What can we infer about race and class in nineteenth-century Jamaica from Gordon’s letter?

Read George William Gordon’s final letter to his wife Maria Jane Gordon, written on October 23, 1865, and transcribed on pages 722–23 of Volume 2 of the Report of the Jamaica Royal Commission.
As you read, consider the general questions historians ask of any documentary source:
• Who wrote it? When was it written? For whom was it written?
• What is the genre of the text? Do you notice anything about its style or its
linguistic register?
• What is the purpose of the text as a whole?
• What is the structure of the text? How do the parts relate to the whole?
• What key words are used in a distinctive way in the text? What can you infer
about the special meaning of these words form the way they are used in the
• What is made explicit and what is left unsaid?
• What historical inferences can you reasonably draw from the text?
For this text in particular, also consider the following:
• Does Gordon seem to be writing only for his wife, or for a wider audience?
• How does Gordon conceptualize his life, work, and death?
• Does Gordon consider himself legally or morally culpable for the rebellion?
• To what and to whom does Gordon attribute his death?
• What can we infer about race and class in nineteenth-century Jamaica from
Gordon’s letter?
• Are there clues in the letter that lead you to agree or to disagree with Gordon’s
own assessment of his life and death?

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