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In the Caribbean colony of Grenada in 1797, Dorothy Thomas signed
the manumission documents for her elderly slave Betty. Thomas owned
dozens of slaves and was well on her way to amassing the fortune
that would make her the richest black resident in the nearby colony
of Demerara. What made the transaction notable was that Betty was
Dorothy Thomas's mother and that fifteen years earlier Dorothy had
purchased her own freedom and that of her children. Although she
was just one remove from bondage, Dorothy Thomas managed to become
so rich and powerful that she was known as the Queen of Demerara.
Dorothy Thomas's story is but one of the remarkable acounts of
pluck and courage recovered in Enterprising Women. As the
microbiographies in this book reveal, free women of color in
Britain's Caribbean colonies were not merely the dependent
concubines of the white male elite, as is commonly assumed. In the
capricious world of the slave colonies during the age of
revolutions, some of them were able to rise to dizzying heights of
success. These highly entrepreneurial women exercised remarkable
mobility and developed extensive commercial and kinship connections
in the metropolitan heart of empire while raising well-educated
children who were able to penetrate deep into British life.
In the Caribbean colony of Grenada in 1797, Dorothy Thomas signed
the manumission documents for her elderly slave Betty. Thomas owned
dozens of slaves and was well on her way to amassing the fortune
that would make her the richest black resident in the nearby colony
of Demerara. What made the transaction notable was that Betty was
Dorothy Thomas's mother and that fifteen years earlier Dorothy had
purchased her own freedom and that of her children. Although she
was just one remove from bondage, Dorothy Thomas managed to become
so rich and powerful that she was known as the Queen of Demerara.
Dorothy Thomas's story is but one of the remarkable acounts of
pluck and courage recovered in "Enterprising Women." As the
microbiographies in this book reveal, free women of color in
Britain's Caribbean colonies were not merely the dependent
concubines of the white male elite, as is commonly assumed. In the
capricious world of the slave colonies during the age of
revolutions, some of them were able to rise to dizzying heights of
success. These highly entrepreneurial women exercised remarkable
mobility and developed extensive commercial and kinship connections
in the metropolitan heart of empire while raising well-educated
children who were able to penetrate deep into British life.
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