HIS 210, John Jay College, CUNY, Fall 2021
Dr. Stephen C. Russell ([email protected])
Assignment 3
Due Thursday September 30, 6:00pm.
Read the testimony of Emma Major on pages 29, 33–34 of Volume 2 of the Report of the Jamaica Royal Commission (London: Spottiswoode, 1866). A digitized copy of the report is available online on Google Books.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jamaica_Report_of_the_Jamaica_Royal_Comm/iDUe5-p_8IAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Emma+Major+the+Report+of+the+Jamaica+Royal+Commission&pg=PR10-IA29&printsec=frontcover
As you read Major’s deposition, consider the following questions
• What can we infer about the witness from her testimony?
• How was she connected to the rebellion and those accused of being involved in
it?
• Are there parts of her testimony that are based on her own experience? Are there
parts that convey only second-hand information?
• Are there parts of her testimony that may be based on false memories,
exaggerations, wishful thinking, or even outright lies? Are there parts of her
testimony that should be regarded as reliable?
• Why did the Royal Commission question her? What seems to be the focus of their
questions addressed to her? What are their questions designed to establish or
disprove?
• What can you infer from Major’s testimony about the rebellion and those
accused of being involved in it?
• How does Major’s testimony support or contradict the interpretations offered by
Sheller and Heuman in their historical accounts of the rebellion?