Dr Suzanne Francis-Brown's public lecture, titled 'Interleaving Records and Policies to Illuminate the Enslaved Community at Papine, Jamaica, 1817-1832', was hosted by the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery on 1 December 2022. A recording of the lecture can be viewed on the CSLBS YouTube channel at this link.
About the lecture
Much of the inner working of plantations where enslaved workers labored and lived out their lives remained outside the public record. Many such populations remain obscured especially where estate records and correspondence have not come to light. Yet even without such records, an interleaving of admittedly sparse public records in the context of ameliorative ownership policies with moral overtones, shine light on the enslaved population of the Papine Estate in St Andrew, Jamaica during the years leading up to abolition and eventual emancipation. Most illuminating is the light shed on family – unusually including male as well as female participation.
About the speaker
Curator at the University of the West Indies Museum from its founding in 2012 until 2019, Dr Francis-Brown's research interests include heritage interpretation, enslaved families, and enslaved runaways in Jamaica.