The edict abolishing the slave trade did not abolish the institution of slavery. Sugar was an important industry into the 19th century, and slaves were imported to provide labor for the islands’ plantations. The importation of slaves to the island of Saint Helena was banned in 1792, but the phased emancipation of over 800 resident slaves did not take place until 1827, which was still some six years before the British parliament passed legislation to ban slavery in the colonies. The neighboring Spanish on Puerto Rico invaded the small colony; the French then quickly moved in, removing the Spanish and taking over themselves. The abolition of slavery occurred on 1 August 1834, and to this day it is celebrated by a three day public holiday on the first Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in August in the British Virgin Islands. These records have not yet been indexed, but they can be browsed by record type. Slavery still continued in the Danish West Indies (Vestindien). Slavery ended in 1848, and the islands were purchased by the United States in 1916 to become the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917.During Danish rule, officials kept voluminous records, including the slave-related records found in this database. Some of the physical documents are available in St. Croix.
A collection of slavery records newly available over the Internet may help thousands of people trace their families back to “Even though she came from a very horrible situation, she decided not to be defined by it,” Samuel said of her great- great-great-great-grandmother Venus Johannes, who was captured as a 12-year-old girl in what is now Senegal in More than 50,000 enslaved Africans were taken to St. Croix during the island’s Danish colonial rule, said George Tyson, who led a seven-year effort to gather documents from archives in the Virgin Islands, Washington and Many of the slaves spent their lives toiling on the island’s sugar plantations.
This database contains Danish records relating to slavery in what became the U.S. Virgin Islands.The Danish presence in the Caribbean began in the mid-17th century, and in 1754 the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John became Danish colonies known as the Danish West Indies. The original emancipation proclamation hangs in the High Court. Among the most useful pieces are interviews conducted by the Moravian church, which, upon converting Africans, recorded their place of origin, Tyson said.The collection has more than 700,000 records. A local group, the Virgin Islands The records will be searchable for free until the end of July on Johannes’ story comes partly from an account she gave to authorities that helped persuade them to free her.“Whatever passion was in the relationship did not overcome the issue that the captain wanted to get some money,” Tyson said.“I have decided to look more at the positive and recognize how much she overcame, because you can choose to be angry or you can choose to more forward,” she said.The documents, spanning from 1734 to 1917, include shipping records with names and prices of enslaved Africans and property inventories.
Find out who’s who among free black men, women, and children on St. Croix. They include the following:The records can be a valuable source of names, dates, places, and other details. Most of the records are in Danish. The abolition of slavery occurred on 1 August 1834, and to this day it is celebrated by a three day public holiday on the first Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in August in the British Virgin Islands.
In the early 1600s many countries took interest in the Caribbean and in “the Virgins”; Holland, France, England, Spain, Denmark and the Knights of Malta all sought colonies. Others were scanned in foreign capitals by researchers who brought copies back to feed the database of the historical group’s Tyson said some islanders who helped enter data found an emotional resonance while recording information on the long-ago slaves who were forced to come to St. Croix.“Even if they are not related they are spiritually connected because of what they had to endure,” he said.20 Tweets Dragging Roseanne Barr To A White Privilege Hell