Afro-Grenadians are Grenadian people of largely African descent. This term is not generally recognised by Grenadians or indeed Caribbeans. They usually refer to themselves simply as Black or possibly Black Caribbean. The term was first coined by a Black American history professor, John Henrik Clarke, in his piece entitled A Note on Racism in History. The term may also refer to a Grenadian of African ancestry. Social interpretations of race are mutable rather than deterministic and neither physical appearance nor ancestry are used straightforwardly to determine whether a person is considered a Black Grenadian. According to the 2012 Census, 82% of Grenada's population is Black, 13% is mixed European and black and 2% is of Indian origin.
History
On 17 March 1649, a French expedition of 203 men from Martinique, led by Jacques Dyel du Parquet who had been the Governor of Martinique on behalf of the Compagnie des Iles de l'Amerique since 1637, landed at St. Georges Harbour and constructed a fortified settlement, which they named Fort Annunciation. By 1700, Grenada had a population of 257 French and 53 coloureds with 525 enslaved Africans to work on 3 sugar estates and 52 indigo plantations. More than half a century later, when Grenada was captured by the British during the Seven Years' War and formally ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris, the English began the import their own enslaved Africans for use on their cotton, sugar and tobacco plantations. It is believed that most the enslaved who were imported to Grenada embarked from Nigeria and Ghana. To a lesser extent, enslaved people were also imported from Senegambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Windward Coast, Bight of Benin, Congo and Angola. The enslaved people of Central Africa numbered more than 12,000 people, 11% of the enslaved of Grenada. Many of the enslaved people were also Mandinka. The first British census of Grenada, in 1700, recorded 525 enslaved and 53 freed from slavery living on the island. Julien Fédon, a mulattoplantation owner of the Belvedere estate in the St. John Parish, led a violent rebellion against British ruleon the night of 2 March 1795. Clearly influenced by the ideas emerging from the French Revolution, especially the Convention's abolition of slavery in 1794, Fédon and his troops took control of all of Grenada, who afterwards freed the enslaved people who participated in the rebellion. The struggle of the enslaved for their rights continued for a year and a half, until the British regained control of the island. The British, as a punishment for disobedience and rebellion, executed the alleged leaders of the rebellion, however Fédon was never captured. Slavery in Grenada was finally abolished by a British law in 1834, and all enslaved people were freed by 1 August 1838.
