Sharon Milagro Marshall, "Tell My Mother I Gone to Cuba: Stories of Early Twentieth-century Migration from Barbados" (U West Indies Press, 2016)

New Books in Economic and Business History · Jan 22, 2023 · 31m

Barbadians were among the thousands of British West Indians who migrated to Cuba in the early twentieth century in search of work. They were drawn there by employment opportunities fueled largely by US investment in Cuban sugar plantations. Tell My Mother I Gone to Cuba: Stories of Early Twentieth-century Migration from Barbados (U West Indies Press, 2016) is their story. The migrants were citizens of the British Empire, and their ill-treatment in Cuba led to a diplomatic tiff between British and Cuban authorities. The author draws from contemporary newspaper articles, official records…