MASTERPIECE brought us four new shows in January, including the powerful mini-series The Long Song. Set during the final days of slavery in 19th-century Jamaica, the series tells the story of the hardships and survival of plantation slave, July. Each week, we're bringing you a new installment of a series of character studies on July from guest contributor Amanda-Rae Prescott. These articles will cover the events of episode two, so if you haven't watched it yet, catch up on GBH Passport.
Episode 1 ends with July’s ominous voiceover that her story is not an easy one. In Episode 2, July’s story returns with a leap forward to 1838, when Queen Victoria’s official decree ended slavery in Jamaica. For many, the end was mostly symbolic because the decree didn’t dismantle the inequality in the plantation system. July didn’t receive £31 (over $2,500 today based on calculations found here and here) in compensation for the pain and suffering she endured. The government didn’t take over the plantation lands and divide the acreage between the freedmen. Instead, Caroline was compensated to make up for the loss of “property”.
July, like many freedwomen, still relied on domestic labor, which kept her in a subservient position to Caroline. July's mood improved with her new position but it is not clear if this move resulted in a high salary. The new overseer Robert Goodwin (Jack Lowden) represents the new form of labor that replaced slavery. The owner paid the field hands wages but deducted rent for their living spaces. Some workers were allowed to grow vegetables for the market to supplement wages, but a plantation owner could easily increase the rent to retain control.
With all of these socio-political changes in the background, July’s grief over giving up her son for adoption appears to pass rather quickly for modern audiences. It is important to note that historically for slave women losing children through death and forced separation was common. The Baptists and other missionaries were morally opposed to slavery and were known for educating Black children in basic academics and theology. July’s hope that her son will have a better life is what helps her move forward, even though that trauma will always be a part of her.
July’s emerging relationship with Goodwin represents a critical shift in her story, showing her to be an adult woman with conflicting motivations and desires. She is attracted to him and has likely not had another relationship during the time jump. On another level, her early interaction with Miss Clara has given her the idea to pursue marriage with a white man to secure complete freedom from slavery. This idea moves from the subconscious to the surface when July runs into Miss Clara again in town. In the several years since the Christmas party in Episode 1, Miss Clara married a white man and owns a boarding house. July realizes Goodwin could become her ticket to a better standing in the island’s racial caste system. Her previous rebellious streak to defy Caroline’s wishes is also on the table, as she knows Caroline is tired of spinsterhood.
All of these trends converge on Caroline’s wedding night to Robert when he ends up losing his virginity to July. On the surface, July appears happy with this arrangement: to be the “true wife” with no legal benefits. Viewers can also see Robert continually emotionally manipulating July to get what he really wants, which is a step up: owning Caroline’s inheritance. He’s comfortable with committing adultery on a regular basis and yet professes love and lust for July which is a red flag for modern viewers for a supposedly “Christian man”. In the novel, authorAndrea Levy goes into a bit more detail about white men who had Black, mixed-race, or indigenous “wives” in Jamaica but left their legal white wives and heirs back on their estates in England. Interracial marriages were not officially outlawed in Jamaica, but not every white man was interested in this option. July accepts this relationship not only out of love but also as an acceptable advancement of her status. Neither biblical nor modern morality can assist with making decisions in a society where Black women had no legal recourse to combat rape and other forms of domestic violence.
The portrait scene is only the beginning of Caroline’s simmering jealousy. She resents Robert for flaunting his affair with July, and Emily’s birth further reminds Caroline of her failure to conceive a child. July doesn’t notice Caroline’s manipulations to tip power back in her direction because Emily is commanding the majority of her attention. She is still partially under the illusion that her relationship is still providing her financial and social status security.
Amity failing to bring in a profit from the sugarcane turns the story once again from July’s view to the bigger historical picture. Owners like Robert paid the field workers wages but they could not use the usual tactics of whipping or other forms of violence to increase productivity. Raising the rents on the worker’s living quarters did not increase sugarcane processing. Decreased profits created an internal moral conflict for white overseers who believed they were “kinder” than overseers during slavery but still wanted to force laborers to do what they wanted. July convinces Robert to reason with the workers, but they are empowered now to resist his demand to work through Christmas break.
July’s story at the end of Episode 2 is even more complicated than some could have predicted. She’s once again a mother, but Emily is not the legal heir to Amity. She has matured, and yet is not a perfect person. Robert’s shifting attitude as noted in the narration may once again force her to choose between defending her own position and standing up with the workers.
