Jonas Mohammed Bath

Last updated

Jonas Mohammed Bath (died September 1838) was a community and religious leader during the nineteenth century in Trinidad. Born in West Africa, he was enslaved and transported to Trinidad in 1804 or 1805. He was able to purchase his freedom, and went on to be leader of the Mandingo population in Trinidad and was described as "chief priest and patriarch" of the entire Muslim population of the colony. Bath petitioned the British government to repatriate the Mandingo community to Africa in 1833 and 1838, but both petitions were rejected.

Contents

Early life

Bath was born in West Africa, probably in the region between the Senegal and Gambia Rivers, a region then known as Senegambia. He was most likely a Mande speaker, and may have been Susu. He was literate in Arabic and reportedly educated in Islamic law, which indicated that he came from an elite family. [1] Bath said he was the sultan of Yulliallhad Alimant, and a prince by birth. [2]

Enslavement

Bath was captured by non-Muslim slave traders and transported to Trinidad in 1804 or 1805, just before the 1807 abolition of the slave trade. [2] Instead of being sold to a plantation, Bath was purchased by the government of put to work on the construction of Fort George, which was being constructed on the orders of the British governor, Thomas Hislop. Hislop was concerned that the French would attack Trinidad and wanted the fort build quickly. Upon discovering that Bath was a person of some status, Hislop appointed him foreman of the slave gang working to build the fort. [2]

Mandingo leader

By 1812, Bath had purchased his freedom and was recognised as the leader and magistrate of the community of African Muslims. [1] Historian Carl Campbell describes him as "chief priest and magistrate" of the Mandingo community, and quotes contemporary sources who called Bath the "chief priest and patriarch" of the African Muslim community in Trinidad. [2] In the Caribbean, the term Mandingo was used fairly broadly, not merely for Mandinka people, but for anyone people from the Senegambia region, especially Muslims. [1] [2]

Because the demand for public works was so high and the supply of labour limited, Bath was unable to buy his freedom directly. Instead, he was required to purchase another enslaved person at a cost of $500 and turn them over to the government as a replacement for his own labour. [2] The community went on to purchase the freedom of the enslaved Mandingo people. Historian Bridget Brereton estimated that they purchased the freedom of between 50 and 70 enslaved people, which she called a "remarkable achievement" given that the price of slaves was high in Trinidad. [1] Mohammedu Sisei, another member of the community, reported that the cost of freeing enslaved people ranged between $300 and $700 per person. [2] By the time slavery was abolished in 1834 the free Mandingo community consisted of 140 people and, according to Bath "few, if any" of them were still enslaved. [1]

From at least 1812, Bath was treated as a magistrate with authority over the Mandingo community. Henry Fuller, the attorney general of Trinidad from 1812 to 1832, allowed Bath to adjudicate over disputes among members of the community, and often had Bath countersign their statements, since they would make official statements in Arabic and swore oaths using the Qur'an. [2]

Repatriation attempts

In 1833 Bath petitioned the British government to assist the community to return to Africa. Although the slave trade had been abolished, slavery was still legal, and Bath requested assistance from the British Navy to return home safely. The petition was rejected. In 1838, Bath petitioned the Colonial Secretary to help them return to Africa, noting that their knowledge of English and loyal to Britain made them "ideal agents" to bring British culture and civilisation to Africa. Although the Governor of Trinidad met with Bath to discuss the petition, it was ultimately rejected. Bath died in September 1838 and was succeeded by Muhammadu Maguina as patriarch of the Mandingo community. [1]

Related Research Articles

The history of Trinidad and Tobago begins with the settlements of the islands by Indigenous First Peoples. Trinidad was visited by Christopher Columbus on his third voyage in 1498,, and claimed in the name of Spain. Trinidad was administered by Spanish hands until 1797, but it was largely settled by French colonists. Tobago changed hands between the British, French, Dutch, and Courlanders, but eventually ended up in British hands following the second Treaty of Paris (1814). In 1889, the two islands were incorporated into a single political entity. Trinidad and Tobago obtained its independence from the British Empire in 1962 and became a republic in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slave rebellion</span> Armed uprising by slaves

A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of slaves have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedom and the dream of successful rebellion is often the greatest object of song, art, and culture amongst the enslaved population. These events, however, are often violently opposed and suppressed by slaveholders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandinka people</span> West African ethnic group

The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam, mostly based on the Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emancipation of the British West Indies</span> 1833 legal ban on slavery in United Kingdoms Caribbean possessions

The emancipation of the British West Indies refers to the abolition of slavery in Britain's colonies in the West Indies during the 1830s. The British government passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, which emancipated all slaves in the British West Indies. After emancipation, a system of apprenticeship was established, where emancipated slaves were required by the various colonial assemblies to continue working for their former masters for a period of four to six years in exchange for provisions. The system of apprenticeship was abolished by the various colonial assemblies in 1838, after pressure from the British public, completing the process of emancipation. These were the steps taken by British West Indian planters to solve the labour problems created by the emancipation of the enslaved Africans in 1838.

Dutty Boukman was an early leader of the Haitian Revolution. Born in Senegambia, he was enslaved to Jamaica. He eventually ended up in Haiti, where he became a leader of the Maroons and a vodou houngan (priest).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in colonial Spanish America</span> Economic and social institution central to the operation of the Spanish Empire

Slavery in the Spanish American viceroyalties was an economic and social institution which existed throughout the Spanish Empire including Spain itself. Enslaved Africans were brought over to the continent for their labour, indigenous people were enslaved until the 1543 laws that prohibited it.

The Bilali Muhammad Document is a handwritten, Arabic manuscript on West African Islamic law. It was written in the 19th century by Bilali Mohammet, an enslaved West African held on Sapelo Island of Georgia. The document is held at the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia as part of the Francis Goulding papers. It is referred to as the "Ben Ali (Bilali) Manuscript".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Trinidad and Tobago</span> Religion in Trinidad and Tobago

Muslims constitute 5.6 percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago. The majority live in Trinidad but there are a handful in Tobago as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Cuba</span>

Cuba is a majority Christian nation, with Islam being one of the smallest minority faiths in the country. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center report, there were then 10,000 Muslims in Cuba who constitute less than 0.1% of the population. As of 2012, most of the 10,000 Cuban Muslims were converts to the religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayuba Suleiman Diallo</span> Senegalese slave

Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (1701–1773), also known as Job Ben Solomon, was a prominent Fulani Muslim prince from West Africa who was kidnapped and trafficked to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade, having previously owned and sold slaves himself.

Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. was a plantation owner, born in England, who moved as a child with his family to South Carolina, and became a planter, slave trader, and merchant. He built four plantations in the Spanish colony of Florida near what is now Jacksonville, Florida. He served on the Florida Territorial Council after Florida was acquired by the United States in 1821. Kingsley Plantation, which he owned and where he lived for 25 years, has been preserved as part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, run by the United States National Park Service. Finding his large and complicated family progressively more insecure in Florida, he moved them to a vanished plantation, Mayorasgo de Koka, in what was then Haiti but soon became part of the Dominican Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black refugee (War of 1812)</span> Black refugees during the war of 1812

Black refugees were black people who escaped slavery in the United States during the War of 1812 and settled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Trinidad. The term is used in Canada for those who settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They were the most numerous of the African Americans who sought freedom during the War of 1812. The Black refugees were the second group of African Americans, after the Black Loyalists, to flee American enslavement in wartime and settle in Canada. They make up the most significant single immigration source for today's African Nova Scotian communities. During the antebellum period, however, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Black refugees reached freedom in Canada, often traveling alone or in small family groups.

Mandingo people of Sierra Leone is a major ethnic group in Sierra Leone and a branch of the Mandinka people of West Africa. Most Sierra Leonean Mandingo are the direct descendants of Mandinka settlers from Guinea, who settled in the north and eastern part of Sierra Leone, beginning in the late 1870s to the 1890s under the rule of prominent Mandinka Muslim cleric Samori Ture. Also later a significantly large population of Mandinka from Guinea migrated and settled in Eastern Sierra Leone and Northern Sierra Leone in the early to mid 20th century. The Mandingo people of Sierra Leone have a very close friendly and allied relationship with their neighbors the Mandingo people of Guinea and Liberia, as they share pretty much identical dialect of the Mandingo language, tradition, culture and food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afro-Grenadians</span>

Afro-Grenadians or Black Grenadians are Grenadian people of largely African descent. This term is not generally recognised by Grenadians or indeed Caribbeans. They usually refer to themselves simply as 'Grenadians' or 'Caribbean'. The term was first coined by an African Americans history professor, John Henrik Clarke (1915–1998), in his piece entitled A Note on Racism in History. The term may also refer to a Grenadian of African ancestry. Social interpretations of race are mutable rather than deterministic and neither physical appearance nor ancestry are used straightforwardly to determine whether a person is considered a Black Grenadian. According to the 2012 Census, 82% of Grenada's population is Black, 13% is mixed European and black and 2% is of Indian origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afro-Saint Lucians</span> Saint Lucians of West African descent

Afro-Saint Lucians or West African-Saint Lucians, are Saint Lucians whose ancestry lies within the West and Central Africa. However, many Afro-Saint Lucians also have small amounts of non-African ancestry such as Arawak, Carib, European and Indian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afro-Vincentians</span>

Afro-Vincentians or Black Vincentians are Vincentians whose ancestry lies within Sub-Saharan Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oku people (Sierra Leone)</span> Ethnic group of Sierra Leone

The Oku people or the Aku Marabout or Aku Mohammedans are an ethnic group in Sierra Leone and the Gambia, primarily the descendants of marabout, liberated Yoruba people who were released from slave ships and resettled in Sierra Leone as Liberated Africans or came as settlers in the mid-19th century.

The History of slavery in Michigan includes the pro-slavery and anti-slavery efforts of the state's residents prior to the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merikins</span> African-American settlers in Trinidad

The Merikins or Merikens were African-American Marines of the War of 1812 – former African slaves who fought for the British against the US in the Corps of Colonial Marines and then, after post-war service in Bermuda, were established as a community in the south of Trinidad in 1815–1816. They were settled in an area populated by French-speaking Catholics and retained cohesion as an English-speaking, Baptist community. It is sometimes said that the term "Merikins" derived from the local patois, but as many Americans have long been in the habit of dropping the initial "A" it seems more likely that the new settlers brought that pronunciation with them from the United States. Some of the Company villages and land grants established back then still exist in Trinidad today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Canadians in Ontario</span>

Black Canadians migrated north in the 18th and 19th centuries from the United States, many of them through the Underground Railroad, into Southwestern Ontario, Toronto, and Owen Sound. Black Canadians fought in the War of 1812 and Rebellions of 1837–1838 for the British. Some returned to the United States during the American Civil War or during the Reconstruction era.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brereton, Bridget (2016). "Bath, Jonas Mohammed". In Knight, Franklin W.; Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (eds.). Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199935796.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Campbell, Carl (1975). "John Mohammed Bath and the Free Mandingos in Trinidad: The Question of Their Repatriation to Africa 1831–38". Journal of African Studies . 2: 467–495.