"Slavery wears the mildest Aspect": Imagining Mastery and Emancipation in Bermuda's House of Assembly

Abstract:Drawing on the records of Bermuda's House of Assembly, this article begins to untangle the historical roots of the colony's long-standing narrative of benign slavery. As colonial elites reassured themselves of the benignity of Bermudian slavery, and predicted a harmonious transition, they passed laws that contradicted their self-assurances and revealed their deep anxieties about the epochal change. Examining the rhetorical strategies employed by the Assembly leading up to and immediately following Emancipation, it suggests approaches for re-opening Bermuda's colonial archive and positioning it in the Caribbean context, challenging the notion that Bermuda's slavery was fundamentally unique.