Quakers

Who were the Quakers?

The Quakers were a group of dissenting Protestants, who migrated from England due to religious persecution, and settled in America and the Caribbean.

When did the Quakers migrate from England?

The Quakers migrated at different times, but their first period of migration was in the early 17th century.

Where did the Quakers migrate from and to?

The Quakers migrated from England to the Americas, and many of them settled in the Caribbean.

Why did the Quakers migrate from England?

There were religious and political reasons why the Quakers migrated.

• ❖ They were dissenters, which meant that they did not wish to follow the rules of the Church of England. As such they were persecuted.
• ❖ Their religious beliefs did not allow them to fight wars, or to take oaths to anyone other than God. They were, therefore, not considered to be loyal to the monarch, which also led to persecution.
• ❖ Like the Pilgrim Fathers, the Quakers migrated to the Americas as they believed they would be able to worship freely.

What did the Quakers do in the Caribbean?

There are a number of important facts about the Quakers in the Caribbean.

• ❖ A number of the Quaker migrants started plantations in Barbados.
• ❖ While the Quakers did not believe in slavery, they ended up having to use a slave workforce for their plantations to work.
• ❖ They decided to allow their slaves to attend the Quaker faith meetings, as a way of attempting to compensate for using slaves in the first place.
• ❖ However, other colonists objected, and in 1676 the colonial government banned black Africans from attending Quaker meetings.