The 1942 Riot As an Attack on Bay Street, Discrimination and Injustice in the Bahamas
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"I'SE A MAN": THE 1942 RIOT AS AN ATTACK ON BAY STREET, DISCRIMINATION AND INJUSTICE IN THE BAHAMAS by Nona Patara Martin A Disse11ation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy History Committee: Director ( ,..",:-," .•.r"' Department Chairperson I~ jI.-- --n--. t/\ (V' /' ~qi~ =, '1Ud-¥'L Program Director Dean, College of Humanities fI~uf and Social Sciences / Date: ~d d'S,dA1d Spring Semester 2012 George Mason University Fairfax, VA ‚I’se a Man:‛ The 1942 Riot as an Attack on Bay Street, Discrimination and Injustice in the Bahamas A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at George Mason University by Nona Patara Martin Director: Lois Horton, Professor Department of History Spring Semester 2012 George Mason University Fairfax, VA This work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivs 3.0 unported license. ii DEDICATION This is dedicated to my husband and my parents. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There were so many that unknowingly helped make this project possible including the zumbanistas and bodycombaters that helped me to work out the stress that inevitably comes from a project of this magnitude, those at my favorite vegan joint who nourished my body, the baristas of my favorite cafes, and the facebook friends and email pen-pals who provided me the much needed mental break and connection through what can be a lonely solitary process. There were those who more directly helped in this work. The archivists at the British National Archives and the Bahamian National Archives as well as the interlibrary loan staff at George Mason University’s Fenwick library were all instrumental in making my research a success. I would also like to thank my committee members (Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott and Dr. Yevette Richards Jordan), whose patience and feedback was invaluable. And, I offer my gratitude most especially to my dissertation chair, Dr. Lois Horton, who could have retired peacefully without me as her albatross. I thank you for your guidance, gentleness and kindness. Most of all, I owe a debt that cannot be paid to my husband, who read every draft of every chapter (even those that do not appear here). He offered me criticism, sometimes gentle and sometimes scathing but always constructive. He offered me praise when I was my worse detractor. He kept me in running shoes and thusly, I kept my sanity. He cheered me on every step of the way. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter One: The Story of The Riot and a true History of Paradise .................................. 10 Chapter Two: The Riot As a Political Awakening .................................................................. 25 I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 25 II. An attack against the dominance of Bay Street ...................................................... 30 Junkanoo on Bay Street as a vehicle for symbolic protest ............................................. 41 III. First signs of a black political consciousness ........................................................... 49 The 1958 Strike and the start of a political movement ................................................... 54 Black Tuesday and the demystification of Bay Street .................................................... 57 IV. The emergence of a black proletariat not afraid to challenge Bay Street ............ 61 V. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 76 Chapter Three: Economic Injustice Sparked the Riot ............................................................ 78 I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 78 II. The economic promise of the Project ....................................................................... 89 Unemployment was extremely high ................................................................................ 90 Increased cost of living ..................................................................................................... 107 III. Bahamian workers were making do ...................................................................... 117 IV. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 122 Chapter Four: Discrimination provided the Flammable material .................................... 124 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 124 II. Race and color in the Bahamas ................................................................................ 128 v III. A very real system of discrimination ..................................................................... 131 IV. Against the backdrop of but not because of the system of discrimination ....... 150 V. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 155 Chapter Five: Though Similar In Some Respects The 1942 Nassau Riot is Not Just another West indian Labor Riot .............................................................................................. 157 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 157 II. Comparing the 1942 riot to the US race riots ........................................................ 162 III. A brief historiography of the 1930s West Indian Riots ........................................ 169 IV. Situating the Bahamas’ 1942 riots: Similarities and Differences to the other West Indian Rots ............................................................................................................................. 183 Chapter Six: Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 200 References .................................................................................................................................. 206 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1: Increased Cost of Goods ............................................................................................ 109 vii ABSTRACT ‚I’SE A MAN:‛ THE 1942 RIOT AS AN ATTACK ON BAY STREET, DISCRIMINATION AND INJUSTICE IN THE BAHAMAS Nona Patara Martin, Ph.D. George Mason University, 2012 Dissertation Director: Dr. Lois Horton My dissertation, ‚I’se a man: The 1942 Riot as an attack on Bay Street,‛ explores a watershed event in the Bahamas’ social and political history. On June 1st, 1942 there was a riot on Bay Street in Nassau, Bahamas, that involved thousands of Bahamian blacks marching to Bay Street and ultimately destroying the main commercial district in the city. The 1942 riot, though an exciting story, was more than a colorful tale from an earlier time. It was arguably the first time that it became clear that Bahamian blacks would not stand for minority rule indefinitely. Consequently, it should occupy a significant place in the history of the Bahamas’ transition from a colony to an independent country. Yet, the significance of the riot has been downplayed and mischaracterized in the Bahamas’ historiography. Additionally, the historical analysis of the Nassau riot has viii described it as a momentary outburst by a group of disgruntled workers that had little long term effects. Moreover, the riot has been linked to the labor riots that occurred across the Caribbean in the 1930s. The 1942 riot, however, was the first sign of a political awakening in the country’s black community and set in motion a political snowball that resulted in majority rule and eventually independence for the country. Also, the riot was not caused by a mere disagreement over wages but was caused by a sense of economic injustice as well as political disenfranchisement and social exclusion. Finally, the 1942 riot in Nassau differs in important respects from the riots that occurred throughout the Caribbean in the 1930s. ix CHAPTER ONE: THE STORY OF THE RIOT AND A TRUE HISTORY OF PARADISE Winnie’s house was just a few blocks from Bay Street, the main street in downtown Nassau, Bahamas, and along the route used by the crowd of protestors on their way to House of Assembly that fateful day. It was on a Monday morning when she heard what sounded like ‚the buzzing of bees‛ as she sat on her porch with her one year old little girl ‚catching the breeze.‛1 The low buzz got louder and louder as thousands of men and women marched ‚over-the-hill‛ from their worksite on their way downtown. Shortly after they arrived on Bay Street the low buzz grew in volume and intensity and eventually erupted into yells and shattering glass as the crowd rioted and looted the stores along the thoroughfare. Surprise was the most common reaction to the riot by the most people living in the Bahamas. As Morton Turtle testified at a commission of enquiry set up by the government to explore the causes of the riot, ‚I was amazed to find that the crowd felt