Why do they keep perpetuating the lie that the Taíno are non-existent when their descendants are very much alive and well in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean and the Americas?
It's #BlackHistoryMonth, and in 2024 I'm reflecting on the fact that although I've known about Walter Rodney and his seminal work "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" for years, it wasn't until I started reading it last year that I found out that Rodney was assassinated by his own Guyanese government in a car bombing. He was 38.
I'm obligated to point out to fellow white people, in case you missed it, the trend of white people lionizing a heroic Black person in a show of solidarity while studiously ignoring the vicious violence enacted against that person by the powers that be.
Also, Rodney was banned from Jamaica and from his teaching position at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica. This caused protests that escalated to riots in Kingston in 1968. Part of the wave of protests that swept the world from that year to the next.
The Caribbean People is an oral history database project of the Create Caribbean Research Institute in Dominica that aims to archive the ways that knowledge about the Caribbean is preserved, democratized and shared. If you're interested in helping to document the region's stories or know someone who could be a part of the project, complete the form at the following link to register.
Wishing Antiguans and Barbudans everywhere a Happy 42nd Independence Anniversary 🇦🇬
Here's some Antiguan and Barbudan madras and headtie history. Enslaved Africans transformed the material into a symbol of their identity: https://www.instagram.com/p/CplnLs9PMF7/
Here is something that won't be taught in Florida schools:
Ancient DNA Reveals African Roots of American Cattle
But researchers have reason to suspect the version of events gleaned from historical records was incomplete. In 1518, Emperor Charles V passed an edict making it legal to transport enslaved people directly from their homelands to the Americas, a practice which commenced less than three years later. In the ensuing decades, enslaved Africans would play a vital — and often unrecognized — role in the development of cattle ranching.
“The earliest ranchers in Mexico were nearly all of African ancestry,” Delsol said. “We know that people like the Fulani in West Africa formed herder societies, in which they lived in what could be described as a symbiosis with cattle. Both these lines of evidence made us think there was a strong possibility that the Spanish brought cattle from the same region as the people they enslaved.”
Johnny cakes (fried dumplings) were originally called 'Journey cakes' because they were packed as lunches or snacks to sustain enslaved Africans in Jamaica on their long journeys. Now, they're a traditional Jamaican breakfast side dish.
Imake a conscious effort to learn about groups I am not a part of. I don't think it's right to say you care about a group while knowing nothing about their histories.
In the Caribbean, people who are from all over. Those of us with ancestors forced over from Africa, Indentured servants brought over from India, people from the region since time immemorial.
A group that doesn't get much attention are Chinese-Caribbean: