By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 26, 2020 — I felt compelled to share a post by my friend Kimberly King-Burns, who lives in California, in the ExpatBAHAMAS Facebook group for more reason than one. Firstly, one narrow-minded individual with a parochial appreciation for history wrote this silly comment under Kimberly’s post of the above Harbour Island Photo by Harvey Roberts: “The Bahamas is not a part of the united States..lets celebrate our Heritage not theirs!”
It is a fact that over the years, with The Bahamas being so close to the United States, Bahamians have celebrated Thanksgiving as if it were as much a Bahamian holiday as it is an American holiday. Indeed, the Bahamian island of Bimini is just 50 miles away from the U.S. mainland and Grand Bahama is only 56 miles away. As a result, Bahamians are accustomed to doing most of their shopping in Florida.
What’s more, there is no escaping the fact that Bahamians and South Floridians share a rich history, as noted by Felicity Darville in her FACE TO FACE column in one of The Bahamas’ leading newspapers, The Tribune, on September 20, 2019. For the benefit of the narrow-minded individual who wrote that silly comment under Kimberly King-Burns’ post, here is Felicity Darville’s column in its entirety:
FACE TO FACE: BAHAMIANS WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE VALUABLE CONTRIBUTONS TO THE U.S. – IF GIVEN THE CHANCE
By FELICITY DARVILLE
THERE was a time when tens of thousands of Bahamians migrated to the United States of America. It was 1943, and World War II was still raging. Many Americans were drafted to serve in the armed forces. Others left the farms to work in more profitable war industries. This resulted in a shortage of labour in every sector of the economy, including agriculture. Food security was vital to win the war, and so there was an urgent need for people to work on farms throughout the United States.
The British West Indies Labour Program allowed an estimated 30,000 Bahamian men and women to temporarily migrate to the United States between 1943 and 1965. For 23 years, The Bahamas and the US had a mutually beneficial arrangement. Bahamians were paid; a portion of their earnings was placed in savings and a portion went home to loved ones. They started out picking oranges in Florida, but eventually the programme grew to include picking beans in Maryland, working on farms in New Jersey or working in packing and processing plants in New York, and so on.
Most Bahamians returned home and were able to start businesses from their savings and be in a better financial position. Others came home to a myriad of family issues which resulted because of their absence. Some Bahamians were regularised and stayed in the US, becoming upstanding members of society. All in all, “the Contract” or “the Project” resulted in Bahamians making a positive impact in all of the states where they were sent to work. Even today, you can find Bahamians who are contributing greatly to the communities in which they live throughout the United States. Tracy L Thompson, oral historian, documents much of this and points out that great nation builders came home from the contract, like Sir Clifford Darling and Amos Ferguson. See the full Tribune column by Felicity Ingraham at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/sep/19/face-face/
