Accounts of the British Empire

Introduction

“A Few Simple Facts for the Friends of the Negro” emphasizes the amount of natives that are “living in gross darkness” and “in a yet converted state,” approximately 373,000 natives (1). These missionaries believe that they are “friends of the negro;" natives that are free and natives that have been enslaved (1). They are convinced that they are bettering the lives of the natives by “engaging them in the benevolent work now in progress for the conversion and religious instruction and improvement of…[the] much neglected people” (1).

They claim to work for the “salvation of so many immortal souls” (1). They think they are improving the lives of the “poor ignorant Africans and their offspring” and “remedying the existing evil” (2). Instead of working to educate the natives, provide them with resources, and free them from slavery, the missionaries work to ‘civilize’ the natives. The natives of Jamaica are not only being mistreated through slavery, but are also being forced to give up their own beliefs and convert to Christianity. They are “living in gross darkness” because they do not believe in or follow the teachings of Christianity (1). They are considered to be lower than the Europeans not only for their color, but also because they are not Christian.
 

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