TWELVE days before Christmas 2014, Manchester will celebrate its 200th birthday as Jamaica’s youngest parish. The many communities that have guaranteed the successful achievement of this milestone have forged their indelible marks as lasting reminders of their contributions to the development and continued success of Manchester.

Maidstone is one such community and, here, one does not have to search to find such marks. Artefacts in the old museum provide a link to a time in Manchester’s history when many slaves laboured for a few masters. Trails in the community lead to remains of wattle-and-daub structures that intimately connect slaves to poverty. The annual Fus-a-Augus’ celebration ties ‘Manchesterians’ to freedom and the promise of reaching their full potential.

At the turn of the 19th century, the Grande Armee of the French stood on the threshold of dominating Europe while the British Navy ruled the seven seas. It was also a time when the chains of slavery were being severely tested and weakened in history’s only successful slave revolution, the Haitian Revolution (1800-1804). Faced with the possibility of a similar occurrence in its Caribbean colonies, especially Jamaica, and a growing anti-slavery movement, among other factors, the British Parliament decided to end slavery within the British Empire.

That fateful date for slaves living in Maidstone, Manchester, Jamaica, was August 1, 1834. Those who managed to sleep, or stay sober, or remain awake during the 24 hours leading up to that fateful day, greeted the morning sun as free people for the first time in Jamaica.

This was the scene for the people of African descent who were living in Maidstone, Manchester. For decades, generations of their ancestors had laboured on the Maidstone Plantation but now they were free and with freedom came the opportunity to work the land for themselves and the potential to own property. But not quite yet.

First they had to go through a four-year transition period. Second, they had to survive a bout with discrimination through oppressive laws that were passed by the planter-controlled Vestry. Thirdly, they had to identify properties that were available for sale to them. Finally, they needed to locate the source of the necessary funds to purchase said property.

The Apprenticeship Period ended on August 1, 1838, and even though the relevant Maidstone residents celebrated in style, the date also signalled the transition to a more trying time. They were free but the end of slavery in Jamaica did not mean the destruction of plantations; they remained intact with their insatiable appetite for free black labour. Those who chose to exercise their freedom by leaving the clutches of the plantations saw their wages reduced routinely, while their rental fees were set at an unaffordable rate.

The “law” was explicit on the matter, if the renter could not pay he was forced to give up occupancy or face eviction. Since most properties were owned by the planter aristocracy, the availability of units for rent to freedmen was almost non-existent. This practice however, did not halt the immigration of freedmen from neighbouring parishes who wanted to become independent coffee farmers. Fortunately for all, the Moravian Church was willing and able to offer assistance.

Moravian missionaries had been operating on plantations in Jamaica since the mid-1700s and over the years had developed a good relationship with the slaves. It would be tested in the post-Emancipation Period with breathtaking results. In 1840, Moravian missionaries bought the Maidstone Plantation along with some other tracts of land amounting to over 420 acres with the primary purpose of empowering the freedmen as property owners.

Three hundred and forty-one acres of the acquisition were subdivided into a total of 98 plots (1-15 acres in size) and sold to the freedmen under generous terms. Over 75 of the lots were sold to freedmen thus creating the first “free village” in Manchester. The new property owners helped each other to clear land, construct wattle-and-daub dwellings and prepare fields to grow coffee, pimento, and some cash crops. However, the crops that came to dominate eventually, are sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, yam, bananas, and some cash crops. Either way, the community grew under the guidance of the Moravian Church, its peasantry gaining recognition as one of the sturdiest in the country.

One of the distinguishing trademarks of Moravian missionaries is the inclusion of a church and a day school in any settlement that they establish. In Maidstone, that honour goes to the Nazareth Moravian Church and the Nazareth All-age School. As a lasting testament to its contributions to the Maidstone community, the church stands majestically on a hill, keeping vigil over its progeny. The church was built in 1888, and today some of its original fixtures such as some pieces of furniture, the church bell and pipe organ are still in use.

The year 1888 also witnessed the construction of a limestone monument to mark the community of Maidstone. For more than 125 years it has been standing in the community square as a sentry guarding Maidstone’s rich history that comes alive at its Fus-a-Augus’ celebration, held annually on Emancipation Day. As a matter of fact, when Emancipation Day celebration returned as a national holiday in 1997, the Nazareth Moravian Church was chosen as the place to host the thanksgiving service to mark the occasion.

As Manchester stands poised and ready to give thanks for its milestone bicentennial, the community of Maidstone continues to brave the odds, surviving primarily as a farming community.

Donald Blair is a retired Professor of Geography & Middle Eastern, Medieval European and World History who resides in Mandeville, Manchester.