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After emancipation in 1838, many ex-slaves settled as cultivators on small plots of land. The supply of labour to the sugar estates dried up, and the planters tried their best to frustrate the peasantry who tried to make a living away from the plantations.

They refused to allow settlers to rent or squat on their land. The local justice system, which was administered by the planters themselves, was extremely harsh in its dealings with the settlers. To top it all, the House of Assembly (which had been the law-making body in Jamaica for nearly 200 years) seemed to speak only with the voice of the ruling class.

Until George William Gordon came along. Shaking up things that folks didn't want shaken.

In 1844, Gordon was elected to the Assembly, and at age 29 began to speak up relentlessly for the blacks and coloureds. After his first term he became so unpopular with the establishment that he lost his seat.

He bought up old sugar estates, rented out land to peasant farmers, advanced them money to grow crops, and then sold their produce. This gave them an an income and an alternative to working on the plantations for pitifully low wages. As you can imagine, this did not endear him to the planter class. http://www.real-jamaica-vacations.com/george-william-gordon.html