Ins & Outs of Barbados 2020

32  HISTORY INS& Campaign pin given to the author by Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm colour with their families to assist in the establishment and growth of this newly created country. In short order, Barbadians became part of the socio economic and political elite of that country. Other emigration societies were formed to foster the migration of Barbadians to the United States of America and once again, many thousands of Barbadians flowed to seek their fortunes on the streets of New York and other cities, primarily of the north-eastern sea board. Their contribution to that country has been marked and varied. To give an example of two noteworthy individuals of Barbadian descent from that vast Diaspora, the actress Gwyneth Paltrow and the educator/politician Shirley Chisholm immediately spring to mind. Not as well known are the movements of two subgroups in the Barbadian population. Throughout the nineteenth century, Sephardic Jewish families who had been long resident in Barbados, quietly slipped away. Some to the Virgin Islands, Grenada and Trinidad but the majority to New York, Philadelphia and London. After Emancipation, the plight of Barbados’ numerous poor white population caught the attention of the authorities. They had been reduced to abject poverty and near starvation after being forcibly ejected from the plantations where they had provided the services of militia tenants and seamstresses. Sponsored migration took them to better lives on the islands of St Vincent, Bequia, Grenada and Trinidad. However, the really massive movement of Barbadians from their native island was yet to come. The building of the Panama Canal provided this catalyst. Following initial difficulties under the French sponsored scheme, the United States assumed responsibility for the massive engineering work Producing a new cadre of leaders at Codrington College, circa 1885. Photo Henry Walter Parkinson