The Death of Molly Schultz: Race, Magic, and the Law in the Post-slavery Caribbean

Abstract

Abstract This article uses a singular event, the murder trial of a multiracial group of men and women accused of killing a young white girl, to examine the complex interactions between individual experiences and larger social patterns in the twentieth-century British Caribbean. It explores responses to the tragic death of a young child in British Guiana, Molly Schultz, notably its political and legal repercussions, by focusing on the Afro- and Indo-Guianese accused, the colonial prosecutors, and the multiethnic opposition politicians who became involved. Colonial officials took advantage of this death to pass two pieces of legislation. One strengthened the local anti-obeah (magic) law, a change that remained in effect until the late twentieth century. The second was a new law that effectively prevented poor, non-white Guianese from sitting on juries, part of an official attempt to help buttress white political power and a response to the racial fears of a colonial elite. I argue that the quotidian struggles of daily life shaped the lives and the stories of those accused of Molly Schultz’s murder. Their experiences helped create the context in which these men and women became involved in the case and informed their explanations of their actions; their accounts in turn influenced the official version of Molly Schultz’s death, including the role of obeah. The Indo- and Afro-creole lawyers and politicians who took up the case may not have represented themselves as believing in the magical practices purportedly at the center of these events, but they recognized their political significance. Contemporary racial tensions and political considerations influenced the legal proceedings but the everyday lives of ordinary Guianese helped shaped the outcome and the surrounding debates.