The Forgotten Ones - Enslaved Children in Caribbean Societies 1673-1838

Throughout the Atlantic trade in human cargoe children were cap­tured purchased transported and later born into the institution of enslavement. At various times young girls and boys formed a signi­ficant number of the captives transported to the New World. Those children that survived the Middle Passageseasoning birth abuse and outbreaks of disease ultimately contributed to and were assets to various features of the institution including but not limited to the maintenance of a labor force. Although the historiographical record on the enslaved in the Caribbean contains a plethora of literature on the experiences of the adultsthe same can not be said for the story of the children. As a result this social history repositions the enslaved Caribbean children in the forefront of this work giving them voice and forever removing them from the periphery of historical discourse on enslavement.