Froudacity: West Indian Fables by James Anthony Froude is an 1889 polemic written by John Jacob Thomas as a rebuttal to James Anthony Froude's 1888 book The English in the West Indies. Froude's travelogue attacked the British West Indian colonies for wanting to establish self-government, arguing that if the majority black population were allowed to vote on leaders they would choose leaders that would repress the white population. Like many of his West Indian contemporaries, Thomas was outraged at the inaccuracies of Froude's text as well as the racist arguments that Froude uses as justification for his beliefs. He decided that writing a refutation to Froude was his patriotic duty and that it would act as self-vindication for West Indian blacks.
Froudacity was Thomas' last and most significant work. Thomas finished writing it shortly before succumbing to pneumonia.
Background
From the middle of the 17th century to 1866, Jamaica had a self-ruling mode of government referred to as the 'Old Representative System'. However, after an outbreak of rebellion Jamaica was put under the crown colony system of government in 1866. A number of other West Indian colonies such as Trinidad and Dominica were established as crown colonies in the late 18th and early 19th century. Crown colonies had governors appointed to rule them from the Colonial Office in London. From the inception of crown colony rule, natives of crown colonies began to protest the Crown Colony form of government because they felt that the foreign-appointed governors did not hold the natives' best interests in mind. Natives of Trinidad and Jamaica repeatedly petitioned the Colonial Office to establish home rule in the colonies, but they were ignored until the early 20th century.
James Anthony Froude, a well-known English intellectual, was an apologist for imperial rule. In 1886, he published Oceana, another one of Froude's works attacking the desire for self-rule in Australia. Like English in the West Indies, it was criticized for its superficial coverage of colonial affairs and Froude's lack of exposure to the native countries which he discussed. His next travelogue, The English in the West Indies, detailed his travels in the West Indies and his political opinions on the benefits of the Crown Colony form of government. Froude argued that if the West Indian colonies were allowed home rule, the large black population in those colonies would vote for black leaders who would strip away whites' rights. Froude attacked blacks as being racially inferior, and argued that slavery was not as bad as it was commonly believed to be. Froude's work initially received good reviews in English newspapers and journals; however, it caused an outrage in the West Indian colonies.
West Indian journals and newspapers immediately denounced Froude for his racist beliefs, and the incorrect sweeping generalizations and statements that Froude makes throughout English in the West Indies. In 1888 Charles Spencer Salmon published The Caribbean Confederation and Nicholas Darnell Davis published Mr. Froude's Negrophobia or Don Quixote as a Cook's Tourist, both refuting Froude's arguments. Though both of these books were important, Thomas' response became the most renowned and was considered the finest refutation of The English in the West Indies. As a response to The English in the West Indies, "Although Salmon and Davis had responded to Froude, Thomas' response became the most celebrated.". Thomas was relatively unknown in England outside of certain intellectual circles, and being able to publish Froudacity in London was an important achievement for him.
Synopsis
Froudacity is split into four books, each addressing specific topics that Froude brings. Thomas begins the preface by attacking the overarching claims that Froude uses to argue against self-governance. Thomas ridicules Froude's assertion that if blacks in West Indian countries were given the right to vote, they would elect a candidate that would strip away the rights of whites due to racial animosity. He also attacks the notion that West Indian blacks harbor animosity against whites by pointing out that as many blacks owned slaves as whites, and that most people who were alive during slavery have since died.