"The Bahamas for Bahamians”: Bahamianization as Black Power in the Bahamian context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v32i1.625Keywords:
Afro-Bahamian history, Black Power movement, Majority Rule (1967), Post-Colonialism, Bahamian national identity, BahamianizationAbstract
In the post-World War II period, Black people throughout the African diaspora collectively challenged colonialism, imperialism, and racism, seeking to break away from White colonial rule. By the late 1960s, Black Power as a political expression emanated from the United States. While Black Power Studies has primarily focused on the political, economic, and cultural dynamics of African Americans, the study of Black Power in the Caribbean has been largely ignored. This article seeks to include The Bahamas into the historiography of Black Power in general and Black Power in the Caribbean in particular. Using Walter Rodney’s definition of Black Power in the Caribbean, this article details Black Power in the Bahamian context. Because Black Power must be viewed in local and national contexts, this article first explores the history of White supremacy, colonialism, slavery, and racism in The Bahamas to provide context for the rise of the Progressive Liberal Party and its transition to a Black party, Black majority rule in 1967, and Bahamian independence in 1973. I argue that the Bahamianization policy of 1967 represented one of the ways Black Bahamians demanded political and economic power and control of their destiny and the future Bahamian nation-state. Moreover, the notion of “The Bahamas for Bahamians” must be read through the history of White minority rule and the denial of Black Bahamian access to opportunities and power. In this way, Bahamianization represented one form of Bahamian Black Power.
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