The beginning of prosperity in The Bahamas
By NORMAN ROLLE
World War II started in 1939, but it was two years later that the United States was drawn into the conflict. On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese Air Force attacked the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbour, a landlocked harbour at the southern end of Oahu Island, Hawaii. Close to a dozen ships were destroyed and three thousand U.S. sailors were killed. The attack was described by President Franklyn D. Roosevelt as "a day that will live in infamy."
The U.S. entry into the war created a critical farm labour shortage in that country. With hundreds of thousands of young Americans being drafted to fight in Europe and the Pacific, the U.S. Government looked to The Bahamas and the Caribbean countries, such as Barbados and Jamaica, for migrant farm labourers "to feed America while it was at war."
What resulted was The Contract or the Project – an employment agreement between the U.S. Government and the colony of The Bahamas which was signed in Washington DC on March 16, 1943, by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and the British governor of The Bahamas on behalf of the Colonial Secretary. The governor of The Bahamas at the time was the Duke of Windsor, who was also a former King of England, Edward VIII. His governorship was from 1940 to 1945, which to date was one of the most exciting periods in Bahamian history.
The agreement called for up to 5,000 Bahamians to be recruited for work in Farm States of the U.S. for up to nine months of the year at a time. At 30 cents per hour, the wage was attractive, as it was twice the amount labourers earned on the airport project.
The agreement could not have come at a better time. The Nassau International Airport which provided hundreds of construction jobs for Bahamians from New Providence and the Out Islands, was nearing completion.
Men and some women from all across The Bahamas eagerly signed up for what had become popularly known as The Contract or The Project. Other articles of the agreement were: the labourers had to be a minimum of 18 years old, in good health, 75 cents from each day pay was to be withheld by the farmer owners and sent to the workers' families back in The Bahamas monthly, and both governments were equally responsible for transportation to and from the U.S.
The Bahamas therefore indirectly benefited from World War II; thousands of citizens had obtained a certain amount of wealth at a time when the colony was a veritable fishing village. The Contract was also an eye-opener for Bahamians – it sharpened their awareness of social issues, particularly racial discrimination. It was discovered that Blacks and Whites, in the U.S. as in the Bahamas in the 1940s, were unequal and separated.
Clifford Darling, now Sir Clifford, recounts his Contract experiences in his book A Bahamian Life Story "On my first night there, I regretted my decision. After seeing the conditions we were expected to live in. I cried all night. I had a comfortable home in Nassau to live in, the middle of a swamp in a tent in a camp with hundreds of other men. Working those farms in Belle Glade was tough."
The Burma Road Riot in the Bahamas in 1942 was precipitated by low wages and poor working conditions and was staged by a good number of the Contract workers, so the workers were sensitive to conditions in the farm camps. In Hastings, Florida, Bahamians demonstrated against poor working conditions. Several demonstrators were beaten by the police.
In Carrington, Virginia, Sir Clifford Darling recalls that workers were not given blankets in the middle of the winter season; the food was consistently poor and workers were transported to the farm in "dangerously" overloaded trucks. Here, the Bahamians staged a demonstration which resulted in improved conditions. This demonstration also brought about a greater camaraderie among the workers. Upon recommendation of the farm managers, a three-man team of workers' representatives were elected. They included Clifford Darling from New Providence, Andrew Neely from Eleuthera and Reginald Sears from Exuma.
This new status was a boon for Sir Clifford as he was not a good farm worker, anyhow, he says,ii his new status allowed him to work in the mechanic shop instead of the farm. His position also afforded him the use of an army jeep. But more than that his position and his three-year stint on The Contract prepared him for social, labour and political activism upon his return home in 1946. An electrician by profession, Sir Clifford chose not to reenter that profession; instead he became a taxi driver, taking advantage of the burgeoning tourist business. This business also served as an entree to leadership.
He recalls: "I was in America during the war. And after experiencing discrimination in America, when I came home rather than going back to my trade as an electrician, I decided that I would join the Taxi Union, which was the most important and independent union in The Bahamas. They were not afraid to go against the Bay Street Boys."
He joined the union in 1946, serving as general secretary for six years, before being elected president in 1957. "I tried to educate the taxi drivers that we should change the status quo."
Sir Clifford's activism did not stop there. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Englerston Constituency in 1967 and served for 25 years. He served as governor-general from 1992 to 1995.
The contract experience undoubtedly emboldened the activism and agitation of Bahamians for change in their own country at the end of the war. It significantly changed the economic status for thousands, particularly Out Islanders.
