Many factors contributed to the rise of the black peasantry in Jamaica, and this movement flourished transforming a slave society into a prosperous democratic one
Covers the presence of blacks in Britain from 1640 to 1950, with focus on black Baptists, who came predominantly from Jamaica and America in the 1830's-60's on abolitionist tours or who had connections with the Baptist Missionary Society
"Alexander Bedward, minister of the revivalist Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church during the period 1889-1921, emerged as one of the island's earliest black nationalists. Under the guise of religion Bedward called on the black majority to rise up and take action against the prevailing system of racial discrimination, socio-economic deprivation, injustice, the tyranny of minority colonial rule, and to establish a government representative of the people. While he was revered by the masses, attracting thousands of followers at home and abroad, he was feared by the upper classes and colonial authorities, who saw him as a threat to political stability. An antagonistic relationship developed between the government and Bedward. Eventually, he was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to the lunatic asylum, where he later died." (publication abstract);
