Ties That Bind : University of the West Indies Press : 9789766405069 : 9766405069 : 30 Mar 2015 : Ties That Bind signals a shift from the traditional focus by historians of the family on family forms and structure and instead assesses the relationships and interactions within black family networks in the landscape of post-slavery Jamaica. Chronicled throughout this book are the issues that were intrinsic to the freed people's notion of family well-being, including the need to reconstitute members separated by slavery, attainment of secure shelter, access to land and education for their children, assertion of parental control, autonomy over family labour and liberty, and reclaiming the dignity and personhood of family members. Presented here is evidence that challenges several stereotypical misrepresentations of the attitudes which blacks had towards their families. The book is replete with cases of black mothers and fathers, who by dint of their own persistence and sacrifice ensured t