US Virgin Islands: Danish History, Slave Trade, Slavery, Resistance, Colonialism: Caribbean Matters

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- 'Caribbean Matters: Danish history, slavery, resistance, and colonialism in the U.S. Virgin Islands,' by Denise Oliver Velez,' Daily Kos, Dec. 16, 2021. - Ed.

While applauding Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s announcement of the establishment of a memorial and archive of slavery in Barbados, which was featured in last week’s Caribbean Matters, it got me thinking about right-wing forces here in the U.S. pushing to abolish or whitewash what we learn about our enslavement history. Interestingly enough, though enslavement was one of my courses of study in grad school, I don’t remember learning anything about that history in our colony of the U.S. Virgin Islands—which belonged to the Danish (and briefly to the British) before being bought from Denmark by the United States in 1917.

Frankly, in my study of European history I don’t remember ever hearing Denmark mentioned in relationship to the slave trade; that subject covered England, France, Portugal, Spain, and Holland.

Nor did I learn anything about Black resistance there pre- or post-emancipation. I have written about some of that history here in the past, most notably after the devastation of Hurricane Irma in the same year the centennial of “Transfer Day” was being celebrated. So as a segue to last week’s story, let’s explore that particular Danish brand of racist history. Before diving in, take a couple of minutes to take this very short U.S. Virgin Islands history quiz, and see how well you do. https://www.gotoquiz.com/virgin_islands_history

Though I am familiar with the vast numbers of Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Caribbean, Brazil, and the U.S., I was unaware that approximately 120,000 Africans were transported to the Caribbean by the Danish West Indies Company, established in 1671. Those who survived the voyage—and many didn’t—faced a cruel future on the sugarcane plantations.



- A slave being branded in the West Indies. Mid 19th century.


The following brief history is in Danish with English subtitles:



- 'The Danish West Indies' - the short story of a vast history (4 mins). The Danish National Archives has digitized the historical sources of the DWI, a Danish colony for nearly 250 years before they were sold to the U.S. in 1917. Erik Goebel, a senior researcher & archivist gives a short introduction to the history.
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Here’s an English link to the digitized records in the archive that Erik Goebel references. The archive website has a brief page dedicated to the one of the first major slave revolts in the Caribbean on Nov. 23, 1733 on St. John:
- The enslaved of the islands lived under very harsh conditions. Rules from 1733 stipulated that enslaved who committed grand larceny were to be pinched three times with red-hot tongs and hanged. If a slave attempted to run away, the punishment was to have a leg amputated or – if forgiven by the master – be given 150 lashes and lose one ear. When the slaves encountered a European, they had to step aside and stand still “with all subservience”. If not, they were given a proper beating. --

The U.S. National Park Service, Virgin Islands National Park, has this short video on the revolt.



- The St. John Slave Revolt of 1733. Danish West Indies. Historian Dr. Stevie Lundy Jr- St John Caribbean Island, Slave Revolts, Danish Slave Trade, Danish Slavery.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/12/16/2066603/-Caribbean-Matters-Danish-history-slavery-resistance-and-colonialism-in-the-U-S-Virgin-Islands

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_West_Indies