The Long Look Estate in East End,

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

, claims to be the oldest free black community in the Western world.

History

In 1776 Samuel Nottingham, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

manumitted Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

25 slaves and gave them of land in Long Look in

, directing them to cultivate it for the common good. Quakers were prominent in the abolition movement; Nottingham's action pre-dates the foundation of the

Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, also known as the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and sometimes referred to as the Abolition Society or Anti-Slavery Society, was a British abolitionist group formed on ...

by more than a decade. A report made in 1823 by a John Dougan states "So quiet and retired had these Persons lived there, that although I have been for many years residing in the Island, yet I derived no knowledge of the Situation and Circumstances regarding these People..." At the time of Dougan's report, the population of the estate had increased to 43. He further reported that "Not one of them is in debt, and their Property is free from all

Incumbrance An encumbrance is a third party's right to, interest in, or legal liability on property that does not prohibit the property's owner from transferring title (but may diminish its value). Encumbrances can be classified in several ways. They may b ...

. That 12 of the grown up Persons are admitted Members of the Westleyan Methodist Society, and with their Children attend regularly the Methodist Chapel at the East End of the Island ... since their Emancipation to the present Day none of them have been sued in Court, or brought before a Magistrate to answer a complaint against them. One of them once obtained a Warrant against a Person who had assaulted him, who begging his Pardon, He forgave Him."

Currently

In 2002 the Virgin Islands legislature passed laws which required residents of the estate to sell their land to other residents of the estate if they were prepared to pay the same price, to preserve the cultural heritage of the area. The measure was not universally popular, as it made it more difficult for land-owning families to sell their property, but it is nonetheless thought to be an important step in securing the historical legacy of the Territory. The freed slaves (as was common at the time) took the surname of their last owners, and went by the family name of Nottingham. Although many other former slave owners' descendants are still well represented within the Territory, by the twenty-first century no Nottinghams appeared on the voter's roll or the telephone directory.

References

Afro-Caribbean history Black British history History of the British Virgin Islands History of Quakerism Abolitionism in North America {{BritishVirginIslands-geo-stub

History

Currently

See also

References