The Lady Bourne, President George Washington, Lord Bourne (missing from photo: Escaped slave Oney Judge - owned by George Washington - Reward if captured.)
George Washington Owned Slaves
Depending upon the source, history records that President George Washington brought seven to nine of his family’s several hundred slaves to New York City in 1789 to work in the first presidential household. One of the presidential slaves was a biracial young lady named Oney Judge – the daughter of Betty, a “negress” slave without a last name, and Andrew Judge, a white English indentured servant at Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation.
When the presidential household moved to Pennsylvania in 1790, Washington illegally had his slaves rotated out of state every so often so they would not be freed under the Gradual Abolition Act – that prohibited non-residents from keeping slaves in Pennsylvania for periods longer than six months and freed slaves after this time.
In summer of 1796, the slave Oney Judge learned that she was to be given away as a present by First Lady Washington to her granddaughter, Eliza Custis. Oney then made up her mind to escape and she did so through the underground railroad and ended up in New Hampshire. You can read about her life and times at Wikipedia’s article on Oney Judge.
Which is all to remind us that when George Washington visited Barbados in 1751, and until he died in 1799, he owned other human beings as his property. Again, depending upon the source, history records that George and Martha Washington owned several hundred slaves between them. Although he had the power to free his slaves, George Washington did not do so. Even upon his death he only freed one slave, William Lee. The rest were given to his wife for further use.
How Much History Is Too Much? How Little Is Not Enough?
We were intrigued by an article and lively discussion taking place at Ian Bourne’s The Bajan Reporter blog. It seems that when Ian and his wife visited George Washington House in Barbados, they thought the slavery exhibit at the home was a bit overdone and at the same time incomplete in that it did not document the plight of non-African slaves and indentured servants.
See Ian’s thought-provoking piece: George Washington House by Garrison Racetrack: Are all Historical Reminders necessary? Time to let wounds heal – Yankee Bajan’s USA Independence
For our part, we think that Mr. and Mrs. Bourne are right and wrong about the slavery presentation at George Washington House. We think that the home is quite a proper place for a display about slavery – African, white, transported and indentured. But we also agree that for too long historians and Bajans have focused primarily upon the African slave trade to the exclusion of other areas of our slave history.
As an aside, we saw back in May that Planet Barbados published an excellent little piece on the Scots who were “Barbado’ed” as supposedly indentured workers – meaning slaves with a time to serve – but ended up being slaves who were never released. See Planet Barbados: Giving Voice to the Sad History of the “Redlegs” of Barbados.
Barbados Free Press 
There should be equal rights and justice for all
William Duguid and Ian Bourne : Are they related ? There seems to be some physical resemblance
is that Ian Bourne’s wife ???
oh ! oh !
I mean oooh ! oooh !
oh yeah !
Easy ace, doan get yuh pressure up.
Read ’em and weep, LOL! That’s my babydoll – but goodness, “Lord Bourne”? Yuk!
Hey BFP, went on board the USS Hawes… Fun! 😀
It’s interesting how we are a christian society yet we are agaisnt slavery. I 100 percent consider it to be WRONG. But does God think so?
Let’s take a look at God’s position on slavery using the Bible as our reference of course.
Here are ten passages from the Bible that clearly demonstrate God’s position on slavery:
Genesis chapter 17, verse 12:
And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised.
In this passage God understands that people buy other people and, quite obviously, is comfortable with the concept. God wants slaves circumcised in the same way as non-slaves.
Exodus chapter 12 verse 43:
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it. Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it.
God again shows that he is completely comfortable with the concept of slavery and singles out slaves for special treatment.
Exodus Chapter 21, verse 1:
Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.
Here God describes how to become a slave for life, and shows that it is completely acceptable to separate slaves from their families. God also shows that he completely endorses the branding of slaves through mutilation.
Exodus Chapter 21, verse 20:
If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.
Not only does God condone slavery, but he is also completely comfortable with the concept of beating your slaves, as long as you don’t kill them.
Exodus Chapter 21, verse 32:
If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull must be stoned.
Not only does God condone slavery, but here God places a value on slaves — 30 shekels of silver. Note that God is not sophisticated enough to understand the concept of inflation. It is now 3,000 years later, and a gored slave is still worth 30 shekels of silver according to God’s word.
Leviticus Chapter 22, verse 10:
No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it. But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.
Here God shows that the children of slaves are slaves themselves, and that he is completely happy with that concept.
Leviticus Chapter 25, verse 44:
Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Here God states where you may purchase your slaves, and clearly specifies that slaves are property to be bought, sold and handed down.
Luke, Chapter 7, verse 2:
Now a centurion had a slave who was dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his slave. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that followed him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.
Here Jesus shows that he is completely comfortable with the concept of slavery. Jesus heals the slave without any thought of freeing the slave or admonishing the slave’s owner.
Colossians, chapter 3, verse 22:
Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, work heartily…
Here God shows that he is in complete acceptance of a slave’s position, and encourages slaves to work hard. This sentiment is repeated in Titus, chapter 2 verse 9:
Bid slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to be refractory, nor to pilfer, but to show entire and true fidelity.
Once again God shows that he is quite enamored of slavery.
God loves slavery
If the Bible is written by God, and these are the words of the Lord, then you can come to only one possible conclusion: God is an impressive advocate of slavery and is fully supportive of the concept.
As you can see, these slavery passages present us with an immense contradiction:
* On the one hand, we all know that slavery is an outrage and a moral abomination. As a result, slavery is now completely illegal throughout the developed world.
* On the other hand, most Christians claim that the Bible came from God. In God’s Word, the “creator of the universe” states that slavery is perfectly acceptable. Beating your slaves is fine. Enslaving children is fine. Separating slave families is fine. According to the Bible, we should all be practicing slavery today.
The intensity of this contradiction is remarkable. It shows us quite clearly that God is imaginary.
If God were to exist, and if he were playing any role whatsoever on our planet, he would eliminate this connection between himself and slavery. There is no way that a loving God would allow himself to be perceived as condoning and encouraging slavery like this.
Here is the thing that I would like to help you understand: You, as a rational human being, know that slavery is wrong. You know it. That is why every single developed nation in the world has made slavery completely illegal. Human beings make slavery illegal, in direct defiance of God’s word, because we all know with complete certainty that slavery is an abomination.
What does your common sense now tell you about a Bible that supports slavery in both the Old and the New Testaments? Given the fact that the Bible clearly condones slavery, your common sense should be telling you that God is imaginary.
Dear Leprechaun:
God may be comfortable with slavery because he knows that he has never been and can never be enslaved.
The rest of us do not share his views (or yours).
jacob miller 80 000 careless ethiopians
Leprechauncy,
Wuh yuh gone an do? But wait, de Bible is ‘GOD’?
Your assumption makes your conclusion invalid.
Only IF, one takes the Bible as representing ‘GOD’, then is your conclusion correct.
I do not.
But, your have made your point, as to the validity of the Bible and its uses.
Now, stan’ bak and watch this space for a barriffle of verbose writings from others.
Re this ‘slavery thing’ – while Obama is constantly saying “I’m not interested in talking about the past, I’m here to talk about the future” – Bajans repudiate that view and want to remain forever burried in the rubble of “slavery.” Even in the Nation today there is a headline: LIAT accused of slavery.
All you people who are still lioving on the earth when it was flat, need to be removed into a section where you can continue to wallow in self-pity and look around to see who/what next you can find to blame for your sorry ass condition….
On God and suffering:
I said slavery is wrong, this clearly implies i do not share the view of God who I have shows is comfortable with the concept
Y “God may be comfortable with slavery because he knows that he has never been and can never be enslaved” you imply that God is real. Do you worship this God ?
I said slavery is wrong, this clearly implies i do not share the view of God who I have shows is comfortable with the concept.
By saying “God may be comfortable with slavery because he knows that he has never been and can never be enslaved” you imply he is real.
Given the fact that the Bible clearly condones slavery, your common sense should be telling you that God is imaginary. Right?
In Christian mythology, God is supposed to the the all-powerful, all-knowing creator of the universe. God is supposed to have incarnated himself as Jesus and he is supposed to have written the Bible.
Interesting insight into Christianity and slavery Leprechaun. For myself I believe their is a God (intelligent lifeform/s) however I have a problem with this diety’s representation on earth through religion, be it Christianity, Judaism or Islam. I should point out however that Exodus 21 vs 16 does condemn the 17th century slave trade as practiced by europeans
Poor Boy try and mind your own business. You are not obligated to come to this site, read or post comments so if we as african descendants hold a discussion on our ancestors history its our perogative and does not concern you in any shape or form.
On the question of Caribbean slavery, let me advise that Caribbean slavery as practised by the Europeans was the worst kind of slavery in the history of mankind.
Slavery in other regions did not stop a slave from rising from slave to king. Slaves in the Caribbean were not considered to be human.
Caribbean slavery was the “Worst kind of slavery”?
Really? I thought that the North Korean, Russian and Nazi slave camps where they worked people to death and “converted their body fat into a natural resource for the State” would have been worse because while Caribbean slaves were assets, the communist and nazi slave camp systems were specifically designed to kill off millions through work.
It just shows how little I know.
I thought that the Arabic use of slave children to ride in camel races was worse as the children are starved (sometimes to death) to keep their body weight down so the camels go faster.
I thought that slavery as practiced by the native populations of North America was worse because of the ritualistic human sacrifices and cannibalism – and abandonment of elderly and sick slaves to die by starvation and thirst.
Foolish me, I thought that all slavery is terrible, but if we looked at degrees of cruelty and numbers of slaves, the Communist and Nazi slave camp systems raised slavery and cruelty to a new level.
How little I know.
Oh my gosh ! dem is bubbies pon dah woman ??
It is a picture worth seeing Ian Bourne and his missus. Would like to see them percolating but I would not hold my breath.
CARIBBEAN SLAVERY WAS THE WORST KIND OF SLAVERY KNOWN TO MANKIND
I SAY SO
If you say so it must be true, but my opinion differs.
North Korea has been documented executing whole families in their slave camps through the use of a steam roller and tanks (as in run over the dying person with a tank tread).
Their slave camps like the Nazi camps and Russian camps are designed to work people to death.
That is obviously worse than the Caribbean slavery, but with your racial empathy you refuse to acknowledge the truth.
REPARATIONS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE SEEKING
Bub, you don’t have enough money to pay me to see how we show our affection – our love is PRICELESS :p
So Owen, Thompy and I and others like us would apologise to ourselves and pay money to ourselves as well? That makes sense…
No you are supposed to hate yourself ian
(moderation thru pls)
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Would you like a one way ticket back tuh de mudda land ?
Oh my gosh you ROCK
I think this nitwit is just trying to stir you-know-what, dont take him on
and by nitwit I mean you “*Adviser to the President*”
I believe in internet parlance you are a “Troll”
“nitwit ”
“troll’
says a lot about you as a person, when you resort to calling other persons of the human race such names . Very soon you will deny that we are human beings in order to justify your attack and possible treatment of the subject.
Your response says a lot about you as a person
The kind of person that Barbados has had for a long time forced upon us by the colonial mentality. Anyhow we do not respond to personal attacks and ‘arguments to the man’.
Please deal with issues and leave out the personal attacks. We do not think much of persons who resort to age old insults of the snobbish and racial discrimination kind.
Snobbery and discrimination will get you nowhere !
oh dear, I guess you’re not familiar with internet slang, a “Troll” is a person who makes provocative comments just for the ‘pleasure’ of riling up people. Im not using it as an insult exactly, just commenting on how you are behaving. And I just happen to think that people who do that are nitwits (the only ‘name calling’ Im guilty of in this case).
passin thru made a valid comment, which you refuse to recognize. and when you continued your comments, getting worse might I add, I decided you were doing it on purpose and hence are, again, in internet parlance, a “Troll”.
Anyways, by responding Im giving you what you want so this will be my last communication to you.
Neither you nor ‘passing thru’ understand what the fundamental issues are in this particular matter
and you rush in rather than pass through or pass through rather than linger.
There are fundamental issues here to be discussed and to be resolved but you two are trying to prove some kind of a point that has nothing to with central issue. You are taking a 6 for a 9
Oh… its the old “you don’t understand!” argument.
Quite right: if you can’t argue the facts, stick with ad hominem attacks!
It is clear that the sensitivity and awareness needed to move this country forward is not present in this mis-educated , materialistic generation.
It is no wonder that we are failing politically , musically and cricket wise to mention a few areas. It is no surprise.
But how can a people with no knowledge or little knowledge of their history really move forward ???
Some people dont care because having a big ride or a fancy apartment/house and pretty clothes, eating junk food and having sex is all.
The Old Testament did not abolish but reduced the severity of slavery, which seems to have originated as an alternative to killing those captured in wars and raids.
In the New Testament it is obvious (see Philemon) that slavery is further reduced to a mere legal status, in a country that permits slavery, as the true Christian cannot in harmony with his professed faith use force to keep slaves or to make them work.
In a society that permits slavery for a true Christian to buy a slave is to free that person. Once purchased, the “slave” can simply walk off and the Christian, behaving in the light of Christ, can do nothing but ask the “slave” to come back.