In 1836, Z. Kingsley, a Florida planter,[2l] actually undertook to carry
out such a plan on a small scale. He established on the northeast side of
Hayti, near Port Plate, his son, George Kingsley, a well-educated colored
man of industrious habits and uncorrupted morals, together with six "prime
African men," slaves liberated for that express purpose. There he
purchased for them 35,000 acres of land upon which they engaged in the
production of crops indigenous to that soil.
Hayti, however, was not to be the only island to get consideration. In
1834 two hundred colored emigrants went from New York alone to Trinidad,
under the superintendence and at the expense of planters of that island.
It was later reported that every one of them found employment on the day
of arrival and in one or two instances the most intelligent were placed as
overseers at the salary of $500 per annum. No one received less than $1.00
a day and most of them earned $1.50. The Trinidad press welcomed these
immigrants and spoke in the highest terms of the valuable services they
rendered the country.[22] Others followed from year to year. One of these
Negroes appreciated so much this new field of opportunity that he returned
and induced twenty intelligent free persons of color living in Annapolis,
Maryland, also to emigrate to Trinidad.
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