Paths from the Plantation to Prosperity: An Archaeology of Barbadian Migration to Liberia

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Social Landscapes of Settler Colonialism in the Caribbean", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The 1865 migration of over 300 Barbadians from the Caribbean to Liberia is a chapter of the African Diaspora representing complex pathways from the plantation to anticipated prosperity in Africa. The migrants, many coming from the rising and recently-emancipated middle class, were eager to leave behind a society that had long been defined by sugar and slavery. Yet, they brought with them to Liberia beliefs and lifeways molded by the settler colonial system that they fled. Recovered during fieldwork in the West Indies and West Africa, we present evidence of what Caribbean migrants carried with them from their homelands, and how West Indian models were transformed across many generations in Liberia. The plantation logic weighed heavily on those who left Barbados, leaving a mark on the Liberian landscape that remains visible today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Social Landscapes of Settler Colonialism in the Caribbean   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow