Trade Winds and Rich Red Soil: Memory and Collective Heritage at Millars Settlement, Eleuthera, Bahamas

Summary

In 1783, following the American Revolution, the British government resettled thousands of Loyalists throughout the Bahamas. The mostly American-born Loyalists brought in captivity, a large population of American-born African descent peoples and were given Bahamian land grants to establish a cotton plantation economy. Cotton never faired well and most plantations shifted toward subsistence activities and basic needs until slavery ended in 1838.  Although former plantation owners and emancipated Afro-Bahamian people lived and worked in close proximity, there remained a well-entrenched racially-based social hierarchy.  This paper is a critical exploration of how community memory and collective heritage not only tell a deeper story of captivity and freedom, but challenge the role and purpose of historical archaeology on the island.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Directions in African Diaspora Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 391