Douglas is an iconic figure of resistance to slavery in the country and her story is featured in the National Museum of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
[1][2] She was listed on the initial slave register for St. Kitts, which was compiled in 1817, as a mulatto woman, aged forty-five with two children,[3] Cleisby and Sawney Frazer.
Goldfrap wrote to the Earl on Douglas' behalf and received a letter that he would allow her to be manumitted, indicating he had instructed his new agent, Rev.
[7][8] Cardin hired out Douglas requiring her to pay a fee of three and a half dollars per month from her earnings for the small house she lived in and her daily food allowance.
At the completion of the inquiry, the grand jury's decision was that Douglas had been insubordinate, that they could not determine that her punishment had been excessive, and she was ordered to return to the estate.
[8][12] Transmitting the findings to Lord Bathurst, Governor Maxwell stated that Douglas’ treatment had been illegal, but that it was customary in the island and "considered justifiable and proper".
[16] South African, Thomas Pringle first wrote about her in 1832 in his journal, the Anti-Slavery Record and a year later was still writing about the refusal to grant her emancipation.
[17] Douglas' case shows that even when slaves utilized legal remedies to obtain relief, the justice system often failed to protect them.