Papers from the Tenth Annual Conference of Caribbean Historians (Collection of papers)

Papers from the Tenth Annual Conference of Caribbean Historians jointly sponsored by the College of the Virgin Islands and the Association of Caribbean Historians, St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), March 27 to April 1, 1978.

The Association of Caribbean Historians (ACH) comprises not only historians living and working in the Caribbean but also scholars working in Caribbean history, and previous conferences of the ACH have been attended by historians from a.o. Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States. The 1978 conference had 57 participants, representing at least 31 institutions, the majority of which in various Caribbean territories. Eight panels were organised around selected topics in Caribbean history - many of which had quite obviously some relation to the history of European expansion. A total of 25 papers were presented on: Amerindians in Guyana (2) Caribbean emigrants to Africa, the United States and Canada (3) French colonial politics (2) War and the Caribbean (5) Public policy and private economy in the Caribbean (3) Aspects of Virgin Islands history (5) Aspects of slavery in the Caribbean (2)

Turnbull, Charles, “Aspects of Danish Educational Laws in the Virgin Islands, 1839 – 1917”

Bourne, Compton, “Public Economic Policy and Colonial Underdevelopment: British Guiana, 1900 – 1920”

Wiltshire, Winston, “The Commercial Development of Trinidad Lake Asphalt, 1888 – 1948”

Ramos Mattei, Andrés, “Inmigración por contrato desde las Islas Británicas en el Caribe a la industria azucarera puertorriqueña: 1860 - 1880, {Un aspecto de la transición hacia el trabajo libre en Puerto Rico}”

Walter, John C., “The Caribbean Immigrant Impulse in American Life, 1900 – 1930”

Buckley, Roger N., “War and Slavery in the Caribbean: The case of the British West India regiments”

Blackett, Richard J. M., “Return to the Motherland: Robert Campbell a Jamaican in early colonial Lagos”

Menezes, Mary Noel, From Protection to Integration: the Amerindians of Guyana vis-a-vis the Government, 1803 – 1973”

Potter, Dr. Lesley, “The Amerindians of Guyana and their Environment”

Hall, Neville A. T., “Establishing a Public Elementary School System for Slaves in the Danish Virgin Islands, 1732 – 1846”

Williams, Denis, “Prehistoric Rock Art in Guyana and the Antilles”

Van Soest, Japp, “On the Account of Curaçao: Two Centuries of Fiscal Legislation for Trade and Industry”

Dookhan, Isaac, “The Search for Identity: The Political Aspirations and Frustrations of Virgin Islanders under the United States Naval Administration, 1917 – 1927”

Higman, Barry W., “African and Creole Slave Family Patterns in Trinidad”

Baptiste, Fitzroy A., “New War Technologies, New War Resources and the Changing United States’ Politico-Strategic Assessment of the British and other European Colonies in the Caribbean Area, 1914 – 1939”

Samaroo, Brinsley, “The Mirror of War: Trinidad Newspaper Coverage of the First World War, 1914 – 1918”

Krigger, Marilyn F., “Attitudes and References to Immigrants in the St. Thomas Press, 1936 – 1942”

Jones-Hendrickson, Simon B., “Public Policy in the Virgin Islands of the United States, 1917 – 1946”

The Caribbean Sugar Industry: A Select Bibliography

Wilkinson, Audine, (compiler) The Caribbean Sugar Industry: A Select Bibliography, Occasional bibliography series no. 4, Cave Hill, Barbados: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies, May 1976.

From the Forword:

Sugar has been the single most important producto emerging from the Caribbean in its 480-odd years of recorded history. From the time of the production of this crop for export in 1640 in Barbados the industry has bulked large in the economy of the various territories in which it was grown. Sugar has been the mainstay of a large number of islands such as Barbados, St. Kitts and Antigua and the leading sector for centuries in others such as Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico. It has been the cause of major demographic and social changes in the región. The “sugar revolution” of the 17th century saw the large-scale introduction of Africans into the Caribbean and the long centuries of African slavery. The period after 1834 witnessed a crisis in the industry and the consequent importation of large numbers of East Indian and other indentured labourers into British and French colonies, thus altering the racial balance in these areas.

Labour in the West Indies – The Birth of a Workers’ Movement

Lewis, Arthur, Labour in the West Indies – The Birth of a Workers’ Movement, London: New Beacon Books, 1977.

Reviewed by the GEORGE PADMORE INSTITUTE.

Wikipedia:

Sir William Arthur Lewis (23 January 1915 – 15 June 1991) was a Saint Lucian economist well known for his contributions in the field of economic development. In 1979 he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Bim, Vol. 14, No. 55 (Journal)

Bim, Vol. 14, No. 55, July – December 1972.

Table of Contents:

Notebook.

The West Indian, by C.L.R. James.

The Fellow Travelers, by John Wickham.

O Hearing Wilson Harris Speak, by Berenth Lindfors.

Flying Fishing, by Elwyn Parry-Jones.

West Indian Poetry: Some Problems of Assessment – Part Two, by F.G. Rohlehr.

Gran Nan, by Cynthia Wilson.

Caribbean Collage – James Berry, Faustin Charles, Frank Collymore, John Figueroa, Denis Foster, A. L. Hendriks, Robert Lee, Ian McDonald, Mervyn Morris, Bruce St. John, John Wickham.

Things in the Silence, by Harold Marshall

Notes and Additions to the Barbadian Glossary, by Frank Collymore.

Bay Brown Window, by Ron Welburn

Esmeralda, by Timothy Callender.

Towards an Eastern Caribbean Federation.

Think If You Can Of Beauty, by John McClellan.

Look Homeward Bajan, by Clare MacCulloch.

Book Reviews.

Bulletin of Eastern Caribbean Affairs, Vol. 9, Nos. 3 & 4 (Journals)

Bulletin of Eastern Caribbean Affairs, (Vol. 9, Nos. 3 & 4), Cave Hill, Barbados: Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1983.

See also: SALISES.

Vol. 9, No. 4:

ARTICLES:

Models of Social Change in the Caribbean, by Sehon Goodridge.
Bonus: Whether it can be Subject of Trade Dispute, by Roop L. Chaudhary.
Multilateral Barter: A Feasible Alternative for the Caribbean, by Wendell Samuel.
Water: A Major Constraint to Development, by United Nations Development Programme in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
St. Kitts and Nevis First U.N. Address, by Hon. Kennedy Simmonds.
Official Statements on the Grenada Crisis.

NEWS ABSTRACTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Vol. 9, No. 3:

ARTICLES:

Teaching and Research in the Faculty of Arts and General Studies, by Vere Knight.
The Unit of Use of English and Linguistics, by Peter Roberts.
The Department of English, by Mark McWatt.
The Department of History, by Alvin Thompson.
The Department of French and Spanish, by S.D. Sardinha.
Document: Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community.

NEWS ABSTRACT

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The U.S. Virgins and the Eastern Caribbean

Creque, Darwin D., The U.S. Virgins and the Eastern Caribbean, Philadelphia: Whitmore Publishing Co., 1968. (signed by the author for Joyce and Dr. Thomas Mathews)

From the author’s Preface:

Although this short history is titled The U.S. Virgins and the Eastern Caribbean, it also contains a brief description of former British islands in the West Indies which have since attained their independence, present British possessions, along with French and Dutch islands the Caribbean as far north as Curacao and Aruba.

Volcanoes of the Earth

Bullard, Fred M., Volcanoes of the Earth, Revised Edition, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976.

From A Guide to the Fred M. Bullard Papers, 1922-1987:

Educator and author Fred M. Bullard, 1901-1994, received his B. S. and M. S. in geology from the University of Oklahoma, and his PhD in 1928 from the University of Michigan.
(…)
In the late 1920s, Bullard first became interested in volcanoes while on a geological survey expedition in Alaska. Over the next several decades, he attended numerous symposiums and expeditions, traveled to a number of volcanic sites around the world, including Africa, Iceland, and Mexico…

Readings in Government and Politics of the West Indies

Singham, Archie W., E. S. Jones, D. Gordon, Catherine Levy, T. G. Munroe, Eds., Readings in Government and Politics of the West Indies, Kingston 5: University of the West Indies, N.D.

From the Introduction:

This reader is intended primarily for students in Government at the University of the West Indies (Mona, St. Augustine and Cave Hill) and the University of Guyana, and for the students enrolled in the short term courses for civil servants in the Eastern Caribbean Training Programme. The Department of Government at Mona has taught a third year paper on Government and Politics in the West Indies from 1960, but the focus of this paper has gradually shifted from a federal emphasis to a more comparative one. This paper was taught on an experimental basis in 1964 – 65 and during the academic year 1965 – 66 the paper was considerably revised and a more integrated approach adopted. The absence of a single text and the dearth of written materials on West Indian politics has been responsible for the preparation of this Reader. It will be noticed that the readings are drawn not only from the literature in political science, but also from related disciplines.

Contents:

Chapter 1 APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF THE WEST INDIES
Conceptualization, by David Apter.
B.W.I. Society and Government in Transition 1920 – 1962, by J.H. Proctor.
Structure and Crisis in Grenada, by M.G. Smith.
Decisions of Nationhood, by W. Bell and I. Oxaal.
Further Readings.

Chapter 2 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
Conceptualization, by S.A. deSmith.
The Jamaica Independence Constitution, by J.B. Kelly.
Decolonization in a Multi-Racial Society: A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago, by Selwyn Ryan.
Fundamental Rights – Need for a New Jurisprudence, by S.S. Ramphal.
Problems of Administration in an Emergent Nation, by B. St. J. Hamilton.
The Civil Service in British Guiana in the General Strike of 1963, by B.A.N. Collins.
Rural Local Government in Guyana, by C.H. Grant.
The Senate of Trinidad and Tobago, by Anne Spackman.
Further Readings.

Chapter 3 POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION
Conceptualization, by Almond and Verba.
The Negro Family in British Guiana, by R.T. Smith.
Political Partisanship and Political Socialization, by K. Langston.
Social Stratification in Trinidad, by L. Braithwaite.
Further Readings.

Chapter 4 RACE, CULTURE & PERSONALITY
Race and Colour in the West Indies, by D. Lowenthal.
Nationalist Politics and Cultural Theory, by L. Despres.
Communication and Politics in Jamaica, by M. Alleyne.
Decolonization in a Multi-Racial Society: A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago, by Selwyn Ryan.
Personality and Conflict in Jamaica, by M. Kerr.
Further Readings.

Chapter 5 BUREAUCRACY
Problems of Public Administration in the British Caribbean, by G.E. Mills.
The Role and Status of Civil Service in the Age of Independence – Reference to Trinidad and Tobago – Report of the Committee – Chairman, O’Neill Lewis.
Report of the British Guiana Commission of Inquiry – Racial Problems in the Public Service – ICJ 1965.
Bureaucratic Power and Political Control, by A.W. Singham.
Further Readings.

Chapter 6 PARTIES, ELECTIONS AND PRESSURE GROUPS
Conceptualization, by J. LaPalombara.
Mass Parties in Jamaica, by C.P. Bradley.
The P.N.P. 1938 – 1944: A View of the Early Nationalist Movement in Jamaica, by Trevor G. Munroe.
Party Systems in British Guiana and the 1961 General Elections, by C.P. Bradley.
Trinidad and Tobago General Elections of 1961, by Gordon Lewis.
Some Notes on the Characteristics of B.W.I. Parties, by M. Ayearst.
Party Systems in the West Indies, by Kenneth John.
A Swing Analysis of Jamaica Elections, by M. Faber.
Ras Tafari: Cult of Outcast, by H.O. Patterson.
Further Readings.

Chapter 7 TRADE UNIONS AND POLITICS
Labour Unions in Tropical Countries of the Commonwealth, by B.C. Roberts.
The Rise of the Labour Movement (Jamaica), by O.W. Phelps.
History of the Barbados Workers’ Union, by Francis Mark.
The Rise and Fall of the Barefooted Man, by S.D. Ryan.
Social Democracy in Antigua, by N.H, Richards.
Trade Unions in the British West Indies, by W.H. Knowles.
Further Readings.

Chapter 8 ELITES AND POWER
Conceptualization, by T.B. Bottomore.
Jamaica Leaders: Attitudes in a New Nation, by W. Bell.
The P.N.P. 1938 – 1944: A View of the Early Nationalist Movement in Jamaica, by Trevor G. Munroe.
Decolonization in a Multi-Racial Society: A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago, by Selwyn Ryan.
Social Change and Belief in Progress: A Study of Images of the Future in Jamaica, by J.A. Mau.
The Colonial Political System, by A.W. Singham.
A Start in Freedom, by Sir Hugh Foot.
A Report of the British Guiana Constitutional Commission 1954 Great Britain.
Further Readings.

Chapter 9 POLITICAL UNIFICATION
Political Unification: A Comparative Study of Leaders and Forces, by Amitar Etzioni.
Integration, Domination and the Small-State System, by A.W Singham & V. Lewis.
The Integration of Developing Countries: Some Thoughts on East Africa and Central America, by Aaron Segal.
Short-range Prospects in the British Caribbean, by M.G. Smith.
Further Readings.

A. Polemics
From Chaguaramas to Slavery, by Lloyd Best.
Party Politics in the West Indies, by C.L.R. James.
The Agony of the Eight, by W.A. Lewis.

B. Party Manifestoes
People’s National Party – Plan for Today 1940.
People’s National Movement – The People’s Charter 1956.
People’s Progressive Party – Manifesto 1961.
The B.L.P. – Manifesto 1966.

C. Extracts from Independence Constitutions
Comparative Executives – Jamaica: Trinidad: West Indies Act.
Comparative Parliaments – Trinidad: Jamaica: Barbados.
Comparative Fundamental Rights – Jamaica: Trinidad Ombudsman – Guyana.

Bibliography on government and Politics of the West Indies, prepared by C. Levy and A.W. Singham.

Stark's Guide-Book and History of Trinidad

Stark, James H., Stark's Guide-Book and History of Trinidad: Including Tobago, Granada, and St. Vincent; Also a Trip up the Orinoco and a Description of the Great Venezuelan Pitch Lake, Boston: James H. Stark Publisher 1897.

Available online.

Les Petites Antilles: Etude sur leur Evolution Economique, 1820-1908

Chemin Dupontès, P, Les Petites Antilles: Etude sur leur evolution economique, 1820-1908, Paris: Desormeaux, 1981.

Réserver en revue dans Bulletin of the American Geographical Society:

A scientific study of the economic conditions in the Lesser Antilles, including the islands belonging to England, Denmark, and the Netherlands, as well as those of France. The author points a moral for the consideration of his compatriots. He proves that Great Britain, through much study and sacrifice, has established the prosperity of her own little islands, with which the French islands do not favourably compare. Now that beet sugar culture has nearly ruined the cane sugar industry of the Antilles, France should study how to fully utilize the varied resources of the soil in her own possessions. The author discusses this question in relation to all the islands and his book is a careful and informing study of their economic evolution.

Histoire Générale des Antilles, Tome I, II, III, IV

Du Tertre, Jean Baptiste, Histoire Générale des Antilles, Tome I, II, III, IV, Fort-de-France: Réédition exécutées d'après l'édition de 1667 – 1671 aux frais de la Société d’Histoire de la Martinique, 1958 – 59.

Reissue executed after the edition of 1667 - 1671 by the Historical Society of Martinique.

Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre (Jacques Du Tertre; 1610 in Calais – 1687 in Paris)[1] was a French blackfriar and botanist. In 1633 he joined the Dutch army where he worked in the headquarters in Maastricht. Subsequently he joined the Dominican Order where he adapted his first name Jean-Baptiste. In 1640 he was sent as missionary to the Antilles from where he returned to France in 1658. He is the author of several works about the Antilles where he described the indigenous peoples, the animals, and the plant world.

See also: Du Tertre on the Caribs.

Readings in the Political Economy of the Caribbean

Girvan, Norman, & Owen Jefferson, (Eds.) Readings in the Political Economy of the Caribbean, Kingston: New World Group, 1971.

Reviewed in Caribbean Studies © 1973.
Reviewed in Social and Economic Studies © 1973.

From the introduction:

The nineteen articles reprinted in this volume are drawn mainly from New World Publications, and represent broadly the “new school” of political economy to emerge in the English –speaking Caribbean in the decade of the 1960’s. To appreciate their significance it is necessary to locate them in the context of the political, economic and intellectual developments of the region.

Contents:

INTRODUCTION

Part One: THE CARIBBEAN ECONOMY
1. Independent Thought and Caribbean Freedom, by Lloyd Best.
2. Size and Survival, by Lloyd Best.

Part Two: PLANTATIONS AND CORPORATIONS
3. Sugar, Our Life or Death?, by Havelock Brewster.
4. Sugar and Change, by George Beckford, Havelock Brewster, Robert Kirkwood, G. Arthur Brown, Clive Thomas, Orlando Patterson & Wilmot Perkins.
5. Issues in the Windward Islands-Jamaica ‘Banana War’, by George Beckford.
6. Corporate v. Caribbean Integration, by Norman Girvan & Owen Jefferson.

Part Three: CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES
7. Dependence as an Obstacle to Growth in Puerto Rico, by Eduardo Seda-Bonilla.
8. Jamaica’s Post-War Economic Development, by Owen Jefferson.
9. Trinidad’s Post-War Economy, 1945-1950, by Edwin Carrington.
10. Industrialization by Invitation in Trinidad Since 1950, by Edwin Carrington.

Part Four: POLICY ISSUES AND PROPOSALS
11. Imperial Monetary Arrangements and the Caribbean, by Clive Thomas.
12. Devaluation and Dependence, by University of the West Indies Economics.
13. Caribbean Economic Community, by Alister McIntyre.
14. Restructuring the Trinidad Economy, by Selwyn Ryan.
15. Planning and Economic Development in Guyana, by Havelock Brewster.
16. Measuring Economic Progress, by Owen Jefferson.
17. Why We Need to Nationalize Bauxite, and How, by Norman Girvan.
18. The Long Term Economic, Political and Cultural Programme for Guyana, by New World Associates.
19. Unemployment in Jamaica, by Norman Girvan, et.al.

Diagnóstico de Seis (6) Islas del Caribe Oriental

Fundación para la Capacitación e Investigación Aplicada a la Reforma Agraria & Instituto Nacional de Capacitación Agrícola, Diagnóstico de Seis (6) Islas del Caribe Oriental, Caracas: CIARA & INAGRO, 1981-82.

De la Introducción:

Es interés del Gobierno Venezolano establecer un Programa de Cooperación Internacional con algunas Islas del Caribe Oriental como son: Santa Lucia, Antigua, Montserrat, San Kitts-Nevis, Grenada, y Dominica, a fin de coadyuvar a su desarrollo en el Sector Agrícola, lo cual servirá también para estrechar los vínculos de amistad y de intercambio cultural y comercial. Para sustentar el Programa de Cooperación aludido, se realizó un diagnóstico de cada una de estas Islas, tomando en consideración la información recopilada por la Misión Venezolana que las visitó en noviembre de 1980 y la bibliografía citada. Estos diagnósticos individuales que incluyen datos sobre geografía, economía y sociopolítica de cada una de las Islas, constituirán el instrumento básico para la reflexión sobre la cooperación que les puede proporcionar el gobierno de Venezuela a dichas islas y en particular servirán como base para la formulación del plan de capacitación que se proponen estructurar el CIARA y el INAGRO.

West Indian Nationhood and Caribbean Integration

Demas, William G., West Indian Nationhood and Caribbean Integration, Barbados: CCC Publishing House, 1974.

From the Foreword:

The fundamental thesis about Caribbean integration which I have always held is that the English-speaking Caribbean countries, because of their relatively small size and relatively weak and dependent economies, should consolidate themselves into as tight and coherent a grouping as possible so that they could cooperate economically and in other ways with the bigger countries with stronger economies of both the Caribbean Sea and the wider « Caribbean Basin » on terms that would be less unequal and more self-respecting for the West Indian peoples, than would be the case if each West Indian country sought to develop bilateral relationships with such countries, with the risk of getting involved in new forms of external dependence.

Table of Contents :

Foreword

1. Development, Identity and Unity in the Caribbean

2. The Road to West Indian Nationhood

3. "Power to the West Indian People"

4. What is the Caribbean Community ?

5. Some Thoughts on the Caribbean Community

Caribbean Education: The Need for Relevance

Shorey, Leonard L., Caribbean education: The need for relevance, [Inaugural Antonio Jarvis Memorial Lecture], Caribbean Research Institute, College of the Virgin Islands, 1973.

Dr. Leonard L. Shorey is Extra-Mural Tutor (equivalent to a director of continuing education) of the University of the West Indies in Barbados. Dr. Shorey, born on that island, has taught in several other Caribbean islands. He holds a B.A. degree from London University, a post-graduate diploma in education from the University of the West Indies, a Masters degree in education and a Ph.D. from McGill University in Canada. Dr. Shorey has served on several educational boards and committees, including the Barbados National Curriculum Development Council, and is a well known author of publications on West Indian education.

Five of the Leewards, 1834-1870

Hall, Douglas, Five of the Leewards, 1834-1870: The Major Problems of the Post-Emancipation Period in Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Nevis, and St. Kitts, Barbados: Caribbean University Press, 1971.

Cited in Emancipation and Revolt in the West Indies: St. Kitts, 1834.

Douglas Hall (from the "Preface"):

As a Resident Tutor in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies of the University of the West Indies in 1955-7, I lived in Antigua and St. Kitts and worked there and also in Montserrat and Nevis. As I came to know these islands I was struck by the very real social and economic differences between them. Yet in the 18th and early 19th centuries they had all been 'sugar colonies' (though Montserrat had been the least distinguished as such), ruled by their plantocracies and worked by slave-labour to produce sugar, rum, and molasses for the export-trade. And they all lie within a geographical circle of about seventy miles in diameter. I thought that a comparative study of their histories since the Emancipation would be both interesting and helpful to an understanding of their present separate circumstances.

Den svenska Kolonin St-Barthelemy och Västindiska Kompaniet fram till 1796

Hildebrand, Ingegerd, Den svenska Kolonin St-Barthelemy och Västindiska Kompaniet fram till 1796, Lund, 352 p. Thèse. 1951.

Translated: Mrs. Ingegerd Hildebrand, 17 Styrmansgatan, Stockholm: The Swedish Colony St. Bartholomew and the West India Company up to the Year 1796, Dissertation for the degree of Ph.D. at the University of Lund.

Extract from her summary of chapter 3:

St. Bartholomew was a small barren island, the greatest asset of which was a good and well-protected harbour. The island could only be of any considerable importance commercially and politically, and in order to attract the vessels of foreign nations to put in there, the island was declared a free port in a Royal Proclamation on the 7th of September 1785. In 1785 two Swedish trade expeditions were undertaken to St. Bartholomew, return cargoes being obtained in the form of smuggled goods from the French islands. On 31 October 1786, the Government granted a concession for a West India Company, which was to take over the trade with the colony and share the administration of the island. The Company received certain privileges, but it had no monopoly of the West Indian trade.

Reviewed by The Hispanic American Historical Review © 1954

Lessons from the Caribbean Revolutions

Sinclair DaBreo, D., Lessons from the Caribbean Revolutions: To peace, justice, equality and equal opportunity for all the people of the Caribbean Castries, St. Lucia: D. Sinclair DaBreo Publication, 1975.

D. Sinclair DaBreo was a broadcaster/program director [of Windward Islands Broadcasting Service (WIBS), also known as Radio Grenada] from 1973-1974.