Joseph John Gurney was the brother of the famous prison reformer Elizabeth Fry and worked with her in agitating for greater social reform, not only with regard to prisons but also in support of the abolition of slavery. Born to a prominent Quaker banking family in Norwich, Gurney had close connections to the anti-slavery movement, another of his sisters, Hannah, married the prominent abolitionist Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton.

In the 1830s Gurney wrote many pieces on social matters and between 1837 and 1840, he travelled to the United States and the West Indies to see first-hand the effects of slavery (and in the case of the West Indies, its abolition) and to speak with religious leaders, State and colonial governors, Federal officials and the general public. Due to increasing disagreement between British and American Quakers, Gurney did not discuss his findings publicly until he was sure of the facts.

In 1840, he published this book detailing the living and working conditions experienced by former slaves in the Caribbean following abolition. It provided a companion to his Free and Friendly Remarks of 1839, a work concerning slavery in the United States. Both books were addressed to the influential Kentucky Senator Henry Clay.