Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my parents for their continued support in my education. Thanks to

all the students who took the time to answer my questionnaire. Thanks to Ms. Keely Flowers for

guiding me. Thanks to my teacher Ms. Guzman for her support and guidance. Thanks to all those

who helped in any way. To my brothers thanks for the patience throughout this research.

My name is Patrick Garcia a student of Independence High School. I am a fourth form student in the Arts department and I am asking you to kindly help me complete this questionnaire for my History School Based Assessment. Please take your time and answer these questions. The topic is “Do you believe that the indentured servants system in the Caribbean was a fair alternative for immigrants coming to the Caribbean?”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Class: ethnicity:

Age: religion:

1. Do you know what the indentured system is? Yes No A little

2. Do you believe the indentured system was a benefit to immigrants? Yes No

3. Do you believe the indentured system benefited the plantation owners mostly? Yes no

4. Is there any form of indentured ship occurring in your community? Yes No

5. Would you work under indentured ship? Yes no

6. Was indentured ship a better alternative from slavery? Yes No

7. Do you believe that the indentured ship is still benefiting Belize? Yes No

8. Why do you believe that Africans were not given the indentured ship and instead went straight

into slavery?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________.

9. What do you believe would be a better alternative for indentured ship at that time?

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________.

Procedure

A total of thirty handouts were distributed and twenty eight were received back. Students

were very responsive. For the papers received all the questions were properly answered and

handed up timely. Students were given and entire day to answer questions after which I

personally received them back. I also conducted personal research on the internet to allow myself

to obtain better knowledge on the topic. I also did one on one interview with several students in

my class to see others outside of the questionnaire knowledge on the topic. This research was

beneficial to me and those who were a part of it.

Aim

To see students opinion on the indentured ship system.

Rational

Using the topic “Do you believe that the indentured servants system in the Caribbean was a fair

alternative for immigrants coming to the Caribbean”, will allow students to see the benefits and

disadvantage of the indentured system in respect to immigrants and plantation owners. It will

also enhance their knowledge on how the indentured system works.

Introduction

Indentured ship is the working for someone and receiving passage to a new country

instead of an income. This was an alternative for slavery, that for some it benefited but for others

it was still a form of slavery. This topic will enlighten students’ knowledge on the indentured

ship and allow them to be aware of the struggles our ancestors had to face in order for us to have

the lives that we have today.

Findings

I received back ninety percent of the questionnaires that were distributed to the students

of Independence High School. I was able to learn that students believed that the plantation

owners benefited mostly from the indentured ship system. Figure 1.1 depicts a circle graph

showing that sixty percent agreed that plantation owners were the main benefactors and forty

percent said the immigrants benefited.

The questionnaire also found out that students felt that indentured ship was a better

alternative from slavery. Even though they taught that indentured ship was not very beneficial as

plantation owners made it seem they still would rather have some sort of benefit instead of not

having any. Figure 1.2 shows display of the findings.

This survey also built students’ knowledge on indentured ship. A large percent had

previous knowledge about but there was a small percent that had little to no knowledge on the

topic. This questionnaire allowed students to broaden their horizon and learn a little about the

history of their ancestors. Figure 1.3 shows a display of the findings.

Fig 1.1

indtured servants40%

plantation owners 60%

Who the indentured ship mostly benefited

indtured servants plantation owners

Fig 1.2

slavery indentured ship0

102030405060708090

100

which system is better

systems

favo

ured

labo

ur p

erce

nt

Fig 1.3

yes no a little0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

familiarity about indentured ship

students response

know

ledg

e ab

out i

nden

ture

d sh

ip

Conclusion

At the end of this research I was able to educate myself and those around me. The

indentured system has left its trademark in our history and I believe that it still continues to affect

our country today. Many people have had to suffer in order for us to live this comfortable life

that we live today. We must ensure that we do not take anything for granted.

Reference

1. http://www.ushistory.org/us/5b.asp

2. http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2012/07/white-servants-in-

caribbean.html