Caribbean Freedom

This reader of nearly 60 articles covers major events in the Caribbean struggle for freedom from emancipation to the present from Toussaints Haiti to the more recent revolutions in Cuba, Grenada and the Dominican Republic. The range of coverage is comprehensive calling attention to the variety of post-slavery experiences in the Spanish, Dutch, English and French Caribbean. Three broad themes are identified: the slow disintegration of the slave system which was not completed until 1886; the attempts by resistant social groups and imperial agencies to accept and adjust to freedom; and the maturing of nationalist consciousness in terms of constitutional and cultural independence. Among the areas covered under these themes are popular revolts and aborted revolutions; the sugar industry and economic diversification; peasants and planters; immigration from Europe, India and China; the role of women; labour movements; independence and nationhood.