A Jamaican law makes the practice of Obeah a capital or transportable offense

The law required tickets for travel and described enslaved people as property available to satisfy debts. It explicitly said that becoming Christian did not make an enslaved person free. Those rules...

The Jamaican assembly passed an act for the "better Order and Government of Slaves." It required enslaved people to carry tickets to travel away from plantations, authorized punishment for movement...

Leeward Maroon leader Cudjoe signed a treaty with the colonial government after years of Maroon resistance. The agreement recognized the community's freedom and a defined territory, but it also...

Quao, a Windward Maroon leader, signed a treaty with the British colonial government. The separate agreement followed the Cudjoe treaty and did not represent every Maroon community. Its terms...

An uprising led by Tacky began in St Mary parish. Enslaved Africans seized weapons at Fort Haldane and expanded the revolt by attacking plantations and encouraging others to join. Historian Vincent...

A Jamaican act manumitted Jack, an enslaved man owned by planter Peter Thomas, citing his role in revealing conspiracies and suppressing the recent uprising. The Assembly also ordered an annual...

A Jamaican act freed Jack Pearson, who had been enslaved by the estate of William Ricketts. The statute said Pearson supplied information about a 1760 rebellion in Westmoreland and helped pursue...

A Jamaican statute freed Cato, who had informed colonial officials about the 1760 uprising and helped pursue rebels. The assembly paid his enslaver £70 as compensation. The act records a coerced...

A statute freed York and Cuffee, whose actions colonial lawmakers said helped suppress the 1765 uprising in St Mary. York was credited with saving his enslaver’s widow; Cuffee with disclosing a...

The assembly ordered owners to register separate huts in Spanish Town, Port Royal and Kingston and report which enslaved people lived there. It required enclosures and allowed officials to demolish...