The Struggle to Maintain an African Cultural Identity: The Case of the Bahamas

Summary

Once the British Parliament abolished the trans-Atlantic trade in African captives the Bahamas became a primary locale for the re-settlement of these persons. Between 1811 and 1860 some 6,000 liberated Africans, as they were called, were re-settled in the Bahamas. These Africans served apprenticeship periods of six to sixteen years, at the end of which they were to be free. Archival documents and archaeological evidence suggest that these indentured Africans were able to maintain a stronger African cultural identity as they settled into their new lives in these tiny islands in the Americas. However, an 18th century black cemetery in Nassau indicates that, long before this population of ‘unacculturated’ Africans were being settled in the Bahamas, earlier communities such as this one were devising means for allowing members of their communities to express and maintain their African cultural identity. These examples provide insight on the processes through which African peoples in the Americas managed to adjust to new lives in new environments.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21006