada factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  2. ↑ BBC. News: Timeline: Grenada.
  3. 1 2 THE FÉDONS OF GRENADA, 1763-1814
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 African origins of the slaves from British and former British Antilles
  5. ↑ Stories of high status Africans | Personal stories: Enslaved Africans
  6. ↑ Poder local, poder global en América Latina (in Spanish:Local power, global power in Latin America) - Página 128
  7. ↑ Del olvido a la memoria: 4: las voces de los esclavizados, los sonidos de la libertad (in Spanish: From Oblivion to Memory: 4: the voices of the enslaved, the sounds of freedom); 2008.
  8. ↑ Big drum nation. The Experience of the Slave Trade and Slavery: Slave Narratives and the Oral History of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Final. Posted by David Omowale
  9. ↑ itzcaribbean: Grenada history.
  10. ↑ Viechweg, Raymond. "Abolition, Indentureship and Creoleness" (PDF). Google Docs. p. 7. Retrieved November 2011.

External links

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