THE FREE PEOPLE WHO CAME – IMMIGRANT LABOURERS IN POST-EMANCIPATION JAMAICA was the theme of an exhibition the Archives Unit of the Jamaica Archives & Records Department mounted In recognition of Heritage Week 2006.

The exhibition featured records relating to immigrant labourers who populated the shores of Jamaica in the post-emancipation era.

 Apart from those who came under slavery, these are the people to whom Jamaica owes its racial and cultural diversity. The first efforts to increase the population of Jamaica, following emancipation and the exodus of ex-slaves from plantations, was by means of immigration, a scheme initiated by the Colonial Government that mirrored the transitional “apprenticeship system”. 

 Among the immigrants who came after Emancipation were the (free) Africans, East Indians, Chinese and Europeans who included German, English, Scottish and Irish labourers. Although the Jews started arriving before Emancipation, they are so important to Jamaica’s heritage that they were included in this exhibition on immigrants.

After 1847 nearly all immigration schemes collapsed following the British Sugar Duties Act of 1846. Large-scale immigration was not resumed until the 1860s when it was mainly East Indian labourers who were brought in.
The records in our collection which bear testimony to the programme which dealt with immigrant workers include:

• Protector of the Immigrants records (1B/9)- these records from the Protector of Immigrants Department include returns of second-term coolies, register of certificates to place restrictions on immigration, minutes and correspondence re nationality and naturalisation as well as immigrants’ register.
  
  
• Records from the Colonial Secretary’s Office (CSO 1B/5) - this office was established in 1866 as part of the reconstruction of the administrative system brought about by the change in the constitution of the island and include:
  
       o Naturalisation Records – these relate to the granting 
          of naturalisation status to aliens.
       o Despatches from Jamaica to England –these include 
          correspondence between the Governor and the Secretary 
          of State for the Colonies.