Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight

368 Pages·1998·1.13 MB·English

by  Eli Faber

Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade
R E A P P R A I S A L S I N J E W I S H S O C I A L
A N D I N T E L L E C T U A L H I S T O R Y
General Editor: Robert M. Seltzer
Martin Buber’s Social and Religious Thought:
Alienation and the Quest for Meaning
LAURENCE J. SILBERSTEIN
The American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan
EDITED BY EMANUEL S. GOLDSMITH, MEL SCULT,
AND ROBERT M. SELTZER
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JACK JACOBS
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DAVID E. FISHMAN
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EDITED BY LAWRENCE J. KAPLAN AND DAVID SHATZ
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EDITED BY ROBERT M. SELTZER AND
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The ‘‘Other’’ New York Jewish Intellectuals
EDITED BY CAROLE S. KESSNER
The Nations That Know Thee Not:
Ancient Jewish Attitudes toward the Religions of Other People
ROBERT GOLDENBERG
The Original Torah:
The Political Intent of the Bible’s Writers
S. DAVID SPERLING
Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight
ELI FABER
E L I F A B E R
JEWS, SLAVES, AND THE
SLAVE TRADE
Setting the Record Straight
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK A ND LO NDO N
NEWYORKUNIVERSITYPRESS
NewYorkandLondon
Copyright(cid:1)1998byNewYorkUniversity
Allrightsreserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Faber,Eli,1943–
Jews,slaves,andtheslavetrade:settingtherecordstraight
/EliFaber.
p.cm. — (ReappraisalsinJewishsocialandintellectual
history)
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
ISBN0-8147-2638-0(alkpap)
1. Jews—CaribbeanArea—History. 2. Jewishslave
traders—CaribbeanArea—History. 3. Slavery—Caribbean
Area—History. 4. CaribbeanArea—Ethnicrelations. I. Title. II.
Series.
F2191.J4F331998
972.9'004924—ddc21 98-9051
CIP
NewYorkUniversityPressbooksareprintedonacid-freepaper,
andtheirbindingmaterialsarechosenforstrengthanddurability.
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Lani
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of Tables xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
A Note on Spelling and Dating xvii
Introduction 1
1. England’s Jewish Merchants and the Slave Trade 11
2. Jews and Slaves in Seventeenth-Century Barbados
and Jamaica 44
3. Jews and Slavery in Jamaica, 1700–80 57
4. Jews and Slavery in Barbados and Nevis, 1700–80 91
5. Jews and Slaves on the Threshold of Abolition: Jamaica
and Barbados, 1780–1820 105
6. Jewish Merchants and Slavery in the Mainland Colonies 131
Conclusion 143
Appendixes 147
Notes 255
Bibliography 331
Index 361
About the Author 367
All illustrations appear as an insert following p. 86.
vii
Acknowledgments
This study of the extent to which Jews in the British empire partici-
pated in the African slave trade and owned slaves originated in the
fourth annual Sonia Kroland Coster Memorial Lecture at Hunter
College of The City University ofNewYork.DeliveredinMay1994
at the invitation of Professor Robert Seltzer, director of Hunter Col-
lege’s Jewish Studies Program, the lecture examined allegations that
attributeddominationoftheslavetradeandapreponderanceofslave
ownershiptoJewishfinanciersandcolonists.Shortlyafterthelecture,
published subsequently as ‘‘Slavery and the Jews: A Historical In-
quiry,’’ Professor Seltzer proposed a fuller study of the role played
by Jews in the institution of slavery in the western hemisphere. He
presented his views to New York University Press in his capacity as
editor of its series entitled Reappraisals in Jewish Social andIntellec-
tual History. Mr. Niko Pfund, editor-in-chief and director of the
Press, enthusiastically endorsed Professor Seltzer’s proposal and was
instrumental in making the project possible. I am indebted to both
for their interest and initiative, and for their continuing involvement
after the manuscriptwas completed.
At every stage of the book’s development, many colleagues and
friends provided assistance and encouragement. The support and
advice of Dee Dee Aikens, Horace Banbury, Daniel Gasman, Mary
Gibson, Jack Jacobs, Thomas Litwack, Marilyn Lutzker, Jacob Ma-
rini, T. Kenneth Moran, Jane Mushabac, and Lydia Rosner, all of
John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New
York, began as early as the Sonia Kroland Coster Memorial Lecture
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and proved invaluable thereafter in a variety of ways. Leo Hershko-
witz guided me with his extensive knowledge of the history of New
York City and its Jewish population during the eighteenth century,
and made available copies of original sources in his care. Stephen
Behrendt of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in AmericanHis-
tory at Harvard University graciously responded to my inquiriesand
generously shared his knowledge of the Liverpool slave trade after
1780. Carol Ruth Berkin’s appraisal of the manuscript was inesti-
mably important, as were the critiques by David Brion Davis, Henry
Feingold, and Colin Palmer of a paper summarizing the findings,
presented at the convention of the Association for Jewish Studies in
December 1997. My appreciation of Professor Feingold’s help ex-
tends to the inspiring part that he played in turning my attention
more than ten years ago to the significance of the history of the
Jewishpeoplein colonialAmerica.
I am grateful as well for the extensive assistance I received from
the following individuals. In England: Abigail and Simon Fink, and
Harriet and Charles Grace; in Jamaica: Cheryl Coote, Ernest De
Souza, Valerie Facey, Ainsley and Marjorie Henriques, whosehospi-
tality and responses to my inquiries for historical information were
untiring, Donald Lindo, Jacqueline Ranston, and Derek Roberts; in
Canada: Dr. Anthony Macfarlane; in Israel: Dr. Joseph Faber; in
Lexington, Massachusetts: Sonia Reizes and Robert Bolleurs; and in
New York: Michael Ben-Jacob, Kate Gluck, Robert E. Levine, Jona-
than De Sola Mendes,and Elaine and Brian Rappaport.
The archivists, librarians, and staffs of research facilities are con-
summateprofessionalswhoseinvariablewillingnesstoprovideassist-
ance leads to important breakthroughs. I am profoundly grateful to
thefollowingresearchinstitutions,theirarchivistsandlibrarians,and
the members of staff who stand behind them. In New YorkCity:the
JewishDivision andtheRareBooksandManuscriptsDivisionofthe
NewYorkPublicLibrary,SusanRosensteinandtheHispanicSociety
of America, and Aviva Weintraub and the Jewish Museum; in Al-
bany: Jim Folts and the New York State Archives; in Waltham,
Massachusetts: Michelle Feller-Kopman, Ellen Smith, Holly Snyder,
and the American Jewish Historical Society, with special thanks to
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
its executive director, Dr. Michael Feldberg; in Cincinnati:Abraham
Peck, Kevin Proffitt, and the American Jewish Archives; in Spanish
Town: Ms. Elizabeth Williams andthe JamaicaArchivesandRecord
Center, whose efforts to preserve and make available the extremely
importanthistoricalrecordsofJamaicaareexemplary,andtheIsland
Record Office; in Kingston: the Institute of Jamaica; and in London,
Ms. MiriamRodriguesPereiraandtheSpanishandPortugueseJews’
Congregation, as well as the staff of the Public Record Office, an
extraordinary group of public servants whose enthusiasm and help-
fulnessneverflag,evenafteradayspentdeliveringliterallythousands
of documentsto researchers.
I acknowledge the skill and helpfulness of Usha Sanyal, copy edi-
tor,andDespinaPapazoglouGimbel,managingeditor,ofNewYork
UniversityPress.
Travel to archives outside the United States was made possibleby
generous support provided by the American Philosophical Society,
the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, the Jacob T. Zukerman Fund of
the Workman’s Circle, and the Center for American Jewish History
at TempleUniversity.
I am indebted to Kenneth W. Rendell, Inc., for permitting me to
examine its collection of Aaron Lopez, Jacob Rodrigues Rivera, and
Nathaniel Briggs papersatitsgallery inNewYorkCityinDecember
1995,and forpermittingme to make referenceto them.
Last, but really first, I am grateful to my wife, Lani, for her stead-
fastsupportinthisasinallotherendeavors.Itiswithdeepgratitude
that I dedicatethisbookto her.