Abstract George Gmelch and Sharon Bohn Gmelch examine the continuities and discontinuities in the village life in St. Lucy, which is Barbados' northern and most rural parish. In many respects, this is an ethnographic and social study. The authors discover that the citizens are not as isolated and estranged from the world as many stereotypes would have it. In many respects, there are positive as well as negative features to this reality. On the one hand, globalization helps keep the island economically afloat, but at the same time the forces of the free market hurt the island in a cultural and economic sense as well.
Abstract The paper explains that both Cuba and Barbados became important sources of agricultural products for their respective colonial powers, Spain and Britain, and both developed a plantation system which included the use of African slaves. The paper then compares the economy of two of those colonies, and shows how the British colony of Barbados differed in many economic factors from the Spanish colony of Cuba.
Outline:
The Beginning of a Spanish Colony: Cuba
An English Colony - Barbados
From the Paper "The Spanish explored and established colonies in many places in the New World beginning at a very early date. Christopher Columbus first stopped in Cuba on his second voyage. Cuba's settlement began in 1511 when Diego Velasquez and 300 men were sent from Hispaniola."
"The island was home to many Tainos tribesmen, who resisted Spanish rule, but were easily and quickly conquered. By 1517 Cuba was divided into municipal divisions, each of which was run by a council that reported to a royal council back in Spain."
Abstract This paper discusses the development and structure of Bajan, the Creole language of Barbados. It examines the development of the Barbadian culture that gave rise to Bajan. It highlights the linguistic components of Bajan. The author also focuses on Bajan as a rhotic language.
Abstract The paper explores the issues of racism, feminism, religious bigotry, and hypocrisy in Maryse Cond?'s novel ", Tituba, Black Witch of Salem". The author includes many quotes from the actual text.
From the Paper "In her novel, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, Maryse Cond? skillfully intertwines historical fact with colorfully imagined invention to tell the tale of black slave Tituba's brutal journey from Barbados to New England and her eventual return to her native land. Through this narration, Cond?'s purpose is not simply to recount the story of a long-forgotten historical figure; indeed, by incorporating extensive fanciful devices, she distances herself from the factual and focuses instead on broader and more powerful underlying themes such as religious bigotry and hypocrisy, racism, feminism, and the power of sexuality. Through the usage of postmodern irony and a compelling storytelling style, she imparts a refreshing new perspective on the Salem witch trials and several fundamental issues with which we continue to struggle today."
A biography of Mabel Keaton Staupers who was instrumental in the early integration of African-Americans into the nursing profession in the early 1900s.
Abstract This paper discusses through a literature review, the dedication and commitment of Mabel Keaton Staupers whose work was revolutionary in the development and recognition of black nurses in the nursing profession. It outlines her life from her birth on February 27, 1890 in Barbados, West Indies, through her emigration to the U.S. at the age of thirteen, her education and her career as well as describing the extreme prejudice she encountered as a result of her status as a black American. It examines how her influence and impact on shifting the priorities of prejudice and discrimination has resulted in garnering the respect and admiration of African-American nurses.
From the Paper "During her distinguished career, Mabel Keaton Staupers was recognized for her efforts as an activist and accepted a position as the first paid executive secretary of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN). During her tenure, she increased membership, established advisory committees, built coalitions with various groups, and removed barriers that once prevented black nurses from enlisting in the military (www.nursingworld.org). During World War II, Ms. Staupers garnered support from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and began a national letter-writing campaign to recognize the need for black nurses in the military as full members, and in 1945, the Army and Navy accepted black nurses without restrictions (http://search.eb.com). Furthermore, as a result of her efforts in the NACGN, the American Nurses Association began to accept black nurses as full members in 1948. In 1954, the final barriers to equality were broken when the Supreme Court rejected the "separate but equal" doctrine in Brown versus the Board of Education (Sussman 1)."
Abstract This paper explains that New Jersey was typical of states in the North that were not wholeheartedly anti-slavery, and yet had many activists who were bitterly opposed to slavery. The author points out that, in the 17th century, slaves were brought into New Netherland (New Jersey) from Jamaica, Barbados, Curacao, and Antigua. The slave population continued to grow, and in the 1790s, several "gradual emancipation" bills were voted down in the New Jersey legislature, albeit "popular opinion and party newspapers cautiously shifted" towards an anti-slavery position. The paper concludes that, after the end of legal slavery and for a century after the Civil War, there were still vestiges of the "paternalistic cottager system" in which African-Americans worked for whites on isolated farms, reflecting the continued bitterness of the Civil War.
Table of Contents
Introduction
New Jersey History of Slavery
The Civil War and New Jersey
From the Paper "After the war, despite the heroism that many black soldiers displayed in defeating the South, "New Jersey's white population remained hostile" to the idea of giving blacks full citizen rights (p. 194). The author, in his Epilogue, explains why it was not easy to rid New Jersey of slavery notwithstanding federal law that demanded the end of slavery: he writes that slavery in Monmouth was not a "fad" which could be easily "forgotten," but to the contrary, it was "a custom two centuries in the making" (p. 203)."
