Red or Blue? That’s one of the first questions people will ask you in Bermuda during its biggest cultural celebration of the year: the Bermuda Cup Match. Red means you are cheering for the Somerset Cricket Club, while Blue indicates you are rooting for St. George’s Club during the annual two-day cricket match between the (friendly) rivals.
It’s an exciting time to be on the island. There’s rarely an open business in sight. Bermuda’s Cup Match is so significant that the entire island shuts down for the back-to-back holidays that take place on the Thursday and Friday before the first Monday in August. Thursday is Emancipation Day, and Friday is Mary Prince Day. But in the end, it doesn’t matter if you are cheering for red or blue because Black is the color that brings everyone together for a celebration of freedom and justice.
As tens of thousands of people pack the stadium, it’s a time of deep reflection to commemorate the end of slavery in Bermuda on August 1, 1834. Mary Prince Day honors Bermuda’s national heroine who played a pivotal role in the abolition of slavery. According to the Bermuda Tourism Authority, Bermuda is the only country in the world that celebrates and honors a Black woman with an official national holiday.
Who Is Mary Prince?
Mary Prince, a formerly enslaved Bermudian, was known for her autobiography — the first account by a Black woman ever published in Britain. Her narrative exposed the harsh realities and brutality of slavery that ultimately influenced public opinion and garnered support for the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.
Mary was born into slavery in Bermuda in 1788. Her first slave-owner was Charles Myners (Minors). Soon after her birth, Captain Darrel Williams purchased Mary and her mother, Sue. He gave Mary as a gift to his granddaughter, Betsey Williams. Sue worked as a domestic in the Williams’ household.
When Mary turned 12, she was put out to work at the Pruden (Prudden) household. In her autobiography, Mary says it was because Sarah Williams (Betsy’s mother) was “too poor to keep so many of us at home.” Sarah eventually died, and her husband, Captain John Williams, needed money to remarry. Mary and her two younger sisters were sold at an auction in Hample Town (Hamilton).
A different slave-owner purchased each girl. Captain John Ingham purchased Mary for £57 Bermudian currency, making him the third Bermudian to claim her as property. According to Mary’s account, Captain Ingham and his wife were cruel slave-owners. She and others who were enslaved were subjected to torture, so Mary ran away to her mother, who had joined Richard Darrell’s household.
Mary’s mother could’ve been punished for harboring a fugitive who was an enslaved person. She hid her in a “hole in the rocks” near the house and brought her food at night. Eventually, Mary’s father, Prince, took Mary back to the Ingham farm.
Mary Sent Away From Bermuda
After running away from the Inghams, Mary was sent to Grand Turk Island, likely as a form of punishment. Slave-owners considered running away to be rebellious behavior. She worked in the salt ponds on Grand Turk Island for 10 years before heading back to Bermuda with her fourth owner, Robert Darrell. He eventually sold her to John Adams Wood Jr. for £100 Bermudian currency. He was the fifth and final person to claim her as property. Mary worked in the Woods’ home in Antigua for 13 years.
She later joined the Moravian congregation at Spring Gardens, which provided education for enslaved people, where Mary learned to read and write. Around Christmas 1826, she married a free Black man named Daniel James. The Woods, however, were angry she married without their permission. About a year and a half after she and Daniel married, the Woods went to London, taking Mary with them.
Shortly after arriving in London in 1828, Mary became a free woman because the British legal system did not support slavery. Slavery was only permitted in the colonies. She received help in London, including warm clothes and paid work. Towards the end of the year, she was taken to the Anti-Slavery officer in Aldermanbury, where she met Thomas Pringle.
A Legal Fight
Pringle introduced Mary to George Stephen, a lawyer and abolitionist. Mary wanted to rejoin her husband, Daniel, in Antigua, but John Adams Wood Jr. said he would not free her on any terms.
On June 24, 1829, Mary was taken to Parliament, where a petition was drawn up and presented. She expressed her wish to return to the West Indies as a free woman, but her petition was not successful. She later became a paid domestic servant with the Pringles.
Mr. Pringle and other abolitionists attempted to reach an agreement with Wood for Mary’s freedom, but he refused, prompting them to act on Mary’s behalf to get her story into print. Mary told her story to Susanna Strickland, a young Englishwoman and an abolitionist, who compiled it. Thomas Pringle edited the manuscript, and Joseph Phillips, an abolitionist who had resided in Antigua for many years, assisted with the Antigua section.
However, after The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave was published, public altercations occurred between Pringle and people who did not want enslaved people to be freed. The disputes led to two key court cases. Mary appeared as a witness in both cases.
The first case was a libel case between Thomas Pringle and Thomas Cadell, who was the London publisher of Blackwood’s Magazine. James McQueen, a pro-slavery advocate, wrote maliciously about Pringle in the magazine. A judge heard Pringle v. Cadell on February 21, 1833. Pringle won the case. Cadell paid him £160.
In the second case, Wood charged Pringle with libel. A judge heard Wood v. Pringle on February 27, 1833. He ruled Prince’s story was exaggerated and awarded Wood £25 but not the costs.
Slavery Abolition Act
The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 had its third reading in Parliament and was later approved on August 28, 1833. The act went into effect on August 1, 1834.
Key provisions and a “transition period” delayed the freedom of many following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Then, on August 1, 1838, approximately 800,000 British enslaved people were finally free.
Prince’s biography, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave, is credited with being a catalyst for change. Her bravery shed light on the brutal conditions of slavery, which many across Europe felt were benign and harmless.
Emancipation Day And Mary Prince Day
In 2012, Bermudian leaders recognized Mary Prince as a National Hero of Bermuda. Bermudians honor Prince’s resilience and identity with Emancipation Day and Mary Prince Day. Bermuda’s African heritage is central to its identity. According to the Bermuda Tourism Authority, approximately 60% of Bermudians are descendants of those brought from West Africa and the West Indies during the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The Cup Match honors the legacy and strength of Black Bermudians through music, food, sport, and community.
