Diana Paton, ed., A Narrative of Events Since the First of August, 1834, by James Williams, an Apprenticed Labourer in Jamaica. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. 141 pp. 459.95 cloth; $17.95 paper

Extract

This work provides a treasury of information relating to a short pamphlet, twenty-four pages in length and published in London and Glasgow in June 1837. It remains the only existing slave narrative which uses Creole or dialect as the main form of expression. The pamphlet, entitled A Narrative of Events, since the First of August, 1834, by James Williams, an Apprenticed Labourer in Jamaica, played a pivotal role in the abolition of the apprenticeship system. The book, edited by Diana Paton, a history lecturer at the University of Newcastle in Britain, illuminates the argument that historical forces which shaped Jamaica's past were unique, yet similar to those existing in other Caribbean colonies.