This is one of the earliest photographic records of life on sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The sugar industry, although in decline in this period, did not end with the emancipation of slaves in 1838. Instead it continued, with black people becoming employees rather than slaves. However, emancipation did not bring equality, nor did it end the rigours of working in the cane fields. This failure on the part of plantation owners and the colonial governments significantly to improve the day-to-day conditions and rights of ex-slaves and their descendents provoked resentment, and occasionally rebellion, among people in the Caribbean.