Indenturred Servitude Essay

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Indentured servitude called for many immigrants to work under unfair policies and unreasonable conditions. In document 8, a letter from Ramana (taken from Documents of Indentured Labour) she writes: “I have to commence work at 5:30 in the morning and finish off about 8:30 p.m. daily. I am overworked and the wages paid me is not sufficient. When I stop away a day in a month, it is deducted from my pay and I am told by my master that I will have to make up these days at the expiration of my indenture.” Ramana, a hard-working indentured servant is being treated very unfairly and is working under absurd policies. Being that most, if not all of the indentured servants were being treated similarly, her letter is indeed very reliable. Documents 2, 5 and 7 all display where many indentured servants will work. Sir George Grey, a British colonial governor, writes about how the quantity of sugar being produced on the plantations by natives is not merely enough and that indentured servants will soon help cultivate 100,000 tons of sugar annually (doc. 2). Document 5 consists of two photographs on indentured servants – one of them showing them waiting to work, and the other showing three of them actually working. Both show how tedious and uncomfortable the work is and how it is surprisingly similar to slavery. Lastly, as stated in the British Guiana Indenture Agreement, servants will have to work seven hours a day, all week except for Sunday, and healthy men shall receive one shilling for each day’s worth (doc. 7). The conditions and nature of their labor is ridiculous and completely unreasonable. All three documents depict that most, if not all, indentured servants will work in plantations cultivating cash crops for the profit of their “masters”. They are all being paid unreasonable wages for long hours of work; therefore an indentured servant’s diary, depicting how terrible

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