Interpreting Gold Coast Supreme Court Records, SCT 5/4/19: Regina v Quamina Eddoo

Abina Mansahs worldPresentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

Abinas storyIn 1876, a young, enslaved girl escaped her captivity near the town of Saltpond in what is today Ghana.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

Born in Asante, she had been enslaved in several households before Quamina Eddoos house near Saltpond, where she worked as a housegirl.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

Abina fled to Cape Coast, a British colony where she was by law free, and found employment working for a Eurafrican translator named James Davis.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

With Davis help, she took her former master to court, where she argued that he should be imprisoned based on her experiences as a slave.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

Neither the British magistrate nor the jury of local men sided with her, and her former master was exonerated.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

Nevertheless, through her testimony we hear the voice of a young woman who forced the men of the court to here of her experiences, and whose words still convey her perspectives today.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

EXCAVATING VOICES methods and ethicsPresentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

What did it mean to be colonized, and how can the victims of history be redeemed?Colonialism is usually understood as a system and as a series of projects largely from the view of the colonizers. The perspective of the colonizers is relatively easy to recover because it was the colonizers who wrote most of the documents, choose what went into the archive, etc. But how can we recover the sub-altern voice of Africans? Can formally-trained scholars in a position of relative power do it? Is it possible to do at all? Specifically, I wanted to aim at recovering the voice of one of the most dispossessed victims of history of all a young, African woman of servile (or slave) class.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

What are the difficulties?Young enslaved women dont write many documents themselves.In the documents in which enslaved youths appear, they are talked about but dont do much talking themselves.As a result, the voices of enslaved women are hidden beneath other, dominant voices, and must be excavated.Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

Why is it worth trying to excavate the voices of Africans?Relevance?Authenticity?Power relations today?Its the historians job?It increases the accuracy of our studies?Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

How can we hear the voices of young enslaved women from the colonial past?Use new types of sources?Oral histories/ oral traditions?Archaeology?Linguistic analysis (words and things)?Read old documents in a new way?Thats what were doing with Abinas testimonyPresentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

My strategy for excavating Abina Mansahs voiceContextualize! thick analysis Understand the top-level voicesRead the document carefullyMake sense of Abina Mansahs testimony in her own wordsPresentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

The contextAnnexation of the Gold Coast Colony and constitution of the Gold Coast Protectorate in 1874.

Various British and international groups pressured the Crown to abolish slavery.

1874 anti-slavery strategy engineered to satisfy the abolitionist British public while not dislocating the political and economic interests of the indigenous (and often slave-owning) elites on whom their ability to maintain their authority depended.

Therefore:Liberation could only be achieved by individuals just leaving or going to court.Young children, especially girls, could not leave easily, but also found it difficult to go to court.

Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

The magistratesBritish, middle class, Christian, abolitionistViews of children as dependantsViews of paternal authority and duty in Britain and in Gold Coast

The magistrate was (usually) the sole judge and thus the principal audience. Everyone in the courtroom was performing (and trying to convince) him of their point of view.

Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

The application of the lawMagistrates determined whether the individual was enslaved or a customary dependant1) did any money change hands?2) was the child physically abused?3) was the child called a slave (such local terms as odonkwo or amperlay)4) what sort of labor was the child required to do?5) did the child receive wages or compensation for labor provided?

Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

Other actorsHow do they shape or alter testimony and judgments?Interpreters In this case the Euro-African James Davis.Clerks Usually locals, but in this case the magistrate himself. Lawyers James Hutton Brew. Usually friendly with magistrates.Juries important men, likely to be allies of slave-ownersPresentation developed by Trevor R. Getz

The language of the court The court had a code made up of the magistrates understanding of the law cultural language in which he could be addressed. Some participants understood this language, others did not.

Abina Mansahs understanding of this language was very low. This hurt her case, but ironically makes it easier for us to hear her voice!Presentation developed by Trevor R. Getz