Barbado’ed Scotland’s Sugar Slaves part 4 of 4
The west coast of Barbados is known as a favorite winter destination for British tourists, ranging from the upmarket Sandy Lane resort to the all-drinks-included package holiday crowd arriving by economy class. Many will come from Scotland, but few will realise that just fourteen miles away on the rocky east side of the island live a community of McCluskies, Sinclairs and Baileys who are not, as might be expected, black Bajans bearing the family names given by slave owners centuries ago, but poor whites eking out a subsistence existence. Known as the Redlegs, they are the direct descendants of the Scots transported to Barbados by Cromwell after the Civil War. Scottish author and broadcaster Chris Dolan went to meet them to discover why they are still here 350 years later, what they know about their roots, and what their prospects are today when they are the poorest community on the island. Chris speaks to leading historians in Barbados and Scotland about how their ancestors were treated when they first arrived. Was their plight as severe as that of the black slaves from Africa? Nearly two centuries after emancipation, this Redleg community has yet to find a role on the island, where it is damned by association with the days of slavery, even though many of its forbears were victims themselves. In recent years, it has begun to come out of its racial isolation; could there yet be a hopeful future for this lost Scottish tribe?
Tags: America, ancient, barbados, BBC, caribbean, celtic, civil, Cromwell, Cultural Heritage, culture, documentary, Edinburgh, Ethnic, Glasgow, groups, heritage, historical, history, indentured, live, Mel, month, Museum, Oliver, project;, Red Legs, scotland, scottish, servants, slaves, Society, White people
thanks for uploading this
@ForgottenFaces001 – No problem. Are you planning on making a documentary on white Barbadians anytime soon?
@DaBigSun i was planning on a documentary on the redleg community years before this came out i even emailed the bbc about it.
next thing i know a year later this documentary was already on the bbc.
i feel horrible that i was not able to do a doc on this community but the bbc has already done it so i feel that i should move on. however there are redlegs scattered about in other areas so i may do something one day right now i am working on a new project on the Jamaican german villages
cheers for uploading these. I am a sociologist and one of my key interests is identity particularly white west indians, black jews, black indians, white north africans, black turks, black arabs and persians and all sorts of other people. thanks again
@risteard01 Thanks for watching. You and I share the same interests in culture.
Wonder if “Redlegs” are what they call “Dorsetshire Hill Bajans” in St. Vincent & the Grenadines because they are poor whites who migrated from Barbados.