William Hardin Burnley and Caribbean slavery

William Hardin Burnley, the biggest slave owner in Trinidad, did
everything in his power to prevent the emancipation of Africans in
the colony. When slavery ended, he was convinced that only Africans
who had tyrannical masters would benefit from emancipation. The
rest, he opined, 'Were too ignorant to understand the real position
in which they were placed.' This lecture examines Burnley's
participation in slavery, his attempts to prevent Africans from
being emancipated, his subterfuge to keep them enslaved under
another guise called apprenticeship and his energetic efforts to
recruit workers from outside of Trinidad to undercut the gains that
former slaves had made in the post-apprenticeship period.