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''Froudacity: West Indian Fables by James Anthony Froude'' is an 1889 polemic written by John Jacob Thomas as a rebuttal to James Anthony Froude's 1888 book ''The English in the West Indies''. Froude's travelogue attacked the British West Indian colonies for wanting to establish self-government, arguing that if the majority black population were allowed to vote on leaders they would choose leaders that would repress the white population. Like many of his West Indian contemporaries, Thomas was outraged at the inaccuracies of Froude's text as well as the racist arguments that Froude uses as justification for his beliefs. He decided that writing a refutation to Froude was his patriotic duty〔Thomas 16〕 and that it would act as self-vindication〔Thomas 15〕 for West Indian blacks. ''Froudacity'' was Thomas' last and most significant work. Thomas finished writing it shortly before succumbing to pneumonia. == Background == From the middle of the 17th century to 1866, Jamaica had a self-ruling mode of government referred to as the 'Old Representative System'. However, after an outbreak of rebellion Jamaica was put under the crown colony system of government in 1866. A number of other West Indian colonies such as Trinidad and Dominica were established as crown colonies in the late 18th and early 19th century. Crown colonies had governors appointed to rule them from the Colonial Office in London. From the inception of crown colony rule, natives of crown colonies began to protest the Crown Colony form of government because they felt that the foreign-appointed governors did not hold the native's best interests in mind.〔Benn 65〕 Natives of Trinidad and Jamaica repeatedly petitioned the Colonial Office to establish home rule in the colonies, but they were ignored until the early 20th century. James Anthony Froude, a well-known English intellectual, was an apologist for imperial rule.〔Benn 67〕 In 1886 he published ''Oceana'', another one of Froude's works attacking the desire for self-rule in Australia. Like ''English in the West Indies'', it was criticized for its superficial coverage of colonial affairs and Froude's lack of exposure to the native countries which he discussed. His next travelogue, ''The English in the West Indies'', detailed his travels in the West Indies and his political opinions on the benefits of the Crown Colony form of government. Froude argued that if the West Indian colonies were allowed home rule, the large black population in those colonies would vote for black leaders who would strip away whites' rights. Froude attacked blacks as being racially inferior, and argued that slavery was not as bad as it was commonly believed to be. Froude's work initially received good reviews in English newspapers and journals;〔Thompson 174-175〕 however, it caused an outrage in the West Indian colonies. West Indian journals and newspapers immediately denounced Froude for his racist beliefs, and the incorrect sweeping generalizations and statements that Froude makes throughout ''English in the West Indies''. In 1888 Charles Spencer Salmon published ''The Caribbean Confederation'' and Nicholas Darnell Davis published ''Mr. Froude's Negrophobia or Don Quixote as a Cook's Tourist'', both refuting Froude's arguments.〔Thompson 175-176〕 Though both of these books were important, Thomas' response became the most renowned and was considered the finest refutation of ''The English in the West Indies''.〔Cudjoe 305〕 As a response to ''The English in the West Indies'', "Although Salmon and Davis had responded to Froude, Thomas' response became the most celebrated.".〔 Thomas was relatively unknown in England outside of certain intellectual circles, and being able to publish ''Froudacity'' in London was an important achievement for Thomas. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Froudacity」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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