When a small group of free men of color gathered in 1838 to celebrate the end of apprenticeship in Barbados, they spoke of emancipation as the moment of freedom for all colored people, not just former slaves. The fact that many of the celebrants were former slave owners themselves gave a hollow ring to their lofty pronouncements. Yet, THE CHILDREN OF AFRICA IN THE COLONIES demonstrates that simply dismissing these men as hypocrites ignores the complexity of their relationship to slavery. Be exploring the role of free blacks in Barbados from 1790 to 1860, Newton demonstrates that the emancipation process transformed social relations between Afro-Barbadians and slaves and ex-slaves. Mining a rich vein of primary and secondary sources, Newton's unique study elegantly describes how class divisions and disagreements over labor and social policy among free and slave black Barbadians led to political unrest and devastated the hope for an entirely new social structure.

Melanie J. Newton is an assistant professor of Caribbean and Atlantic world history at the University of Toronto.