Pindling chosen for greatness despite Randol Fawkes being senior PLP member for Southern District – July 1956
The evening of 8th July 1956 was a defining moment in Bahamian political history. That night would alter the lives …
Deputy Prime Minister post created by Pindling to help save Majority Rule – 20th February 1968
By the close of 1967, Premier Pindling was already well aware that there were those within his PLP administration who …
Two by-elections lost, facing defeat in a third, Majority Rule’s near collapse in 1968
“I ought to allow for rigor mortis to have set in….” These were the scathing remarks intended to scold Opposition …
JFK Assassination Records – Pindling and the PLP investigated in FBI files 1967
In 1992, the United States Congress ordered that records related to the 1963 assassination of Kennedy would remained sealed, in …
White man parks Sidney Poitier’s car after black hotel porter REFUSED – Nassau 1964
There are some stories, in Bahamian history, which have come to epitomise what some have termed “black crab syndrome”. There …
Pindling Snatches Immigration From DPM Hanna, Pulls Finance from Carlton Francis – February 1973
In 1973, within the quiet revolution of tremendous sociopolitical change, there was also turmoil brewing within the political inner circle …
PLP Party was born on East Street not Long Island 1953
They may have been Long Island boys by birth, but the political party they founded, was born, in an old …
Doris Johnson, a modern, emancipated woman 1964, posthumously a National Hero in 2023
Dame Doris Johnson (1921-1983) was recently posthumously honoured, in the 50th anniversary—2023 Independence National Honours—with the distinguished Order of National …
Independence Euphoria Marred By Dark Drugs Decade
Between 1978 and 1982, the euphoria of our 1973 national independence, had somehow dissipated. What took its place, some have …
Stafford Sands was lawyer behind development of Lyford Cay 1950
When the true history books are finally written on the under the table land deals, government kickbacks, collusion, bribery and …
House of Assembly and Senate 1971-72: PLP, UBP, Free PLP, Labour and Independent
Prior to the general elections of 19th September 1972, an extraordinary group of people sat in the House of Assembly …
Loftus Roker told ‘boy come back when you grow up’ withdraws from election 1956
In 1956, the newly formed Progressive Liberal Party were actively preparing for the June general elections. The Party, was effectively …
PLP Founder Forced To Resign From HOA After Sentenced To Four Years For Multiple Land Scams 1956
William W. Cartwright was elected, as the Member for Cat Island, in the 1949. Cartwright ran as an Independent. He …
Nerve Gas Ship Dump Cargo Near Abaco Brings Unexpected Opportunity To Whisper Independence – 16th August 1970
By 1970, some twenty-five years had passed since the Second Great War. Memories were beginning to fade. The great reconstruction …
Bahamas Murder Counts 1963 to 2024
Bahamians have become inured to murder. Tears shed in shock or sadness don’t last long. They can’t really. Remember, this …
Soldier Road was Whitfield’s Road and Bernard Road was Bannard’s Road and Wulff Road was Wolf’s Road 1853
In 1853, James Malcolm claimed ownership of lands which contained: Whitfield’s Road, now called Soldier Road; and Bannard’s Road, now …
First Bahamian Knighted in 1873 Dies From Mystery Mental Illness 1879
Sir William Henry Doyle was 50 years old, a proper age, all things considered, when, in 1873, he became the …
Murder-Suicide 1836 – Ensign John Foss (white Englishman) shoots Mary Thomson, his black common law wife
In 1836, a shocking case of domestic violence, a murder-suicide, was revealed, during a Coroner’s Inquest on Monday 22nd August …
Eustace Duvallier 18, Native of Haiti Hanged For Murder 1905
By May 1905, Eustace Duvallier, a native of Haiti, had been living, with his mother and sister for four years …
Foreign Hookers On Wulff Road Selling Wares for $7 – Case Dismissed Even Though Police Catch Them in the act 1967
Across the ocean prostitutes, have been plying the world’s oldest trade, in The Bahamas, for a very long time. The …
First Woman In Bahamian History to Apply for Jury Service – Mrs. Zoe Maynard 1968
Jury service, was once the sole domain of men of property, in The Bahamas. Despite women finally getting the right …
Priscilla Munnings, Free Black Woman, Hanged In 1825 Convicted Under Copyright Law
Why was Priscilla Munnings, a free black woman, hanged in August 1825, under a 1710 British copyright law – the …
Bahamas Population 27,519 with 13,071 Vaccinated in 1851
The 1851 census was particularly detailed. Of note, was the need for the government to assess the number of able …
Almost Failed Suicides… A Long Bahamian History of Despair in So-Called Paradise
A long, miserable history of suicide lies buried in Bahamian history. Something about the promise of so-called paradise never quite …
Bahamian, Haitian, Barbadian and Guyanese form “Ballot Box Party” in Grant’s Town – Political Party with Chairman Capt. Stephen A. Dillet 1924
Captain Stephen Albert Dillet was Bahamian. Lewis W. Duvalier news editor of the Tribune was Haitian. Robert M. Bailey was …
Young, Gifted and Black – Thaddeus Toote, MHA 1924
Thaddeus Augustus Toote, the younger, was a man born before his time. Toote displayed an attitude and confidence that belied …
PLP AXES Miss Bahamas International, Dog Shows and Speed Week To Pay MPs Salaries saying “Spend $600,000 to save $6 million” 1967
Miss Bahamas International had little to do with The Bahamas. Other than using the country’s name, as a tourism promotional …
Boy Eaten By Dogs, Man Eaten By Sharks and A Face Slashed To Ribbons – 1887
In 1887, Adelaide was a small, but growing settlement. Residents there were farmers. Cutoff from the city of Nassau by …
“Democratise the [Public] Boards… train new people in the functions of government so that they may be prepared to accept responsibilities and provide stable leadership in the future” Etienne Dupuch 1957
In 1957, appointments to Public Boards were still done exclusively by the British appointed Governor, whoever he happened to be, …
Freeport’s New Model City But This Time It Was 1,000 Low Cost Homes For Blacks Who Helped Build Freeport 1965
Just ten years after the Hawksbill Creek Agreement was signed on 4th August 1955, The Bahamas government had to go …
‘Who told you that the Bahamas belonged to Bahamians?!’ asks A. R. Braynen in House of Assembly 1950
Under British administration, better known as, colonialism, the cost of all foreign public service appointments, fell on the Bahamian government …
Ruth Married William Munnings, After He Comes Out Of Jail For ‘Chapping’ Her Mother With Cutlass in 1949 – Then He Murders Her Child and Hangs in 1959
Domestic violence always has a long, sad and brutal history. It is a phenomenon which pays itself forward. It is …
William Shot Daughter Willamae, Afterward Was More Concerned His Puppy Was Okay 1959
Domestic violence shapes a nation, as much as, any given social or economic factor. It gouges out a brutal place …
1946 Child Marriage Still Legal in Bahamas Two Decades After Change in Britain
By 1946, The Bahamas was almost twenty years behind Britain, in amending its minimum age for marriage laws. For girls, …
Hundreds of Arranged Marriages In Nassau To Get Greek Nationals Into America 1947, 1948, 1949 and longer
Necessity is the mother of invention, as an old saying goes. Necessity, in The Bahamas, in the late 1940s, was …
Newly Appointed Magistrate Turnquest Has Disturbing Case On First Day At Work – October 1959
On October 9, 1959, Orville Turnquest, a young lawyer, took his seat for the very first time as Acting Magistrate …
Prominent Doctor and Married Man Arrested in Abortion Case of 13 year old girl – Nassau 1959
In August 1959, a prominent Nassau physician, Dr. Roland Cumberbatch, was charged with performing an abortion on a 13 year …
7,000 Attend Triple Hanging On Bay Street 1827 and 3,000 Attend Gwyn Hanging on Eastern Parade 1850
As late as 1900, felony offences, such as rape and larceny, under Bahamian law, were punishable by hanging. This coincided …
Rape Murder of 14-year-old Teresetta McGregor – Crime Which Should Have Shocked The Bahamas For A Generation – But Didn’t 1967
There are no statues to the many innocents, who have died at the hands of predators, pedophiles and domestic brutalisers …
PLP Congratulated on ‘New Day’ Win As Over 2,000 Work Permits Are Approved In First Six Months While Shantytowns Expand – 1967
‘Square Deal’ was the Progressive Liberal Party’s campaign slogan for the 1967 General Elections. For many, at the time, there …
Convene ARAGONITE Commission of Economic Inquiry as a matter of Public Transparency – Then, let the chips fall where they may!
There needs to be a Commission of Economic Inquiry, convened, as a matter of urgent public interest and promised transparency, …
Milo Butler’s “seclusively segregated” draws guffaws from Opposition UBP, then Cecil, Foulkes, Hanna and Clarence Bain jumped in 1967
The Bahamas doesn’t need lectures in political democracy – it can give lectures. For three hundred years now, and counting, …
Savaletta Hanna – forged will of black, illiterate, poor farmer and LAND – You know how it ends – Freeport 1967
Savaletta Lewis Hanna died of a stroke on 30th December 1953. She was 80 years old. Savaletta would have been …
Advertisement for Principal of new College of Bahamas – Salary B$14,000 per year – 1969
From 1969, it was always the dream that the new College of the Bahamas, would eventually become a University of …
Dichotomies During Slavery: Sold, Runaway, Revered – Mackay, Maria and Flora 1808
In 1808, three women, Flora, Maria and Mackay, all slaves, offer an altogether common picture surrounding the institution of slavery …
Barak Morton, William Whylly and other Planters who owed Government for granted land as Slavery ended 1834
“The land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it’s …
Bahamas Assembly Pays £36 To Stop Slave Compensation Claim For Negro Hanged Four Days After Emancipation 1835
Castletown Roberts, a slave, was hung on August 5th, 1834. It was a Tuesday. Castletown was hung, from the top …
Friday 22nd. June, 1832, Columbus Statue Erected Amid Battle Over Slavery Between Assembly and Governor Carmichael Smyth
On 22nd June, 1832, a statue of Christopher Columbus, was unveiled, at Government House for the very first time. While …
Photos of The General Strike of 1958
The General Strike of 1958, initially began as a taxicab strike. The government created and politically appointed, Airports Board, gave …
Vote Granted To Murray G. Farquharson, Free Person of Colour, By An Act of the Assembly Was Undoubtedly Political 1830
In January 1830, Murray G. Farquharson, a free, person of colour, was politically gifted with one of the highest honours …
Elections 1832 – Fights, Cheating, Negroes and Coloureds Vote and Riot, Candidates Beaten Up, Winners Woke Up As Losers
Freeholder blacks and coloureds, in the Bahama Islands, voted in 1832 – a full two years – before the end …
Turks and Caicos Forced To Pay Separation Debt To Nassau To Be Free Of Bahama Islands 1848
Independence debt or Separation debt, however one wishes to call it, historically speaking, meant that territories were forced to pay …
Crimes of Slaves, Free Blacks and Whites in Mid-Colonial 1800s Bahamas
During the 1800s, the mid-colonial era of the Bahamas, theft of property, was a very serious a crime. Serious theft, …
General Elections 1962 – UBP Wax Lyrical About Losing – Winning Came As A Surprise
By mid-year, 1961, the United Bahamian Party, was undoubtedly feeling the cold tide of political change, swirling around them. General …
Bahamian Millionaires Run For Parliament 1982, 1987, 2007, 2012 and 2021
In 1982, the number of self-declared millionaires to the total number of candidates, vying for the 43 available parliamentary seats …
For 2019, Real Estate Employed 3% But Contributed 16.4% To GDP And Other Employment Stats From UNDP Report 2020
In 2019, the labour force in The Bahamas totalled 215,000 employed. For 2019, Bahamas has a population of 377,000, most …
A Clever Man Marries A Drunkard – A Week Later One Of Them Is Dead – Was it Murder? 1881
Murder is a tricky business – ask anyone serving 20 to life in prison – if you don’t believe me …
Government Tries But Fails To Recover Money Embezzled by Jailed Member of Assembly Thomas N. G. Clare 1891
Thomas Narcisse George Clare was one of the youngest men ever to be elected to the House of Assembly. Born …
Member Of Assembly Convicted of ‘Tiefin’ Da People’s Money’ Election Declared Void 1890
In 1889, the conviction of Thomas Narcisse George Clare for ‘tiefin’ da people’s money’ while in public office, caused his …
Rosiliza Price, 100-year-old Great-Grandmother of Sprinter Tommy Robinson loses claim to valuable acres on Paradise Island in favour of War Time Nazi Sympathiser Alex Wenner-Gren 1961
100-year-old Ms. Rosiliza Price went to her grave fighting for the generation rights to a valuable strip of land on …
When Sir Roland Rejected Harry Oakes’s Daughter’s Deal For Her Own Casino Licence In Exchange For Education Money 1965
If truth be told, Harry Oakes’s money and influence, resided in The Bahamas longer than the man himself. More than …
“Spottie” Most Famous Potcake Adopted From Nassau By Movie Actor Peter Lawford 1938
In The Bahamas, street dogs, once called simply wild dogs, then Nassau dogs or Bahama dogs are now commonly referred …
Black Bahamian Bootleggers’ Money Did Not Turn Into Generation Wealth – Why?
Black Bahamian rum-runners or bootleggers, made a lot of money – it just didn’t last. There are quite straightforward explanations …
Year The Bahamas Entered Billion Dollar GDP Club and Largest Single Jump In GDP Brought Unwanted Attention To Offshore Banking Sector
Is the naked Bahamas, still a wealthy country? That is, without its golden, dream coat of foreign money and foreign …
“Represents the enterprise and determination of the Bahamian people to develop and process the rich resources of land and sea…” 1973
One of the best interpretations, as to what the colours of the Bahamian flag signify, doesn’t invent adoration for symbols …
Bahamians Samuel Kard, colored, Jew and Simon Brown, white, Protestant Forced to convert to Catholicism Hours Before Executed in Cuba 1873
Maybe, Bahamians Samuel Kard and Simon Brown, were simply hapless ship workers, caught up in world events, finding themselves, albeit …
Founder of Sandilands Village and FoxHill —Justice Robert Sandilands Had To Find God After Getting Shot For Being Biggety – 1831
Robert Sandilands arrived in the Bahama Islands in 1830. Sandilands was a rich slave owner and plantation owner. This earned …
William Anthony Musgrave Sheriff Wins City of Nassau Election Unopposed With 55 Votes Then Immediately Introduces A Bill To Ensure His Pension 1880
Colonialism represented a type of oneness, in terms of the administration of territories. Colonialism was also a great career builder …
The Executive has no power to enforce compulsory vaccination – October 1864
In October 1864, a war of words erupted over commentary posted in the local Nassau newspaper. The very inference that …
As Negroes Realised Political Power, Bahama Friendly Society and Anglo-African League Engage in a Public War of Words on Emancipation Day 1888
By 1888, it had been approximately fifty years, since the early end of slave apprenticeship. Many changes to the negro …
Earliest Black Student at St. Catherine’s College Cambridge was Bahamian Alfred Francis Adderley 1912
To this very day, according to St. Catherine’s College Cambridge’s website, there is an academic prize, established by a legacy …
First of August Eventually Became Emancipation Day
The anniversary of the abolition of slavery, in The Bahamas, was originally called ‘The First of August.’ It would be …
Pindling Planned Protest For Prince Philip’s First Visit to Bahamas April 1959
The news of the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Her Majesty, Queen …
The White Man’s Economics- UBP $10 million Government Surplus in 1967 But Still Voted Out Boasting 75% Negro Membership
1967 wasn’t about economics; but by 1970 it was. The general elections of January 1967 was a fight over love …
A Black Middle Class Long Before 1967 Challenges Narrative Of Total Abject Poverty For Bahamian Negroes
A Bahamian black middle class existed long before Majority Rule in 1967. Albeit, this social and economic class did not …
Nassau Prostitutes Selling Their Wares For Less Than a Dollar and One Unforgettable Case of The Clap, Nassau, 1940
Venereal diseases were rampant, in The Bahamas, in the 1800s. Most cases, especially on the Out Islands, went untreated until …
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats – Progressive Liberalism in The Bahamas 1967
For The Bahamas, since January 1967, Progressive Liberalism it can be said, became the first organised political ideology. It remains …
Resigned PLP Education Minister Cecil Wallace-Whitfield Beaten When Ten Men Try To Stop Political Meeting – Freeport November 1970
Ten men, bent on rendering violence and mayhem, in order to stop a political meeting of rebel PLP members, were …
American Armed Robber Buys Bahamian Passport And Becomes Dr. Micheal James Robertson of Cable Beach 1984
For $25,000, an American armoured car robber, managed to buy a Bahamian passport and a new fugitive life in Cable …
Eric Wiberg Travelled 10,000 Nautical Miles To Chronicle Bahamian Maritime History
For The Bahamas, these incomparable, crystal blue waters have long been an intrinsic part of its economic and social history …
19-Year-Old Mary Gertrude Baker, A Negro Maid With Great Courage, Got A Lawyer And Fought Back 1951
In 1951, Mary Gertrude Baker was one Bahamian woman, who was determined to stand up for herself. She knew she …
Lucayan Beach Hotel, From Boom To Bust, From Government Purchase To Commission of Inquiry, From Gangsters To Bankruptcy
The Lucayan Beach Hotel, in Freeport, Grand Bahama, began life, in the early 1960s, as a result of breathtakingly audacious …
Illegal Haitian Immigration into The Bahamas, Britain Gives Up, Leaving It To An Under Resourced Bahamian Government 1963 – 1965
By 1963, the illegal Haitian migration problem, had all but overwhelmed, British colonial officials, in Nassau. Reliance on regulations contained …
The CDP, NDP, ABC, CCKG, BYPA – New Bahamian Political Parties and Activist Groups 1966
Secret intelligence files, from 1966, released only after the thirty-year rule, reveal that nothing escaped the watchful eye of British …
The Rise and Demise of Bahamianization 1967 – 1983
Bahamianization was once a fully formulated, implemented political ideology. Its twenty year popular rise, post 1967, was to address the …
Prime Minister Pindling Drops His $4m Canadian Filed Defamation Lawsuit Against American Television Station NBC 1989
The drug years ostensibly began in the late 1970s. Drug trafficking started with marijuana smuggled out of South America headed …
Bahamas Government Act To Compensate Storm Victims For Property Damage and Personal Injury 1850
A witness said they saw four negro children. They had been struck dead. Their bodies buried under the ruins, which …
Majority Rule, An Imperfect Ideology, But It Is All That We Have So Far – Africa and United States 1925 – 1986
Majority Rule is far from being a perfect concept in political ideology. It is however, all that we have that, …
The Last Shah of Iran, Frail and Desperately Sick, Forced To Leave Nassau After Two Months June 1979
One of the penultimate photos of the last Shah of Iran, in the Bahamas, was of the deposed ruler being …
Canada Accuses UBP Education Minister Godfrey Kelly of Trying To Profit From Donation of School Desks 1967
By 1967, Canadian authorities had had just about enough of the millionaire-rich, beggar-poor UBP (United Bahamian Party) Bahamas government. They …
Whatever Happened To The Slave Relics Found By Sir Harry Oakes As He Cleared His Thousands of Acres In Nassau 1938
If truth be told, Sir Harry Oakes wasted his life and fortune in the Bahamas. He was neither mourned, nor …
Slaveowner Robert Taylor Gifts His Minor Son John, A 10-Year-Old Female Slave Named Scilla 1825
Scilla, was a 10-year-old slave girl, in New Providence, in 1822. She had been sold off from the estate of …
Registrar’s Tally of Slaves for the Bahama Islands 1825
James Armbrister was the Slave Registrar for the Bahama Islands. He signed off, providing the official seal, on the total …
Black Slave Owner Richard Owens and Daughter Mary Owens, Free Woman of Colour, Sold Slaves 1825
Black slaveowners remains a quarrelsome subject. A number of free blacks and free coloureds, in the Bahamas, owned slaves. And …
Freeman’s Hall Plantation, Cat Island and 15 Slaves For Sale in 1812; For Sale Today Minus the Slaves and Sheep
Substantial crown land grants, given to the Loyalists, an assortment of British settlers, and to a miscellaneous hodgepodge of opportunist …
Secret 1970 British File On UBP Party Meeting in London, To Try To Stop Independence, Declassified in 2001
In 1970, three UBP Party members, Reginald Lobosky, Geoffrey Johnstone and Eric Watkins, arranged for a secret meeting with British …
Former Slave Sam Charged With Hiding Runaway Apprentice Tulip, Disobeying His Master and Working the King’s Land Without Permission, The Bluff, Eleuthera, 1835
In the Bahamas, we know next to nothing about the British colonial governors, who oversaw and administered, the public affairs …
Could Bahamas History of Deposits In British Joint Colonial Fund Support Idea for Modern Day Sovereign Wealth Fund 1962
Could a Sovereign Wealth Fund be established today to benefit the long term interests of the Bahamian people? Some modern …
Most Brilliant Speech Ever Made at Bahamas Bar by Negro Barrister the Hon. A. F. Adderley During Oakes Murder Trial 1943
“He who goes to law holds a wolf by the ears.” In 1943, the most accomplished lawyer in the Bahamas …
Wealthy Bahamian Negro and Father of 49 Children Claims Hospital Wrongly Removed Testicle 1970
In July 1965, wealthy Bahamian negro Ortland H. Bodie Sr. checked himself into the Osteopathic General Hospital in Florida, for …
Haitian Revolutionary Party Manages To Assemble 3,000 Strong Force Under The Nose of the Bahamas Government 1963
In August 1963, the United Bahamian Party (UBP) government, was caught off guard. A substantial national security threat was looming …
“Guard Our Heritage” Celebrating 250 Years of Parliamentary Democracy 1979
With its 1973 independence, a new Social Contract had been psychosocially and constitutionally enacted between the Bahamian government and the …
Famous Deportations Part 1 – Man Who Claimed He Loaned Pindling Money For 1967 Campaign, Deported 1969, Named In Plot To Kill Pindling 1973
Deportation is a tool, either anonymously administered through procedure or strategically targeted through vigilance. In the end, it is an …
Bahamian MP Agrees To $14.5 Million Out Of Court Settlement For Fatal Car Crash In Florida 1985
On June 4, 1984, near Port Saint Lucie, Florida, a horrific car accident left American Paul Coombs, a husband and …
Miami Woman Exhibits Deed To 120 Acres In Abaco Granted By King William 1925
Every war that has ever been fought, in the world, was because of it. Early man walked out of Africa …
A Ship Wreck of 300 Slaves on Green Turtle Cay Brings Call Of Too Many Free Negroes From New Providence 1816
By 1816, continued wrecks and capture of slave ships, across the archipelago of the Bahamas, suddenly brought unexpected social and …
Bahamas Receives Haitian Flag in 1830 But By 1843 France Sends War Ships When Haiti Tries To Pay Debt They Agreed To With Haitian Money
In 1830, the Bahamas Governor, James Carmichael Smith, had been instructed by England to receive the Haitian flag and afford …
Whatever Happened To The 200 Haitian Pickers on the Bahama Star Citrus Farm in Abaco 1993
Migration has often been depicted as a major problem for struggling developing countries, whether as receiver or sender nation. The …
Abaco Farm Owned By Member of Parliament Attracts 800 Haitians Every Season To Plant And Harvest Cucumbers “the grounds turn mushy with mud” 1982
The polemic over the Haitian presence, in the Bahamas, is an 80-year-old ongoing, unsettled debate. For Haiti, its economic and …
First Idea For British West Indian Federation Rejected In 1891 Then Revived To Be Rejected Again 1897
In 1891, more than half a century before it actually came to fruition, the idea for a British West Indian …
Promoting Light Industries Brings Cigarette Manufacturing To Bahamas 1953
In the 1950s, cigarette smoking, was the ultimate leisure time activity. Movie stars to millionaires could be seen lighting up …
Stafford Sands Hired Private Police For Bahamas Government Work And Later To Protect His Daughter From Her Husband 1967
In May 1967, during a U. S. Senate investigation hearings on electronic eavesdropping, it was disclosed that Sir Stafford Sands, …
First Black US Presidential Candidate In Nassau’s Foxhill Prison 1979
Clennon Washington King, was the first black man to run as an independent for president of the United States, in …
Famous But Forgotten Suicides in Bahamas: Cuban Awaiting Extradition to Only Son of Universal Studios President to Nassau Mass Murderer 1888 – 1964
How one views the act of suicide, greatly depends on one’s outlook on life and one’s time of life. Throughout …
Spying For The Nazis From Cat Cay Bahamas 1940
In 1939, a German-born woman, working as a hotel maid in New York, married the wireless operator on Cat Cay, …
Catharine Richardson, The Negro Sweetheart, Sold Into Slavery Because His Wife Wouldn’t Understand, Nassau 1809
Catharine Richardson, a free born negro woman from New York, was sold into slavery, in Nassau, in 1809. Then, but, …
CALL THE MIDWIFE 1953
In 1953, there were 257 licensed midwives in the Bahamas. In fact, there were more licensed midwives than there were …
£15m Loan In 1835 To Compensate British Slaveowners Finally Paid In 2015
On February 9, 2018, HM Treasury (Her Majesty’s Treasury) via its Twitter account, from London, tweeted a most extraordinary bit …
245 Slaves Drown and Slave Ship Lost in Bahamian Waters Compensation Case 1804
The Mercury, a British slave ship left Liverpool, England, for the coast of Africa on 26 June 1803. It made …
Sir Roland Symonette “It is my considered opinion that the roach did not consume much of the rum” House of Assembly 1961
Some reckon that part of the good old days, was when Bahamians weren’t scared of anything. Your old Grammy and …
Precedent Charitable Trust Case Based On Money Left By Wealthy Foreigner For The Education of Whites Only In Bahamas 1953, 1970, 1983, 1986
In 1953, Stafford Sands became the trustee, of a discretionary fund established to underwrite the education of white Bahamians, exclusively …
Trying To Reopen Harry Oakes Case Almost Costs Cyril Stevenson His Life 1959
The killer of Sir Harry Oakes, was still alive and well, and living brazenly in the open, in Nassau, in …
Cyril Stevenson Uncovers Who Got The Most Road Building Contract Money 1958
Prior to 1967, the 7Cs did not apply to the process of awarding Bahamas government contracts. Contract. Costs. Competencies. Connections …
Loyalists Tax Exemption Extended From 7 To 15 Years: AND THEN THEY TOOK THE GOVERNMENT 1784 – 1785
If we are bound to repeat the unheeded lessons of history, then, in the future, the Bahamas will fight for …
Bahamas Patent Registration 1889 – 1967
Of the few hundred or so patents registered in the Bahamas, between 1889 to 1967, there are only a handful …
10.12 p.m. House of Commons, London: Bahamas Independence Bill Read Lord Balniel Begins…15 May 1973
By 21st September 1972, mere moments after the results of the general elections were called, the date of national independence …
Negro Bahamas Friendly Society, Lodges and Other Societies Finance Political Movement To Circumvent Bay Street Capitalists 1944
In 1944, the 110-year-old, Bahamas Friendly Society, under the leadership of W. E. Dorsett, began to pave a new road …
128 Slaves of Wealthy James Moss Member of the House of Assembly Sold To Jamaica… Here Are Their Names 1822
All who sat in the House of Assembly, before 1834, were slave owners. Slaves were the only source of wealth …
We Called Ourselves The First Republic In The Western Hemisphere To Get Tourists 1947
Did the Bahamas really begin life as a Republic! It’s second life that is. The first one belonged to the …
New Minister of Health Milo Butler In Conflict of Interest Because He Was An Undertaker 1967
Conflict of interest for Bahamian government ministers only became an issue after 1967. After that is, a negro-led party took …
Whatever Happened To The Hoard Of Priceless Coins Turned Over To The Bahamas Government in 1965
There has never really been a formal, nationally published accounting of all the archeological treasure, in the possession, of the …
Visitations of Violence: Slavery and Negro Children
A ten month old beaten to death on a slave ship. A fifteen year old girl with gonorrhoea, hung naked, …
Conchy Joe Problems! When Bay Street Oligarchs and Foreign Investors Fight 1942
When the rich fight, they don’t play by the same rules as the poor. In the Bahamas, poor negroes like …
Divorced Bahamian Mothers Finally Get Equal Custody Rights To Their Children 1961
Prior to 1961, in the Bahamas, one of the reasons why many unhappily married women stayed in broken marriages was …
Las Vegas Prostitutes For Bahamian Officials in 1969 Revealed In Gambling Licence Testimony in 1979
How did paying for prostitutes, for Bahamian government officials, who ran out of money, on a trip to Las Vegas, …
Was Dr. Meyer Rassin’s Permit Application Denied Because He Was Jewish 1946
During World War II, if there had been no RAF Wing Commander Meyer Rassin, stationed in Nassau, to be in …
Skyline Heights, No Portion Shall Be Sold To Anyone Who Is Not of the Pure Blood White Race 1957
A word of advice. When you see the old generation of Bahamians, sitting on the front porch, talking about the …
Praying So Hard To Stop Casino Gambling, We Never Saw The Storm Of Drugs Coming 1977
From the days of slavery, to emancipation, to the push for civil rights, the journey for negro people, since 1492, …
Police Even Took His Balls! “Father Allen” Caught Selling Numbers From His Chicken Shack 1965
Four very important things one needs to understand about the numbers racket and the predominantly negro area of East Street, …
Whatever Happened to FIRST BAHAMAS INVESTMENT TRUST OFFERING SHARES TO BAHAMIANS 1965
In the 1960s, for the average Bahamian, access to the wealth creating stock market of the United States wasn’t even …
Bahamas Are Not In The Caribbean and That’s Final 1960
By 1960, after a few hundred years of historical associations, the link, putting the Bahamas somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, …
First Negro Motorcycle Policemen In The World Nassau 1927
The history of negro policemen, in The Bahamas, goes all the way back to the early 1800s. Nassau Police Force …
Queen’s Honours Bestowed On Bahamas Police Force 1966
The year was 1966. Thursday, April 21st. Elizabeth II, Queen of England, was celebrating her 40th birthday. Her Majesty was …
300,000 Acres of Crown Land in Grand Bahama Leased for 99 years in 1925
At the beginning of the 20th century, Grand Bahama presented a significant problem, in terms of economic, and social development …
2,000 Illegal Bahamian Immigrants Hunted By U.S. Federal Agents 1935
Shockwaves from the catastrophe created by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, reverberated like an economic tsunami, through the Bahamas …
Afro-Bahamian Club Calls For African and Black Man’s History To Be Taught In Schools 1966
The black man’s history began long before slavery. Popular African history, however, for as long as many can remember, centred …
Commonwealth Meant Family 1968
How to create a “Family,” in every sense of the word, was one of the greatest challenges the Bahamas government …
When Bahamian Women Finally Got The Vote They Didn’t Vote For A Woman 1962
Critically speaking, the beginning of the struggle for women’s suffrage, in the Bahamas, had nothing to do with women or …
‘The Bahamian Woman Has Always Been A Highly Sexed Individual… And I Say Thank God For That’ 1975
At some point, after 1967, the all too accepted “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” way of life in the Bahamas, …
The Men Who Built Rock Sound, Eleuthera In A Pre-Independent Bahamas 1940 (part one)
Rock Sound, Eleuthera was once known as Wreck Sound. It was called Wreck Sound during the ferocious pirate years when …
“Wasn’t Me. One White Man Did It” Said Negro Church Deacon Convicted Of Extortion Of The Widow of Sir Harry Oakes 1950
In the Bahamas, prior to 1950, the word extortion was probably used as much as the word Jupiter. Few knew …
What do Jehovah’s Witnesses, Rock Concerts and Ziggy Marley’s Band All Have in Common in the Bahamas?
As it relates to The Bahamas, what do Jehovah’s Witnesses, Rock Concerts and Ziggy Marley’s Band all have in common? …
Slavery Across The British West Indies (part 3) Wife Jealous of the Bed Wench Jamaica 1786
It was in 1655, under the rule of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector, that the British took Jamaica from the …
Battle Lines Drawn Over Control of Freeport 1969
In 1969, regarding the battle over Freeport, a London paper wrote, “Black power is an element, certainly, in the Bahamas …
Cotton Tree Law – Blessed Be The Law of the Elders
Apparently, the Great Silk Cotton Tree, that once stood on Bay Street, came from South Carolina courtesy of a British …
Lynden Pindling and Adam Clayton Powell and the One Share Which Almost Derailed The Quiet Revolution 1967
In January 1967, just as negro Bahamians were celebrating a pinnacle point, in their quiet revolution for political and economic …
Spree Killer Murders 6 People, Wounds 6, Then Kills Himself Nassau 1964
On Wednesday, May 20th., 1964, around 7:00 p.m. or so in the evening, somewhere in Over-the-Hill, Nassau, Rueben Rolle, a …
Slavery Across the British West Indies (part 2) Two Young Boys Get One Hundred Lashes Each Over A Pair of Stockings – Nevis 1817
During slavery, there was one singular, openly declared, and lawfully protected rule in the West Indies. It was that the …
Slavery Across the British West Indies (part 1) – Master Who Killed His Slave Because He Allowed A Mango To Fall From His Tree – Tortola 1811
A most important question has been posed to Bahamianology.com – “What was slavery like in other British colonies and around …
Husband Finds Wife In Bed With Another Man Then Slices Lover’s Ears Off on Grand Bahama 1824
John D. Smith of Grand Bahama was one angry white man in 1824. Smith had only one thing on his …
Two Bahamian Negroes Killed By Miami Police 1927/1928
In the southern States of America, of the early 1900s, the Bahamian negro encountered a form of vicious racism and …
Planters of Spencer’s Bite, Abaco Grateful for Return of Runaway Slaves 1788
Truth was, the Bahamas, may not have survived as a colony, if it had not been for the incursion of …
Independence cried the Merchant Class But It Was Only Whiskey Talking 1921
About half a century before 1973, an inebriated call for independence rang out, from the merchant class in the Bahamas …
14 Whites Injured by 12 Negroes Who Cause Terror Freeport 1968
Freeport, Grand Bahama was envisioned as the ultimate island utopia, by its creator, Wallace Groves. Groves wanted to create a …
Blacks Celebrate Freedom Whites Celebrate Enlightenment – Emancipation Day 1937
Somewhere along the historical line, Emancipation Day, in the Bahamas, became considered a negro holiday. Oddly enough, this was not …
The Murder Clock Starts Ticking 12:01 am July 10, 1973
Murder and other forms of violent crime, in the Bahamas, had historically been seen as a malignant, but limited social …
Largest Drug Seizure In History, Deep Water Cay 1975
In August 1975, when U.S. Customs and narcotics enforcement agencies confirmed the weight of the 1,049 bales of marijuana found …
A Bitterly Divided Bahamas Limps Towards Independence 1971
Nothing was more divisive, in the modern era of the Bahamas, than the question of independence. It created a climate …
News of Negro Freedom Arrives at Turks Island 1838
Many forget that the Turks and Caicos Islands were once part of the Bahama chain. When the Bahamas gained independence …
Anti-Explosives Bill Passed After Terrorist Bombing Nassau 1958
The 1958 bombing of the Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau, and the hurriedly passed government anti-terrorism bill, tells us one …
When “Numbers” Was The Most Dangerous Game For Negroes 1961
With the legalisation of the once underground gambling racket in the Bahamas, called ‘Numbers,’ it is easy to forget just …
When the Top Cops in the Bahamas Were British 1960
A Government of the Bahamas advertisement, in The Guardian (London) on 28th June 1960, for two Assistant/Deputy Superintendents of the …
600 Liquor Licences for 60,000 Nassau Population 1961
On September 20, 1961, Chairman of the Licensing Authority, Magistrate Maxwell J. Thompson, denied new applications for liquor licenses on …
Deputy Speaker Frank Christie Resigns Over 12 Counts of Election Bribery and Corruption 1956
Since the Loyalist years in the late 1700s, which changed the balance of power in the Bahamas, the direct descendants …
Bulla and Boo: Man Who Had No Age and Boy Maybe 18 Hanged Nassau 1942
On Tuesday May 12, 1942, the Bahamas executed two men. They were hanged at His Majesty’s Prison, the Nassau Prison …
Real Estate Men Were Kings and Everyone Else Selfish and Narrow 1940
There was a time, when real estate men, in the Bahamas, were veritable kings. They were the fat cats who …
Daughter Living With Body of Dead Mother, Nassau 1866
The line between being eccentric and insane can be both razor thin, or as wide as the seas. A thin …
Burma Road Riot: Secret Race War in Whites Only Sears Addition 1942
Something happened, in Nassau, on the Monday evening of June 1, 1942 moving into the early morning of June 2, …
Burma Road Riot: R. T. Symonette among Curfew Breakers 1942
British troops were deployed, across areas of Bay Street, from the very first evening of the riot, The riot has …
Burma Road Riot: 5 Negroes Shot Dead and 30 White Men Injured 1942
The reality of the Burma Road Riot has been largely buried under folklore and legend. This is really how all …
Burma Road Riot: Conspiracy of the Fifth Columnist 1942
Was there a “Fifth Columnist” secretly in play, in the Bahamas, in 1942? Was a “Fifth Columnist,” spy or agitator, …
Burma Road Riot: Alfred “Sweet Potato” Stubbs one of the stupidest men in Bahamian history 1942
On June 1, 1942, a riot on the streets of Nassau was never supposed to happen. A world war was …
‘One Big Rock Lick Him In He Head’ 2,000 Negroes Riot 1893
Grant’s Town, once largely swamp land, sits just on the doorsteps of the city limits of Nassau. As the 1800s …
Papers Relative to the Abolition of Slavery in the British Colonies – Bahama Apprentices Buy Freedom
For the most part, slaves in the British colonies, after emancipation, were not made completely free. Only slaves below the …
Life Sentence for Rape of White Woman plus Three Years for Robbery 1950
On Thursday July 20, 1950 the Bahamas judicial system achieved a first for the colony. On that day, it was …
May 24th Empire Day! When We Celebrated Being British
May 24th was once a very important day in the Bahamas. It was Empire Day! Jolly Good and Hurrah!! The …
Blood Money for Bahamian Negro Killed by Cuban Cannon 1908
In the heyday of what was an incredibly profitable international trade in turtle shells, the Bahamas, was once king. Turtles …
Magistrate to prostitute ‘You can’t bribe two constables with 4 shillings’ 1942
It is a strange, but nevertheless true socio-anthropological fact that you can learn a lot about a place, and its …
Rescued Yoruba and Egbar Slaves Arrive in Nassau May 4th., 1838
“A ni ominira!” is Yoruba for “We are free!” On 4th May, 1838, one thousand and forty three (1,043) Yoruba …
All African Labourers Report to African Board 1837
There were largely five factions of negroes in the Bahamas on 31st., July, 1834. There were slaves, there were free …
“In the disgrace of humanity” whipping of the Rolle female slaves from Exuma 1830
If a slave ran away from his master, in the Bahama Islands, as quite a number of them did, there …
“But You Must Not Forget That At Present You Are Slaves” Nassau 1833
By rights, the ‘You Are Still Slaves’ Proclamation of 1833, should have been written, and read by Governor James Carmichael …
Bahamas Colonial Secretary Charged with Indecent Assault on Jamaican Maid 1962
Colonial Secretaries were appointed under recommendation by the British Parliament, with the formal requirements of the assent of the Crown …
Speaker of the House of Assembly Fined for Selling Overpriced Flour 1947
One of the biggest names in politics and business in the modern Bahamas, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Asa …
English Lawyer Ordered Deported Tries to Sue Bahamas 1947
In 1946, Walter Sidney Chaney, an English Barrister, had just landed his dream job. He was on his way to …
“Totally subversive to the rights of property” Bahamas Government on Abolition 1833
Much of the legal debate surrounding ending slavery in the British West Indies didn’t turn on the question of morality, …
The Slavery Compensation Records 1838
The Slavery Compensation Records for the Bahamas make for interesting and sobering reading. There were 1,109 uncontested claims and 24 …
BAHAMAS BLACKLISTED by Abraham Lincoln’s Government 1862
In February 1861, among the 34 U. S. states, seven Southern slave states decided to breakaway from the Union to …
BAHAMAS BLACKLISTED 1926
There is much to be said, for the activities of a country, when even foreign criminals collectively decide to blacklist …
Apprenticeship Was Slavery By Another Name 1836
There were tremendous difficulties with ending the legal institution of slavery, and most centred around the vast profits that were …
Grand Bahama Bank and Trust, the Bank Waiting For Jungle to be Cleared 1960
The Bahamas’ reputation as an offshore tax haven was well earned from more than half century ago. Long before many …
Murder or Suicide for Canadian Singer Collette Bonheur Grand Bahama 1966
When murder happens within the often exclusive confines of the expatriate community in the Bahamas, it always captures international headlines …
Blockade Bahamas By Land, Sea and Air says Minister of National Security Loftus Roker 1987
The 1980s tore through the Bahamas like a Category 5 hurricane. Cocaine, the white plague, formed like an atmospheric depression, …
Policeman and Ex-Policeman Arrested for Kidnapping Four Year Old 1973
Two things must be said from the outset. First, policemen aren’t supposed to be the perpetrators of the crimes they …
Bahamas Serial Killers (part 2): The “Angels of Lucifer” Killer 1974
One of the Bahamas’ scariest serial killers, wasn’t even Bahamian at all. He was only in the Bahamas on “bumming …
Bahamian Serial Killers – When Evil Walks Among Us (part one) 2003
In 2003, evil was visited on the shores of Grand Bahama. It tore at the very core of island’s close …
Penultimate British Governor and Commander in Chief the Bahamas, 8th Baron Thurlow 1968
On August 3, 1968, the British press announced the appointment of a new Governor and Commander in Chief for the …
“You are my n****r, if you move I’ll stab you.” Then he did. 1884
On Saturday, 25th October, 1884, shortly after 9:00 pm, on East Bay Street, John Gray Darville, the younger, wilfully murdered …
House Speaker Asa H. Pritchard rules unsolved murder question as “out of order” 1959
By 1959, the unsolved murder count, for the Bahamas, had been steadily climbing. It was a fact, which minority members …
Man Pleads Not Guilty To Having Relations with Farm Animal 1942
This case was so bizarre for Nassau that whatever the details were, the newspapers must have decided not to report …
Eight Months For Putting Infant’s Hand in Fire 1942
A shocking case of child cruelty was heard in the Bahamas Supreme Court on Monday January 26, 1942. Diana Johnson …
The Oakes Murder: Were Two More People Killed To Hide A Dark Secret of Homosexuality? 1943
Toss away every notion, every preconception, you may have about the Bahamas, in the 1940s. Put every idea, as far …
Member of the House of Assembly Indicted in US for drug trafficking 1944
According to a New York Federal Grand Jury indictment, as early as 1940, a Bahamian Member of Parliament, was involved …
Twenty-seven Houses Plundered and Burned Harbour Island 1814
At least Captain Alexander Thompson gave a reason. It was a lie though. Some privateers just burned and plundered, then …
Taxing negro and mulatto slaves to pay for free white apprentices Nassau 1790
The late 1700s, saw the beginnings of a significant historical population expansion in the islands. By 1790, with the influx …
Murder, Robbery, Slapping and Cussing – Crime 1963
Bahamians traditionally don’t like the rain. They are spoiled by all the year round sunshine that often turns the sea …
Robert Lee Vesco was the Real Cancer That Took Down Pindling 1973
Sir Lynden Pindling, the first Prime Minister of the Bahamas, died on August 26, 2000, after a long battle with …
13,500 Illegal Haitian Immigrants Register to Go Back Home 1974
On Thursday 22nd. April, 1971, Haitians across The Bahamas were taking to the streets to celebrate the death of Haitian …
Pindling Buys Three Hotels to Stop Closures 1974
In 1974, it wouldn’t have been the first time, in the history of the Bahamas, that the government had gone, …
Shackled, peppered eyes, beaten to death, then Governor Grant tries to exonerate killers 1826
Kate lived on the plantation of her masters, Henry and Helen Moss on Crooked Island. Kate was a slave. She …
First White Men Hung in the Bahamas in 200 years 1961
Around 7:00 am, on Tuesday, May 9th., 1961, as the sun was climbing higher and higher in the clear blue …
Kelly Island renamed Arawak Cay, Nassau 1969
Oddly enough, it was a deal signed with mobsters, gangsters, hidden figures and front men, for Paradise Island that enabled …
George Doty, Nassau Negro Whipped by KKK 1921
For Bahamian negroes, in the diaspora, at the turn of the 20th century, life in South Florida, held many challenges …
First charges of kidnapping for modern Bahamas 1938
Since the 19th century, the Du Pont family has certainly been one of the richest families in America. When Marguerite …
Public Bank Fails Government borrows to repay depositors 1885
Whether 2017 or 1885, no matter what year, in whatever century, the lending policies of the government bank was always …
Bahamas Director of Information given death sentence in Haiti 1968
In 1968, a most incredible espionage plot or just a moth-eaten yarn of nonsense, was unraveling right under the very …
Murder of Walter Sims, Long Island 1835
When the body of Walter Sims, son of a prominent Long Island planter, is found smashed in pieces at the …
Built by Government, Royal Victoria Hotel for sale 1877
By 1861, twenty-seven years after the end of slavery, the Bahamas government was in a desperate place, money wise. Once …
Bahamian embassy official taken hostage Canada 1986
“He hasn’t hurt me but he has a gun to my head.” Clifford David Maltby had been serving a prison …
Inagua Riot began with arrest of child abuser ends with two hangings 1937
In August 1937, two brothers, and a large group of men, terrorised the quiet island of Great Inagua, resulting in …
L. W. Young voted out after 30 years in Assembly
Leon Walton Young can be credited for one thing before he was voted out after thirty years as an elected …
Roland Symonette and Stafford Sands clash in the House of Assembly 1942
In January 1942, Stafford Sands got up in the General Assembly and proposed that the current sitting of the House …
Plot to kill Police Chief B. K. Bonamy foiled 1992
Every so often, you come across a story which reminds you of that old time turn of phrase, many an …
Bahamas General Hospital embezzler extradited 1916
In 1916, the General Hospital in Nassau, New Providence had a few problems with personnel. Richard J. A. Farrington, a …
Elliott Roosevelt, son of former American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, implicated in plot to kill Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden Pindling 1973
On Tuesday September 18, 1973, a convicted swindler sat before a United States Senate SubCommittee and implicated the son of …
The Secret Bahamian Lottery 1959
Gambling, in all its various forms, including the lottery, has long remained a source of national and moral contention. Admittedly, …
A Governor of Titles proclaims any suitable premises may be a prison 1942
Titles. Titles and more titles! Britain loves its titles, and so does the Bahamas for that matter. Titles confer honour, …
Pronounced dead before he actually was, or alive after he was actually dead Governor John Tinker, 1758
It’s really nothing to laugh at, but Bahamians since that time, love to rush to report when someone has died, …
Briton Eaneas charged with wilfully attempting to decrease the population of New Providence. 1866
On August 25, 1866, in the Bahama Islands newspaper, there were two stories of suicide. Two men. One black, a …
The Execution of Murderess Susan Tait (part 2/2)
The execution of Susan Tait, a sisal cleaner, happened on 20th August 1909. After the trial, the death sentence handed …
The Execution of murderess Susan Tait (part 1/2)
When two women, who worked at the local sisal cleaning house not far from Bay Street, got into a fight …
The Big Clean Up 1798
It is quite a thing to consider that even in 1798, the early Bahamians of the late 18th century, littered …
Black UBPs who ran in the 1960 elections (part 1/2)
The UBP (United Bahamian Party) officially announced its formation on 1st March 1958. They formed themselves out of the sitting …
The Bahamian on the run from the Klu Klux Klan, 1925 (part 4/5)
Legal heavyweights of 1925, negro lawyer, A.F. Adderley and white lawyer, Kenneth Solomon come to Roberts’ defence. Charles Roberts, indicted …
The Bahamian on the run from the Klu Klux Klan, 1925 (part 3/5)
In the Bahamas, there is a saying of sorts, which goes something like, ‘he stepped up, as big as Billy’ …
The Bahamian on the run from the Klu Klux Klan, 1924 (part 2/5)
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the economic situation in the Bahama Islands was as bad as it had …
The Bahamian on the run from the Klu Klux Klan, 1924 (part 1/5)
When a disgruntled worker, was fired from his job as a wagon driver at an ice house, in Miami in …
Two slaves hanged on Hog Island, April 1791
In the 18th century, in old colonial Bahamas, hangings were public events. If not during, there was definitely the opportunity …
An Act, To ascertain who shall not be deemed mulattoes,
By 1799, an expanding population, created the need for new racial laws in the Bahama Islands. These laws were designed …
Hard labour in the workhouse – Crime, Nassau, 1837
The workhouse was a British invention. It became infamous. One of the first records of the word workhouse dates back to …
The Big Clean-Up of Nassau – 1963
Long before the present day debates about the public dump, recycling, preserving the environment and climate change; the haphazard throwing …
Road Tax, Eastern District, Nassau, New Providence 1799
There is a popular saying, which says that there are only two sure things in life, and one of them, …
Seizure of American slaves. Liet. Governor Balfour sparks national outrage in the southern states of America (part 2)
Blayney Townley Balfour was Lieutenant Governor of the Bahama Islands between 1833 to 1835. He took official charge of the …
Seizure of American slaves. Governor Balfour threatens to have Americans hanged 1834 (part 1)
Slavery wasn’t officially abolished in the British West Indies until August 1834. This included the Bahama Islands. Slaves landed in …
Secretary of the Bahama Islands, on trial for extortion and malpractice in Office – Nassau 1791
The Bahama Islands in 1791 was a flourishing British colony under the stewardship of the Assembly, its various administrators and …
We saved £7,090 of the people’s money! But…
The year 1913 had produced something quite rare for the Bahamas government. The year had delivered a whopping £10,000 surplus …
Clean your yard or else! 1914
With a steadily growing population and densely packed urban areas, the problem of keeping the environment of New Providence clean, …
Post Office theft 1914
We regret to learn that a defalcation has been discovered in the Post Office Department. The matter has been placed …
Amnesty offered to Runaway Slaves 1792
1792 seemed to be a defining year in the Bahamas. It was a year which saw new pieces of legislation …
Bahama Islands Extract from AN ACT for regulating the hire of SLAVES, CARTS, WAGGONS, and DRAYS, and for other purposes therein mentioned 1800
The beginning of the 1800s saw various governors and members of the Assembly attempting to bring a measure of order …
How did Nassau, New Providence get its name?
Surprisingly, The Bahamas not only has its historical roots in Britain, but also the Netherlands, and Germany as well. The …
Negroes Found Starving on Key Romano
The transatlantic slave journey is littered with untold stories of the dead, and near dead, who were taken by force, …
An Act to alter the name of Potter’s Field Burial Ground to The Western Cemetery 1906
With history, there is always a story behind the story. And the significance of changing the name of a burial …
Pompey Dala, the deed of indentured apprenticeship for a 10 year old boy
In 1807, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the The Slave Trade Act, on 25 March 1807. The act …
Leon Walton Young MP – A question of citizenship and solvency
A little over 100 years ago, in 1915, the House of Assembly was thrown into crisis. What had been discovered, was …
1916 – When spreading fake news was against the law in the Bahama Islands
In 1916, an early 20th century Bahamas could not have imagined how it would grow and change and evolve, into …
“I landed and took possession of the Fort, where I read out his Majesty’s Commission in the presence of my officers, soldiers and about three hundred of the people here, who received me under arms and readily surrendered shewing then many tokens of joy for the re-introduction of government.”
His Excellency Woodes Rogers, Esquire, Governor, Captain-General and Vice-Admiral of the Bahama Islands