The British Empire: Caribbean

Britain has often presented abolition as a decisive moral achievement, a moment in which it chose justice over profit and helped drive the end of slavery.

That claim is still being made. It is also being contested.

In 2007, Tony Blair expressed “deep sorrow and regret” for Britain’s role in the slave trade but stopped short of an apology, as Caribbean leaders and activists demanded reparatory justice. In 2015, David Cameron spoke of Britain’s “work to wipe slavery off the planet” and told Jamaica to “move on” from slavery, ruling out reparations, a position directly challenged by Andrew Holness.

In 2022, Prince William described slavery as “abhorrent” during a Caribbean tour met with protests demanding accountability for the monarchy’s links to slavery, as Mia Mottley and CARICOM renewed calls for apology and reparations.

Was abolition just a case of change without transformation, where slavery ended in law, but imperial racial hierarchies endured? Or…

Does Britain Deserve Moral Credit for Ending Slavery in the Caribbean?