Scan barcode
A review by bahareads
Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas, 1880-1960 by Gail Saunders
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas continues to show Saunder's knowledge of the length and breadth of the topic of Bahamian history. The book is split up into nine chapters which all cover a historical time period or historical method. They are as follows: Post Emancipation Period; Bahamian Society in late 19th and early 20th; Gradual Changes (1880-1914); WWI and Prohibition; 1930s and depression; WWII and 1942 Nassau Riot; Formative Years (1950-1958); 1958 General Strike and its aftermath and Confronting a Divided Society.
Saunders compacts history into a readable, comprehensive book. If you're interested in reading how racial tension in The Bahamas was more similar to that of the United States than the British West Indies, how Garveyism and if you want to pan-African movements would spark the later movements in The Bahamas then this book is for you. If you're interested in learning about how The Bahamas had a unique interaction among racial groups and how white and black were defined by more than just your DNA or skin colour then this book is for you.
If one reads about the colonial history of The Bahamas you can find that many of the issues that affected the country in the early and mid 20th century have not changed but have just taken on a different appearance. The description of Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas ends with "Saunders tells the story of how discrimination persisted until at last squarely challenged by the majority of Bahamians" but I challenge those readers who read this to see if things really have changed. Discrimination may be blatant but it's still there taking on different forms; eg. tourism is just another form of neo-colonialism; nepotism, the reasons behind our brain drain etc.
One particular story struck me in Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas to my core. Trigger warning for suicide.
Saunders compacts history into a readable, comprehensive book. If you're interested in reading how racial tension in The Bahamas was more similar to that of the United States than the British West Indies, how Garveyism and if you want to pan-African movements would spark the later movements in The Bahamas then this book is for you. If you're interested in learning about how The Bahamas had a unique interaction among racial groups and how white and black were defined by more than just your DNA or skin colour then this book is for you.
If one reads about the colonial history of The Bahamas you can find that many of the issues that affected the country in the early and mid 20th century have not changed but have just taken on a different appearance. The description of Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas ends with "Saunders tells the story of how discrimination persisted until at last squarely challenged by the majority of Bahamians" but I challenge those readers who read this to see if things really have changed. Discrimination may be blatant but it's still there taking on different forms; eg. tourism is just another form of neo-colonialism; nepotism, the reasons behind our brain drain etc.
One particular story struck me in Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas to my core. Trigger warning for suicide.
"In The Bahamas, white and mixed-race scouts camped and "turned out" together. There seemed to be no racial problems among that scout troop in Nassau. However, five mixed-race scouts, a part of the delegation attending the 1937 international scout jamboree in Washington, D.C., encountered discrimination in Miami, where they spent the night... This experience deeply affected one of the mixed-race boys who committed suicide shortly after his return to Nassau. [Scout Basil] North had spoken to him before leaving The Bahamas, making him aware of discriminatory policy in the segregationist United States. He (Basil) blamed the parents: 'Some of these people did a disservice by their children, bringing them up to thinking they were white.'"
I think I'll end with this quote by Father Bonaventure Dean, headmaster of St. Augustine's High School (April 1967). "In The Bahamas we do not have Black Power because this implies a 'power' within a country which lacks the legitimate power to achieve its goals. In The Bahamas we have black men in power. Whether or not their exercise of power will develop in this country a black nation as opposed to a Bahamian nation depends on how well we teach a lesson in the correct meaning of justice and equality for all."
If you're looking for a free PDF of this book, find it here