Page 2 - Now Grenada News Today

When slavery was abolished. the thousand slaves that we owned here in grenada got nothing. do you think that my family should pay money in reparations to the people of grenada? can you raise your hand if you think thats a good idea? that seems to be unanimous, nicole. can i ask how many of you are descended from slaves? do you know? i think everybody. nicole laughs after class, i sat down with the students to find out more about their views on reparations and the legacy of slavery on grenada. it...

The slaves, basically, there would have been specific laws. all right? and one of the things we must understand is that they were chattel slaves. and that means... what does chattel slavery mean? student: personal property. perfect — personal property. all right? now, if theyre considered personal property, it means that they have no rights. absolutely no rights. so this is laura trevelyan. now, one of the things about laura is that she found not too long ago that her... five times great—gra...

So a one—year—old? a one—year—old. yeah. this is the beausejour estate, high in the hills of grenada, once a sugar cane plantation jointly owned by the trevelyans. the production of sugar cane fuelled the transatlantic slave trade. and its here that slaves, owned by my family, worked long hours harvesting the crop. this is the location where the slave master would come out and look over the slave plantation, the sugar plantation. at beausejour, i met the second of my guides, the historic...

And what that means. ive come here to confront the past, to ask how it shapes the future. i felt apprehensive as we began exploring grenada, not knowing what id discover, or how my quest to unearth the past would be received. one of the things that the british government asked for was for the planters to say how many slaves they owned and to make a record of how many were born, how many died each year. so grenada actually has some of the best records. nicole phillip—dowe is my guide. shes a hi...

And from our first conversation, within minutes, i realised this is something that we can talk about without the emotional... ..heart—wrenching conversations that you typically will have, that weve reached that point where the descendants of slaves and the descendants of slave owners can actually sit side by side and come up with solutions. ive been thinking a lot during this trip about what, if anything, i might owe to the people of grenada — an issue i discussed with nicole phillip—dowe....

Now on bbc news, bbc world news correspondent laura trevelyan examines herfamily�*s historic links to slave ownership in "grenada: confronting the past." 250 years ago, this harbour on the caribbean island of grenada was bustling, with slave ships arriving from west africa. after a harrowing journey, the slaves were sold here and put to work on the sugar plantations in brutal conditions. my family in england owned slaves here on grenada, and though we never set foot on the island, we profited ...

Acknowledged, and grenada is reclaiming its history. hello there. it really is a messy picture out there at the moment. obviously weve seen a lot more cloud around today, some bursts of rain too. the rain in western scotland probably easing away, but further south into england the rain that weve seen developing here will continue to push its way northwards, could be heavy, possibly even thundery as well, working its way upwards into southern scotland. if youre hoping to see the super blood moon ...

Instead of trying to get ourselves out of it. even though the whole... a majority of grenada is black, the population is mainly black, there is still a lot - of racism and colourism. i and i think these things pass downl from the minds of parents who have taught their children these things. just steps away from the market where the enslaved were once sold is another prompt from the past.

Rum? but sugar, the products, the by—products... yes, rum, of course, was a major by—product. sugar was, of course, the other one. i think there was maybe about a 20 year timeframe in the 18th century, where the consumption of sugar in england quadrupled. grenadas capital, st georges, is one of the most picturesque in the caribbean. the bustling harbour sits below the hillside of an old volcanic crater. the horror of life and death on the beausejour estate seemed at odds with our spectacular...

And how about grenadas relationship with its own history? would it help...? at the moment theres just that one plaque in the market square which is a memorial to the enslaved. but apart from that, you dont really know that this was somewhere where the slave trade was so prominent. do you think thats something that grenada could do to spotlight its own heritage more? absolutely. i believe there are lots of opportunities on the island to spotlight those historic places and historic events. theres ...