Seek and You Shall Find: Church Records as Sources of Information
National Library of Jamaica Distinguished Lecture 2010
Who knew that church records could be such a rich source of information and could spawn an entire book? Well Professor Emerita Maureen Warner-Lewis surely did. From her meticulous research that spans three continents and several years, moving from the rural almost forgotten community of New market in St. Elizabeth to “Igboland” (modern South Eastern Nigeria); Professor Warner-Lewis reconstructs an intriguing tale of an Igbo boy who was sold into slavery to the island of Jamaica. In his adult years he joined the Moravian church, learnt to read and eventually bought his freedom and told his own story. This is the story that Professor Warner-Lewis used as the pivotal point of her lecture delivered Thursday November 24, 2010.
Meet Professor Maureen Warner-Lewis
An advertisement for the sale of slaves one much like what was probably posted when Archibald Monteath came to Jamaica to be sold.