The History Forum

By, Nicki Harris A Brief Evaluation of Low-Income Housing In Barbados In Barbados, housing remains as a hyper visible reminder of the legacies of plantocracy and tenure insecurity. From the timber chattel houses to the manufactured concrete residences, these dwellings represent the responses from individuals and the government to the lack of affordable and accessible housing on the island since emancipation. Beginning from the era of apprenticeship, as planters secured their labor force, working-class Barbadians have been afforded little to no opportunities for land ownership. The Master and Servants Act of 1840 established the “located labor” system as former slaves became bound to their master’s estate as tenant and laborer (Potter & Conway, 1997, p.34). Here is an instance of a freed population experiencing a legal reframing of slave labor that continued to constrict access to resources and prevent upward social mobility. The solution was the chattel house, easily ...

By, Kelsey Scott Social security policy in Barbados was the first of its kind in the British West Indies. The accounts of the creation of welfare policy for the elderly, disabled, the injured, pregnant women, and the dependents of recently deceased insured persons were often woven into the goals of political entities balancing the delicate task of catering to the planter-merchant elite and black Barbadian citizens in need of certain social provisions. This  brief account will describe the political climate before and after the creation of the Old Age Pension Scheme and the subsequent Social Security policies and revisions from 1937 into the 21 st century, with a primary focus on evaluating how the effectiveness of these policies have increased with revisions over the years. 1 Barbadian society has changed drastically since the days preceding emancipation. Plantation holders provided social services, however menial and conditional, to formerly enslaved person...

By, Matthew Forde (Submitted as part of his HUMN 3099 Caribbean Studies Thesis on The History of Recycling Businesses in Barbados) Barbados has had a long history of maintaining some principles of sustainable development in order to protect its fragile island environment and economy. As early as 300 years ago, planters sought to protect the environment from soil erosion and soil exhaustion by utilising dung generated by livestock to maintain soil fertility and introducing the cane-hole to adapt to environmental constraints. Barbados’s early sugar plantation development was characterized by the use of animal-powered mills, and then windmills utilising renewable energy. Later, steam-powered mills utilised recycled materials such as crushed cane stalks or bagasse as fuel. Due to their limited material circumstances, Barbadians have been reusing, reducing and recycling for generations. Barbadians accommodated recycling as a means of survival. For example, they used cuss-cuss g...