Introduction

The working conditions on sugar plantations in the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th centuries were brutal. Slave labor was the primary vehicle used to keep the booming industry of sugar in motion. Sugar was so profitable that the British called it "white gold". This gold rush of sorts created many rich, white, Europeans, but unfortunately, led to the increase in African enslavement who were treated with little empathy. "During the 18th century, Saint Domingue (Haiti) surpassed Brazil as the leading sugar-producing colony. The number of slaves brought to the tiny island of Haiti equaled more than twice the number imported into the United States. The vast majority came during the 18th century to work in the expanding sugar plantation economy." (National Geographic)