A talk by an American author about her book Slave and Slaveholders in Bermuda was slammed as being pro-slave owner by listeners on Saturday.

One Nigerian member of the packed audience said: "It's very patronising to make comments that Bermudian slaves were treated better than in other places.'' However Professor Bernhard said: "I did not intend this book to say slavery was OK. I was only trying to use the comparative model and was looking at the US. Because of Bermuda's small size people had to get along.'' Earlier in the talk at Bermuda College Prof. Bernhard said punishments for slaves accused of crimes were much lighter in Bermuda than elsewhere where horrific torture before death sentences was common place.

She said: "In Bermuda one slave accused of being a ring leader in a conspiracy was still working for his master many years later.'' Professor Bernhard was also taken to task for pointing to records showing a master had paid a lot of money to help cure a sick slave as evidence that he cared for that slave.

One audience member said: "I would say he wasn't caring for his slave. He was protecting his investment.'' And another listener criticised Professor Bernhard for not looking at things from the point of the view of the slaves after she had mentioned pilfering.

The listener said: "I would ask myself were they hungry? You were on the side of the slave owners.'' But Prof. Bernhard denied that was the intention. She said: "In the book I look at the slave's point of view.

"I didn't mean to imply they were a pilfering people. They were not a docile stereotype. I didn't mean a stereotypical image.'' The professor said slaves were used for skilled jobs which provided more satisfaction than field hand work in the deep south. She said anti-Negro laws passed in Bermuda were much milder in tone in Bermuda than in the US.

DISCRIMINATION DIS BERMUDA COLLEGE EDC