Introduction
This website is still in development, but it has the potential to become an important resource for educators and the general public alike. The objective of this website is to offer researchers insights into the type of documentation available in several archival collections on the West Indian Diaspora in Middle America. I am fortunate to have enjoyed support for my research over the years and have been in a position to visit archives in several countries. I also owe a great deal to the communities of West Indians of Middle America and this is one small way of helping to keep their history alive. The people I have met over the years have helped me in my quest to understand their histories and for that I am grateful.
Researchers may use this material prepare for visits to given archives or while conducting research anywhere, to order documents directly from archival, and to otherwise facilitate investigation of the subject. This electronic guide will eventually include bibliographies for individual countries, historical sketches on the subject, information on individual archives, links to other researchers and to related sites. Please feel free to suggest ways that this resource can benefit others.
The Electronic Guide
The Caribbean diaspora began in the post-emancipation period and continues to the present day. West Indians can be found in many parts of the world but have primarily been attracted to Britain, the United States, Canada and the Hispanic countries of the circum-Caribbean region. In the cases of Britain, the United States and Canada, West Indian immigration was severely restricted until the 1960s and, as a consequence, the communities existing in these countries are of more recent origin than their counterparts elsewhere. For example, West Indian immigration and settlement in the circum-Caribbean region dates mainly from the late nineteenth century. Then between the two world wars immigration patterns began to change and migration shifted to North America and Britain. After WWII immigration reflected the growth of then Canadian, U.S. and British economies. The new immigrants brought with them a variety of religious and secular institutions that formed the foundation of the new communities.
My primary area of research interest is in the history of the West Indian communities of Middle America. Between 1850and 1950 as many as 500,000 people of West Indian descent passed through the region in search of work and other opportunities. Several thousands remained in the region where they sought to integrate with the Hispanic majority. In Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras they form the largest visible minority group in the respective countries, while in Guatemala and Nicaragua their numbers are significant in regions bordering on the Atlantic Coast. In each country people of African descent have struggled to overcome problems of racial discrimination. Although there have been many different struggles, the most significant has been the fight for acknowledgment of the contributions of people of African/West Indian descent in the region. My research traces the struggles for recognition and acceptance of these people during the first half of the twentieth century and establishes a background for the contemporary efforts to do the same.
One of the greatest obstacles faced by people of West Indian descent in their efforts to deal with the issues of immigration and integration is the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the Caribbean Diaspora in the twentieth century. Little of a comparative nature has been written about the subject and there has been a general lack of research on the topic. There are many reasons for this, but the most important is that the documentation is contained in several different archives and most researchers are unable to afford the travel costs associated with conducting an investigation into the subject. For example, the West Indians in my study of Middle America came from several different islands, they were British subjects, they often worked for U.S. multinational corporations and they also followed opportunities to more than one country in the region. As a result, a thorough study of the West Indian community in one country requires documentation from archives in four or more countries. This project strives to help researchers from around the world by providing an accessible guide to the research materials on the West Indian diaspora that I have found. It is hoped that this guide will assist researchers in dealing with barriers that have served to keep the West Indian diaspora compartmentalized in individual country histories.
This guide to research has been under construction for the past decade. It began as an effort to manage the research material for my dissertation by making it machine readable. The guide has evolved into a searchable compendium of archival holdings on the West Indian Diaspora in Middle America. It contains over 1,200 citations for primary documents related to the West Indian Diaspora to Middle America. At present the material covers the period between 1855 and1960. Some periods and countries are better represented than others.
The database began with various archives in Costa Rica and has now expanded to include sources in Britain, the United States, the Caribbean and Central America. Each entry is coded by date, country, source and subject matter. The entries offer a general description of the contents of a document located in a particular archive. The annotation includes the specifics of the archival location, an indication of its availability existence in my private collection of documents and a brief description of the contents. The annotations are not meant to replace reference to the documents cited, but they will give you some idea of what I found in them. (See how to use this guide)
Visitors to this website are given unrestricted access to the research guide so that they may pursue their own investigation of the subject. If you have any comments or concerns about this website please contact me. If you find this resource useful I would appreciate hearing from you. I would also welcome exchanges of information or contributions to this database.
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Copyright
Ronald N. Harpelle
Last revised: January 31, 2001